(QUOTE) “So you find that I am a fair person. I am what you would call a disciplinarian because I am frank too. If you do something, I am going to tell you about it and when I am finished with it I am finished with it and I expect you to perform at a certain level.”

EMILEY ROLANDA KING has been in the employ of the National Library of Guyana for 22 years and it breaks her heart that the woman, who was instrumental in helping her to meet her current position of Deputy Chief Librarian, the late Gillian Thompson is no longer around.
Ms. Thompson, former Chief Librarian, died in a road accident last December, and according to Emiley, who is now acting in that position, this once “young and vibrant” woman is still being missed in the library fraternity.
Emiley started off as a junior library assistant in 1992 and then was appointed the personnel officer in 1994. In 2007, she went overseas to Library School and came back in 2010 and then was offered the position of Deputy Chief Librarian.
But it was never her intention to follow the field she is in currently; her interest was always into personnel management. It was Ms. Thompson who encouraged her to pursue library studies. “I have a great love for books but I also have a keen interest in management. But she told me I could do it and let’s think about it and that’s how I went off to the United Kingdom to pursue studies.”
Furthermore, when the then Chief Librarian Karen Sills-George went off to Library School, Emiley was asked to perform some of the duties of Deputy Chief Librarian and so she got some insight into what is required for the post.
She is very glad that she had the opportunity to work under some of the finest librarians such as Ms. Sills-George, Ms. Winnette George, Ms. Gwenette Bowman and Ms. Thompson.
According to Emiley, she and Ms. Thompson had a lot of plans for the library in 2014 and with her gone, a whole void has been left.
“Her death was traumatic for me. She was quiet and soft spoken, very supportive. She got things done and was always open to listening to what you had to say. When I was at library school, she called me once and she spoke with me for about 45 minutes; being very supportive,” Ms. King explained.
She added: “So the whole idea of this young, vibrant person dying so horrifically was a real trauma for me and the whole library fraternity and it is something that we are slowly coming to terms with. I will always remember her for the impact she had on my life.”
Emiley’s guiding philosophy, more so since the death of Ms. Thompson, is to live as though every day is her last. “Because you don’t know what tomorrow holds. I look at Ms Thompson and see how her life was cut short in the prime of her life.”

A stickler for standards
Emiley, 43, is married to Mr. Clarence King. She grew up in New Amsterdam, Berbice and attended St. Theresa’s Primary in 1976, then New Amsterdam Multilateral in 1983. After finishing the A Level Class there, she did some teaching and then went on to the New Amsterdam Technical Institute.
She worked at the Ministry of Labour and the National Bureau of Statistics before settling down at the library.
“It was a lot of movement at first but then I thought to myself that I need to settle.”
Emiley can be easy going at times but she is a stickler for standards, especially morally and educationally speaking.
“So you find that I am a fair person. I am what you would call a disciplinarian because I am frank too. If you do something, I am going to tell you about it and when I am finished with it I am finished with it and I expect you to perform at a certain level.”
She believes that this type of personality came about as a result of being raised by her single parent mother, Beryl, who had high expectations for all four of her children. “And therefore you had to live up to them. We all came off good. My mother always believed that a good education laid the foundation to everything else that you would work towards and she felt that you must work and be the best you can be.”
By Telesha Ramnarine