More on the Re-opening of the Public Library

The official re-opening of the Main Branch of the Public/National Library was held Friday January 30th. Speaking at the associated ceremony Minister of Community Development and Culture Steve Blackett noted that the re-opening was considered one of the highlights to date of his ministry. The Library had been closed since August 2005 and as Minister Blackett once stated the incident was a national shame for a country which boasts of a 98% literacy rate. So it is understandable that he was proud to have the library up and running in just over a year of his DLP government coming to office.

At this ceremony the minister spoke of plans to invest in electronic resources to improve the availability and quality of services to the users. Mention was made of the acute shortage (island wide) of professional librarians and conservators. I look forward to seeing a few National Development Scholarships being awarded in these areas. I know of two persons who want to be trained but are unable to get funding to do so.

The Main Branch of the Public/National Library was formerly housed in a Carnegie Building; one of the few in the Caribbean and dating back to 1905. There are plans according to the minister to refurbish this building before the end of the first term in office. A national treasure such of this should never have been allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair. The Barbados National Trust I am sure will take an interest in this project.

Much was said and promised at that re-opening ceremony. I look forward to the follow through.

More on the re-opening is available here.

Public Library Re-opens

After approximately two (2) years, that's right, two years the main branch of the Public Library / National Library Service has re-opened. It has been a period of promises and rumours of re-opening but until now no evidence to support these. This re-opening however is restricted to the lending services sections. The opening of the Reference Dept, the section which houses materials used by students to prepare for school based assessments, to do research for projects and to study for CXC and CAPE (O and A) level exams is yet to be opened.

This section is also the one where access to Barbadian and Caribbean material is facilitated. There is no other library in the country which provides this service to the public, and to the best of my knowledge, except minimally through the larger branches,which are in themselves very small spaces, no arrangements to accommodate this were made during the period of closure.

At least this present government seems to be aware of the importance of the Public Library / National Library Service and its value to the citizens. An early Christmas present or an Independence honour? Whatever it may be termed this re-opening is a good thing.

Same ole story

On hearing the news that the headquarters/main branch of the National/Public Library was soon to be relocated the Nation Newspaper of September 6, 2007 carried this cartoon:



Out of the mouth of babes?

Mixed bag

It was a good mini-holiday. I say mini because just as I was to return I started feeling as if I needed a holiday. Does that ever happen to you?

I did get to finish one project and did an outline for another. The latter is due on Friday. Would you believe it? My home PC has gone bum. It couldn't have happened at a worse time.

I came back to work on a weekend shift and in the midst of exam period. Somebody say mad house! The library gets noisier and busiest at this time. Students who did not bother to locate the library all term suddenly want the tour, the tutorial and you on a platter all in 5 minutes or less. It never ceases to amaze me. I often wonder if I were like that as a student. I sincerely hope not!! Two more weeks of this madness before the Christmas break. And yes I am counting.

I recently read a news article about the closure of the Antigua Public Library because of vandalism and theft. Interesting I thought. This case and that of our local public library (no there has been no further action) show me that people don't value libraries and the benefits to be derived from them. What does that say about us and our values?

On another note I read two articles in the weekend paper that encouraged me. In the first, an elementary school principal dared his students to read a set number of books within a given period and allowed them to set the 'punishment' if he lost. He lost, and spent a night on the roof of the school on a winter night. Good for those students. I hope they keep it up.

In the other article the columnist spoke of his hatred for books. They have brought him "nothing but trouble and strife" all his life. Having his nose stuck in a book all the time has caused him to loose out on fame, fun gifts, girls, a good marriage and money.

The thing is I am always with my nose in a book. (In fact I just did a quiz I linked to from the Other Librarian's blog which shows that I am a dedicated reader if you please.) Could that be the reason I am a Miss and not a Mrs? Makes me wonder...