There's More to The Story
National Library Week will be celebrated from April 23-29, under the theme “There's More to The Story”.
The theme seeks to dispel the notion that libraries are simply places to just borrow books or that libraries are no longer relevant.
It is an explicit call for a more nuanced understanding of the importance and uses of many different types of libraries today — an invitation for everyone to join, visit, and support libraries..
Eight students of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College participated in the library’s annual poetry slam. A grand prize of EC $1000 cash was awarded to this year’s winner John Tench for his poem entitled, The Crucible. Jayde Thomas came in second place and also won the People's Choice Award. Christa William was awarded 3rd place.
The Official Opening of Library Week takes place at the National Archives Authority of Saint Lucia at 10am. The Archives will also declare its Exhibition open in commemoration of National Library Week.
In commemoration of National Library Week, Mr. Calixte George is one of the featured guest authors. Author Talks is an initiative aimed at connecting aspects of the College's curriculum with the works of authors, while drawing reference from the library's collections to promote reading and literacy.
The activity provides an opportunity for the audience (mostly students) to engage with the authors, be inspired and foster a love of reading and writing. It also provides a platform for authors to promote their books, share their ideas, stories, and experiences with those in attendance, and for the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the author's work and creative process.
National Library Workers Day is an annual observance that falls on the Tuesday of National Library Week, which usually takes place during the second full week of April. It is a day to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library and information workers, including librarians, information officers, library assistants, catalogers, technicians, and other support staff.
This is a time to honor the hard work and dedication of those who work in libraries of all types, including public, school, academic, and special libraries. It is a day to acknowledge the important role that library and information workers play in connecting people with the information, resources, and services they need to improve their lives and communities. On National Library Workers Day, library patrons are encouraged to share their stories of how libraries and librarians have made a positive impact on their lives.
National Library Outreach Day is an annual observance that takes place on the Wednesday of National Library Week. This day recognizes and celebrates the outreach services that libraries provide to their communities. Outreach services are designed to connect library resources and services with people who may face barriers to accessing them, such as those who are homebound, have disabilities, or live in underserved areas.
Library Outreach Day is also an opportunity for library advocates to move out into the community to help promote literacy and support language and literacy skills development. Literacy is essential to developing a strong sense of well-being and citizenship. Research indicates that children who have developed strong reading skills perform better in school and often have a healthier self-image. The work of the Hunter J. Francois library continues in Educational District Four to provide support to school libraries, to foster a love for reading and help improve literacy levels.
Take Action for Libraries Day seeks to mobilize library advocates and encourage library supporters to take action in support of libraries and the services they provide. Take Action for Libraries Day typically involves activities such as contacting elected officials to advocate for library funding, improved library facilities, sharing stories and experiences about the impact of libraries, and engaging with local communities to raise awareness about the importance of libraries. By participating in this event, library supporters can make their voices heard and help ensure that libraries continue to receive the funding and support needed.
The completion of a joint report on “The Status of Libraries in Saint Lucia: The Way Forward from a Librarian’s Perspective”, will be presented to policy makers and other stakeholders providing information needed for the improvement of libraries. In observance of Take Action for Libraries Day, the librarian of the Hunter J. Francois Library and Director of Library Services continue with the data collection phase of public libraries located in the south of the island, covering Canaries, Laborie, Vieux Fort, Micoud, and Dennery.
Mr. Rick Wayne is the one of the two guest authors featured during the HJFL’s Author Talks Series, commemorating National Library Week. Author Talks is an initiative aimed at connecting aspects of the College’s curriculum with the works of authors, while drawing reference from the library’s collections to promote reading and literacy.
The activity provides an opportunity for the audience (mostly students) to engage with the authors, be inspired and foster a love of reading and writing. It also provides a platform for authors to promote their books, share their ideas, stories, and experiences with those in attendance, and for the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the author's work and creative process.
Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination.
They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve,
and contribute to improving our quality of life.
The Hunter J. Francois Library is steadfast in its support of scholastic achievement of all students attending the SALCC. As an important academic partner on campus, the library recognizes the importance of prioritizing student success.
Its student centered approach therefore supports collaborative learning, more group work and providing platforms for students to showcase their literary skills. The main roles of the academic library staff include guiding and supporting students in the effective use of the library's resources, attending to the information and research needs of faculty and course writers, providing instructional support through information literacy workshops, and integrating technology into the development of new library collections.
