– as it celebrates 110th Anniversary

THE Guyana National Library is observing 110 years of service to the country with a week of activities planned under the theme, “Preserve the past; Embrace the future”.
Established in 1909, the library, which is located at Lot 76-77 Main and Church Streets, Georgetown, sees about 1,200 persons per week, with a number of school tours thrown in for good measure every month.

The week of activities began with a walk and fitness run, followed by an inter-faith service on Monday.

According to Deputy Chief Librarian Nadine Moore, an open night is planned, so that persons can visit the facility to share their memories of the library and what it has done for them over the years. A health fair is also planned, for which the Ministry of Education and ‘Dental School’ will be on board.

Furthermore, an appreciation awards ceremony is on the cards, so that the library can honour its loyal patrons and other members of the public.

“Weekly, we get about 1,200 visitors, whether it’s to borrow a book for research purposes, to use the Internet library for a meeting, for a tour,” Moore told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday at a photographic exhibition at the library. If two schools are visiting in the same week, the library will see as many as 250 students that day.

“Government has been doing a lot for the expansion and development of our library services, but we’re looking to advance in technology. The technological landscape has been growing over the years, if we look at libraries abroad,” Moore said, adding:

“We would like to push the library forward technologically, having e-resources available for the public, more computers, more Internet bandwidth so that persons can use our services.”

Moore went on to state that they are also looking forward to the establishment of the Online cataloging system, so that the library’s rare books and government publications can be digitised and made available on the Internet.

“With more help from the government and corporate Guyana, we may be able to push these plans forward,” she said. Meanwhile, at the moment, the public can benefit from the use of 12 computers at the library.

The library’s mission statement is as follows: “To satisfy both nationally and internationally, the information and recreational needs of the library’s users through the collection, organisation, dissemination and preservation of information in printed and other formats.”
It is opened Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 17:30h, and on Saturday from 08:45 to 15:00h.