JLS Services Online

Jamaica Library Service (JLS) Region Four Director, Marvetta Stewart-Richards, says the agency’s facilities have been retooled and repositioned to offer online services as the entity adapts to the shift towards a technologically driven society.

“So, for those persons who can’t find the bus fare or the time to visit a library, once you are a library member, you can access our services [online]. We have our librarian chat, so you can ask a librarian to help you with your assignment, and that is an ongoing thing. Any hour you [want to] talk, once somebody… sees it, they will respond to your need,” Mrs. Stewart-Richards said.

She was speaking at the recent Jamaica 60 Heritage Lecture and Exhibition, hosted by the Hanover Parish Library in partnership with the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

The event was held at the library in the parish’s capital, Lucea, under the theme ‘Reigniting Greatness through Your Heritage’.

Mrs. Stewart-Richards advised that library members can also access the virtual EBSCO research services, a database that provides e-resources, journals and other material.

“There is a myriad of other services and programmes that I am going to invite you to go to the Jamaica Library Service’s web site, www.jls.gov.jm, [to view], and you will see all that there is to see; then you will recognise that [at] the Jamaica Library Service, we have everything for everybody,” she said.

The Jamaica 60 Heritage Lecture and Exhibition was attended by students and teachers from Rusea’s, Merlene Ottey, Rhodes Hall, and Hopewell High schools in Hanover, who welcomed the extensive historical information on display.

Mrs. Stewart-Richards said the JLS was pleased to partner with the JIS to host the event, noting that it underscored the importance of educating students about Jamaica’s culture and heritage.

For her part, Special Projects Manager at the JIS Montego Bay Regional Office, Sharon Earle, said the partnership forged helped to generate strong interest among students about aspects of Jamaica’s heritage.

She urged students to utilise the agency’s services to access the repertoire of information on historical events in Jamaica.

“The history of Jamaica is entwined with the history of the Jamaica Information Service. We are the ones who have been there to record history, as it unfolds, from a government perspective.

“So, we want to share this opportunity with the Jamaica Library Service in sponsoring this public lecture… because we want people to know that there are agencies, there are departments, there are libraries and different organisations that have been growing alongside our country,” Ms. Earle stated.

Jamaica’s Honorary Consul to Antigua and Barbuda, Dr. Onika Campbell, who is a native of Hanover, delivered the lecture on the history of the parish’s growth and development, which was well received by the participants.

Students attending welcomed the initiative as a tool to further enhance their education.

Grade-11 student at Merlene Ottey High, Dama Grant, said she will utilise the information gleaned in the classroom.

“I learned new things, especially the dates people came into our country. An event like this helps us, especially the students who are doing CXC, CAPE and other subjects. So, it makes it easy for them to understand, because some persons, when they listen, they catch on to the information. So, for me, hearing it makes it easier to use it in class,” she added.