National Library Week 2014, which began on Sunday, will be celebrated until November 2. In a two-part article reporter Bobie-Lee Dixon will highlight the special occasion as well as give closer insight into the library system in T&T, what it does and what it really offers citizens age zero to 100.
Live, Learn and Laugh at Your Library is the theme of this year's National Library Week which began with a celebrity telethon at the library's amphitheatre. Nalis' corporate communications manager Debbie Goodman said the telethon was the eighth since National Library Week began. Courts T&T Ltd has sponsored the telethon for the past four years.
The telethon is the library's grand story-telling event where a number of local celebrities partner with the library and give freely of their time, telling stories to children, Goodman said.
It is also geared to promote the oral tradition and reading habit among children, according to director of public library division, Diane Simeon.
Senior citizens activities and programmes are also offered at Nalis as well. According to Simeon, seniors, who are referred to as the library's golden members, often get left behind in this technologically-advanced era that exists.
"We are concerned with satisfying the information needs of all from birth to maturity. With seniors, their information needs are different. We operate in a very young world, everybody is involved with the young people, but we also have an increasing ageing population and they also have needs and one of those needs are library services," Simeon pointed out.
She said because of this the library offers special programmes to seniors which includes computer literacy, talk sessions and workshops which focus on their needs and interests, and then there is the senior citizens book club which she indicated has grown tremendously.
Activities will also take place at the various small libraries across T&T, including the Round d Library Tour, which will be an educational tour for citizens to learn more about their libraries.
As part of the celebrations Nalis will also be offering a book and DVD amnesty from October 27 to November 30, on all overdue books and DVDs.
�2 See part two of this article in tomorrow's Guardian.
For more information on the event or for a complete listing on the programmes and activities happening specifically for the celebration, visit Nalis Web site: www.nalis.gov.tt