The Siparia Public Library (SPL) hosted vacation camps for children, young adults and adults during the July/August vacation period. The camps, which were held at the library’s George Street location, featured a host of leisure activities.

The Adult and Golden Members’ Camp (for persons 60 years and over), the first of its kind hosted by the library, ran from August 6 to 10 and included tie dying and dye extraction, winemaking and tasting, cake decorating, car maintenance for females, and a lecture on “A Balanced Diet” facilitated by the South-West Regional Health Authority.

The Young Adult Camp, for youths 13 to 17, included jewelry making, head and body wrapping, a lecture from ChildLine of Trinidad and Tobago. Children under 13 were taught how to conduct research and science experiments as well as craft making. Lectures about beach safety and a joint library field trip to Chuck E. Cheese's were held. The children’s camps ran from mid-July and early August.

At the Siparia Public Library’s camp, a total of 28 persons participated in the free adult and seniors camp, while over 40 individuals attended the children’s and young adult’s camps.

As is the custom throughout the NALIS network of libraries, library staff develop various progammes by assessing the interests and needs of persons in their communities. Additionally, the age of the population, their vocation and their availability to attend programmes are taken into consideration. The library’s role in each community is to provide meaningful activities and a safe place where persons can learn and interact with each other. This is in keeping with NALIS’ mandate to provide library and information services to facilitate the social and educational development of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

According to a study in the “Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 2017” “the benefits [of leisure activities at libraries] include providing relaxation, improving health and well-being, opening up choices and opportunities despite financial constraints, alleviating boredom and allowing people to socialize.”

To find out about ongoing activities happening at your public library visit the “Programmes and Events” page or a library near you.