JAMAICA’S librarians have responded positively to a suggestion recently made by Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson that they submit to the government their proposal for a national policy on library services.

“Although the government has been developing policies and tabling legislation that touch on the role of our library service, there is now need for a policy framework for public libraries with supporting legislation,” Henry-Wilson said. “I am suggesting that ALJALS develop a proposal to the government on this important matter.”

She was participating in a panel discussion on “Libraries and national development: challenges in the information age”, staged by the Association of Librarians in the Jamaica Library Service (ALJALS) at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Library.

The education minister said the availability of computers and the Internet were not enough to ensure that members of the public get the information they need. She described information as “a means of empowerment” and said that public libraries were therefore “tools for empowerment”.

In agreeing with the minister, the director general of the Jamaica Library Service (JLS), Patricia Roberts, noted that a national library policy was essential to address “the information gap and digital divide that separates developed and developing countries in the information age”.

Roberts said that while the JLS continued to lobby for more government support, the organisation was seeking ways “to help itself”.

The JLS head stated that 60 per cent of the organisation’s 345 computers were available for use by visitors to the library and that an additional 100 computers would be obtained by the end of the year.

Dr Hopeton Dunn, chairman and CEO of the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC), noted that the technological challenges of preserving Jamaica’s audio-visual archives were particularly challenging.

“We now have to convert the old analog stock into digital format and this is proving to be time-consuming as every hour of recording requires a full hour for conversion to digital format,” Dunn said in his presentation.

The CPTC chairman said, however, that it was essential that Jamaica go the way of “integration” in the way information is stored and accessed. He said that digital storage should eventually make it possible for Jamaicans to electronically retrieve information from anywhere in Jamaica and noted that the introduction of High Definition (or digital) television heralds “a radical change across the spectrum of information and communication technology that will allow households to access the Internet via their television sets”.

At the same time, Norma Kpodo, deputy campus librarian at the University of the West Indies, Mona, warned that “there is a lot of information out there, but the librarians are the professionals that store and manage this information in order to help the public and students to access the information they need”.

Kpodo revealed that the UWI’s library was “utilising digital solutions to cope with storage and access challenges”. She said the institution is currently exploring an initiative for theses and research papers to be submitted in digital format for ease of storage and retrieval, as well as allowing researchers to utilise multimedia and hypermedia formats in their presentations.

Other presenters at the ALJALS second annual public education forum were: Jacqueline Jones, general manager for human resources, Lascelles Division; and Karlene Salmon, programmes manager, Television Jamaica (TVJ) Limited.