A quick list of interesting facts and trivia surrounding libraries and their history.
A collection of quotes from a variety of sources, encouraging the appreciation of libraries and literacy.
Libraries come in all forms, shapes and sizes, from your home library, to your community library, office library, school library, to the largest library in the world, but they all share one thing in common - each provides a gateway to infinite knowledge and that knowledge is power.
A growing body of evidence suggests that students’ academic success is linked to library usage, including improved student retention and an enhanced academic experience.
The oldest library in the world called The Library of Ashurbanipal is located in Nineveh in modern day Iraq. It was founded sometime in the 7th century B.C.
The largest library in the world: the Library of Congress in the United States, holds more than 170 million items in its collections and employs about 3149 staff.
Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was a one-man library-funding machine. He donated $55 million ($1.6 billion in today’s dollars) between 1886 and 1919 to open 2509 libraries around the world. The Central Library in Castries, Saint Lucia also benefited from his donations.
Hong Kong has around 300 libraries for 7 million people.
The Hunter J. Francois Library was the first in the OECS to become fully automated.
Featuring over 32 million ebooks, the Internet Archive is the largest digital library ever created.
The oldest digital library: Project Gutenberg (PG) was founded in 1971, by American writer Michael S. Hart. It was a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
The largest book in the Library of Congress is a 5-by-7 foot book featuring color images of Bhutan. With support from Microsoft, a team of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recorded the ancient life and culture in this South Asian country and made 40,000 digital images available to the Bhutan National Archives. A copy of the picture book was donated to the Library of Congress.
Librarians used to have to learn a specific style of handwriting known as librarian hand
. The practice was prevalent in the late 1800s, when library pioneer Melvil Dewey—of the Dewey Decimal System fame—and other curators of early collections believed that legible handwriting was a must for card catalogs. The practice faded as typewriters grew in popularity.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans call a library their workplace. As of 2020, there were approximately 163,810 librarians; 30,810 library technicians; and 69,650 library assistants working in the United States.
The Most Overdue Book was 122 Years Late. In 2011, the Camden School of Arts lending library in Australia had their book returned to them. The book loaned was Charles Darwin’s Insectivorous Plants. Interestingly, the book was borrowed in 1889, breaking the record of the most overdue book in history with 122 years.
Literacy is the most basic currency of the knowledge economy.
— Barack Obama
At the dawn of the 21st century, where knowledge is literally power, where it unlocks the gates of opportunity and success, we all have responsibilities as parents, as librarians, as educators, as politicians, and as citizens to instill in our children a love of reading so that we can give them a chance to fulfill their dreams.
— Barack Obama
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.
― Maya Angelou
Libraries are a cornerstone of democracy—where information is free and equally available to everyone. People tend to take that for granted, and they don’t realize what is at stake when that is put at risk.
― Carla Hayden
The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.
— Albert Einstein
The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.
— T.S. Eliot
Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.
— Walter Cronkite
What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education.
— Harold Howe
What in the world would we do without our libraries?
— Katharine Hepburn
For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it.
— Isaac Asimov
Librarians are committed to promoting lifelong learning in order to create a community of well-informed individuals. Librarians are catalysts to enlightenment for their communities.
— Louise Capizzo
What is the value of libraries? Through lifelong learning, libraries can and do change lives, a point that cannot be overstated.
— Michael E. Gorman
The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.
— Carl Thomas Rowan
The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.
— Rita Dove
The message is clear: libraries matter. Their solid presence at the heart of our towns sends the proud signal that everyone—whoever they are, whatever their educational background, whatever their age or their needs—is welcome.
— Kate Mosse
Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark.
— Germaine Greer
Libraries are the backbone of our education system.
— Karin Slaughter
To be a librarian is not to be neutral, or passive, or waiting for a question. It is to be a radical positive change agent within your community.
— R. David Lankes
The library, with its Daedalian labyrinth, mysterious hush, and faintly ominous aroma of knowledge, has been replaced by the computer's cheap glow, pesky chirp, and data spillage.
— P. J. O'Rourke
With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one - but no one at all - can tell you what to read and when and how.
— Doris Lessing
It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.
— Elizabeth Kostova
Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark…. In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed.
— Germaine Greer
Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too, that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence.
— Jan Morris