“I call on all artistes, politicians, anyone or everyone with valuable materials to consult with NALIS about the preservation of your items and to think seriously about ensuring that these too are used to build our society.”

Those were the words of Paula Greene, executive director of the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) as she delivered remarks at the event to mark the inscription of the Machel Montano Collection into the UNESCO Memory of the World Latin America and Caribbean (MOWLAC) Register on February 11, 2025. The event was attended by a number of artistes and government ministers including the Minister of Education, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and the Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs.

The Machel Montano Collection, carefully and diligently collected and curated by Elizabeth Montano, Machel’s mother, throughout his 43-year musical career, comprises music catalogues, newspaper and magazine clippings, films, music videos, books, photographs, certificates, and proclamations, which will be made available to researchers upon request at Xtatik Limited. NALIS was involved in the submission of the Machel Montano Collection for inscription into the UNESCO MOWLAC Register and will provide oversight over its continued care and preservation of the materials.

Greene said, “As a national library system, the Authority is responsible for preserving, promoting and exploiting Trinidad and Tobago heritage information, that is, all aspects of our cultural and historical records, as mandated in the NALIS Act – No.18 of 1998.” The collecting and preservation of such materials ensures that stories about the life’s work of individuals are told and importantly, offer future generations insights into personal familial and cultural histories.

Explaining the significance of the inscribing of a collection in the UNESCO Memory of the World programme, Greene, added, “UNESCO Memory of the World seeks to preserve and promote the documentary heritage of regions, protecting stories, and records that define nations.”

Greene also stated that in 2011, NALIS was successful in having the Lord Learie Constantine Collection inscribed into the UNESCO International Memory of the World Register (Lord Constantine was a Trinidadian cricketer, politician, lawyer and diplomatic); in 2014, the Anson Gonzalez Collection inscribed in the UNESCO MOWLAC (Anson Gonzalez was a noted poet, literary activist, author and educator) and in 2016 the Father Gerard Pantin (Servol) Collection in the UNESCO MOWLAC. The Constantine and Gonzalez Collections are accessible to researchers at NALIS’ Heritage Library. In 2024, NALIS submitted for the UNESCO International Register the LeRoy Clarke Collection and Eintou Pearl Springer Collection and is currently awaiting responses regarding these.

Over the years, NALIS has collected and makes available for researchers books, personal items, drawings, photographs and papers from the likes of ANR Robinson, Basdeo Panday, Beryl McBurnie, Bill Trotman, Gerry Gomez, George Chambers, Lord Learie Constantine, Professor Julian Kenny, Sir Solomon Hochoy, Wayne Berkeley, Winston Dookeran, to name a few.

As the designated International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Preservation and Conservation (PAC) Centre for the English-Speaking Caribbean, NALIS’ PAC Lab provides a range of services which include: insect extermination, disaster recovery, freeze-drying treatment, mould remediation, deacidification, bindery and consultancy pertaining to the care of paper-based materials.