A leaf out of Karen Barton’s book

SHE says she would never trade her job for anything, and if afforded the chance to live again, she would choose the same career path.

Born and raised in Lionel Town, Clarendon, Karen Barton, the director general of the Jamaica Library Service (JLS) tells All Woman that after leaving Glenmuir High School, she sought employment before pursuing her tertiary education. She was employed as a library assistant at the Clarendon Parish Library, a job that would seal her fate in the industry.

“At that time I wasn’t considering librarianship as a career. I just thought this was a job on my way to going into the diplomatic service,” she shares.

“I had dreams of doing Spanish, different languages and everything it would take to go into the diplomatic field. I went into the library that summer but I never thought of it as a career.”

But on meeting the now deceased senior librarian Gloria Baker, she fell in love with the discipline.

“I was smitten. The whole thought of helping people to find information was gratifying. As a library assistant then, one of my major responsibilities was helping people to find what they wanted, help them with research, and it gave me pleasure to see how people reacted to finding exactly what they wanted to complete their work. Working with children at the time — those from May Pen Primary — they would be eager and swarmed into the library just to get the new books or read something. It was really a pleasure.”

But despite that, she was not completely won over, and when she started college at the University of the West Indies (UWI), she signed up to do language and linguistics.

“But after about two weeks I made up my mind and switched to library and information studies. Because of the influence of Mrs Baker, I knew this was what I needed to do.”

Described by her co-workers as passionate, a people person, dedicated, committed, dependable and possessing good interpersonal skills, Barton holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in library and information studies from UWI, and is committed to using the library to help contribute to national development in the area of education.

“We have to teach people information literacy, how to be critical thinkers, how to determine what’s true and what’s not. People need to be informed, and with technology there are other things people need to know especially how to find credible information,” she says.

One such way is through the library’s ‘We Likkle but we Tallawah’ project where parents are encouraged to come in and read to their babies and children.

“Readers and leaders and studies show that if you introduce children to reading at a young age, from even in the womb, it stays with them and helps them to mature and develop better intellectually,” she explains.

“Librarianship is not just about books, it’s about engaging your community and developing things they can benefit from.”

Barton, also a member of the Soroptimist International Club of Kingston, which has its emphasis on the development of girls and women, is committed to working with teens and guiding them on the right path.

“The focus of the club is transforming lives through women and girls. It is where professional women take on activities to build other women. As professionals we get involved in a lot of things. I wanted to do something different. It is not about gender, it is about action, charity work. We work with boys too, but our emphasis is girls and women.”

She adds: “It’s about giving back. Being blessed with so many things you are able to give back and help someone else. There are other things to life. If you can help somebody else in whatever way, it will go a long way in making Jamaica a better place.”

She adds that part of her commitment to working with girls and women is to encourage them that as females they don’t have to depend on anyone to make them feel important or chase their dreams.

“Be self-motivated regardless of your circumstances,” she advises.

Her passion for adolescents extends further to her involvement in her church — the Grace and Truth Brethren Assemblies — summer camp programme, where she serves as a camp counsellor. Having experienced guidance and a transformation in her life from attending a summer camp, Barton says she has to help other teens overcome their obstacles too.

“From going to a summer camp when I was in first form, my first time away from home, people told me about the Lord and helped me to grow in my Christian walk. I know it can help people, so I make it a point of duty to let other people have the same experience I did,” she says.

“Usually in the teen years most children don’t know where they are going. If you can provide a good example for them, support them in whatever they do, show them the pitfalls and how to get out, and help to steer them on the right path, it would have been a good contribution.”

Barton has responsibility for the administration of the National Library Network and the School Library Network. She is the author of several articles about the profession, and is the recipient of the Library Leadership Award from the Arizona State Library. She is also leading the charge for receiving grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the first for the English-speaking Caribbean. The JLS is the recipient of this global libraries grant, which will go towards the upgrading of computers and software at all libraries.

She has also served on many committees, two being the Governor General’s Awards committee for Manchester and the Chicago Concerned Jamaica committee based in Mandeville, where funds from Jamaicans in Chicago are used to provide educational assistance to those in need.

When not at work, Barton can be found spending time with her family, gardening or experimenting with cooking.

Remaining committed to library service and charity work, she believes in doing whatever task she has to the best of her ability and holds steadfast to her Christian principles, using “with Christ in the vessel I can smile at the storm” as her daily mantra.