School Library Report - Dominica

Introduction

The Public Library, through the Mobile Library and two assistant librarians who provide technical assistance, provide the school library service in Dominica. The aim here is to meet the informational needs of remote communities in Dominica. There are 33 schools - both primary and secondary - which are served by the school library programme. The Mobile Library serves twenty two other schools. Many of the primary schools are now opening libraries in order to encourage students to read at a very early age.

Accomodation

The libraries are housed in empty classrooms, and as part of a class in the form of cupboard libraries situated at the back of classrooms. Most libraries are located on the ground floor, which provides easy access to all students.

Furniture

The furniture is usually inadequate in terms of shelving space and seating accomodation. Students have to move tables and chairs from the classrooms to the library for use.

Services

The assistant librarians visit each school at least three times during the school year. Services offered by the public library to these libraries include:

• Annual quota of books.
• Teacher training in the technical aspects of setting up and running a library.
• Materials support with such items as book cards and pockets, labels and date slips.
• Library and information skills to students of grade 6.
• The assistant librarins classify, catalogue and label items.
• Training of library monitors.
• Assist in organising school library activities such as book drives.

The criteria for library awards to schools are now ready. Deserving schools will receive an award on an annual basis. The objectives are:

• To encourage greater use of the libraries' services and resources.
• To encourage positive growth of the school library service.

Collection

The collection at these schools consists mainly of print materials. These are acquired mainly through donations made by overseas groups and fund raising activities by the schools. Most of the schools have a small collection of reference and other information books. Their collection of books consists mainly of fiction. The collection of books at many of the schools is outdated, inadequate to meet the needs of the schools, and in poor condition.

The Public Library Division, due to financial constraints, cannot meet all the demands made by the schools for items. There have been requests made for a number of items including videocassettes to aid in the delivery of particular subjects at school, and books for use as reference texts for both teachers and students. This problem proves particularly challenging with the opening of the Dominica State College, with the range of subjects offered at the school, and no or little reference texts at the school library as support material.

Classification

Information books are classified using the Dewey Decimal Classification, with coloured lables to differentialte their subject matter. A colour-coded chart is used to assist users in locating items on the shelf. Non-fiction books are labelled P/E-Picture books and easy readers, Y-Young readers, while fication is labelled F-Fiction books. A few schools have libary catalogues to highlight the collection, and assist in information retrieval.

Automation

A few schools have taken the bold initiative of automation, and they provide Internet services to students. A few of the school libraries also own television sets and VCRs which help in their teaching delivery. As a result of these changes, the libraries are now called "Resource Centres".

Charging System

Most schools use the ledger system to keep their records of books borrowed. The bigger schools use the Brown System, using the card and pocket.

Use of the Library

In some of the schools, the books are only for use at the school, while in others, books are available on loan to students for leisure reading at home.

The library is used by both teachers and students and in a few of the schools it extends to the parents. This is to encourage parents and children to improve their reading abililties, and help in the development of their children's education.

Staff

The Teacher Librarian is trained to supervise the operations of the library, and manages the library. These teachers usually have a full time teaching load in addition to their responsibilities at the library. Presently, at a few of the secondary schools, teachers are allotted time for work at the library, to make up for teaching hours.

Conclusion

Presently, a number of the schools are going through a period of stagnation. One reason for this is the rapid turnover of teachers at the schools, and as a result, there is a lack of continuity. Another is the lack of remuneration for the extra work done by the teacher.

Despite all the difficulties presently faced by school libraries in Dominica, the need for improving the service is even more important now, as we try to assist in improving the reading level of our students, and meeting their increasingly varied information needs.