National Library looks to boost clientele

AS PART of its rebranding, The National Library of Jamaica is looking to boost its customer base especially outside Kingston.

Executive director of the library, Winsome Hudson, said many of the users are from the Corporate Area, and this was the wrong image for the institution.

"Though we are based in Kingston, we want people to understand that we serve the entire Jamaica," she said.

Hudson was giving tours of the library at last Wednesday's open house, where hundreds of people came to view the library's various sections.

"It (the open house) is just letting our Jamaicans know we're here, why we exist, as our mission statement says to foster a nation, knowledgeable about its history, heritage." Guests were taken to previously off-limits sections of the institution like the bindery.

"The occasion is to really bring more Jamaicans to see behind the front doors, even our normal users. We're actually bringing out some of the things that are only in stacks and putting them on display," she explained.

The open house was also part of the library's plans to support the Book Industry Association of Jamaica, which was celebrating Book Week; and to celebrate the library's recent separation from the Institute of Jamaica's corporate structure.

"It has given us a little more authority and power in what is expected of us as a national library," she explained.

Guests could also view an exhibition on Independence 1962 that was also opened yesterday and will be up for at least another two months, before it is replaced by another exhibit, one on Jamaican literature.

The library also used the occasion to launch its new logo, which, as Hudson explained, has been designed to reflect the new movement in the organisation.