EARLY NATIONAL REGIONAL LIBRARY PLAN OF PRE-TRUST DAYS
This plan was delivered to Prime Minister Esquivel of Belize, late
1996.
THE NATIONAL LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY PLAN FOR THE NATION OF BELIZE
for
1998
TECHNOLOGY PLANS, THEIR DIFFERENCES
The ordinary technology plan for a library, or school media
center in an advanced industrialized nation is a different sort
of plan than that required for a small ex-colony, with a wide
range of geography, ethnic cultures, small population and limited
national budgets. For this technology plan, I have chosen the
requirements and circumstances of the small nation of Belize,
with a population of 200,000 people scattered around a wide
geographical area. In many cases, the infra structure of roads,
electricity and telephones have not yet caught up to many distant
rural areas of the country. This lack provides some challenges
in building a new library nationwide service and the location and
type of services planned.
Belize is on the verge of a technological revolution. Indeed,
it has already started and is accelerating at a rapid pace, yet
many facets of the society at large still lack the infra
structure to implement various government strategies for
development.
Among the desires and plans are the requirement that Belize
modernize itself more and become technically advanced. The
distribution and expansion of modern day library services and
technology is part of this revolution.
How to replace the inadequate underfunded one major library in
the coastal port town of Belize City where about one third of the
population live and have access, by modern facilities, and also
at the same time install and replace those regional and rural
community library services which for the most part only exist on
paper, or in the form of three rows of dusty old books on shelves
in a local school or community center, tended by some young
volunteer.
Technology Library Planning for this small underpopulated
third world nation is something different than what would be
experienced by a school, or local small library in the USA. In
the USA it would mean the upgrading of computer software,
installation of internet service and some new computers for
public use and joining various networks of library service
bibliographic services.
In Belize, this small nation looks at Technology Planning as
something completely different. It means some of those same
things that would be appropriate in the USA, but far more, it
means actually acquiring land, constructing libraries and
deciding where to build, outfitting them with the latest
materials and equipment and planning for the appropriate
electrical outlets, for modern equipment and maintainance of
same. It is in fact, the plan for a completely brand new library
system. This technology plan is an outline for the complete
growth of a new library service throughout the rural countryside
of the small third world nation of Belize.
OVERVIEW
The Belize National Library Service has been a bit of a lame
duck in national priorities. The major library service is found
only in the port and largest town of the country, which is Belize
City. Here are located a Technology Library started many years
ago by a retiring USAID Director, one Mr. Eddie Astle and
suplemented by donations ever since. The main library is more of
a reading library for those people who desire to read, mostly for
pleasure, with some books available for port town school students
to do very limited research work. These library outlets are
reminiscent of a small country library found in the USA of fifty
years ago.
Some of the books in this library are more than seventy years
old. Some current newspapers are available and a reference
archive section on Belizean affairs and history for researchers.
As of late, some new additions to books by donations have
increased library resources, but alas, no budget worth mentioning
has permitted the National Library Service to fill the needs of
the port town, much less on a national scale.
That said, when requested, library services have been extended
to District Towns and some rural villages. These are usually
located in schools, or community centers, or even someones home
and co-exist as part of school services and collections. The
books supplied though, are usually not used much and reflect the
taste in reading and castoff character of foreign countries.
Occasionally donations have supplemented the book rural book
collections, with things like supermarket encyclopedias of poor
quality and content.
There is an added complication in that much of Belize, both in
the major town of the port Belize City and district towns and
rural villages, in that young people do not learn to appreciate
and enjoy reading as a hobby and useful tool. This is a fault of
the educational system and teachers lacking experience and
initiative, who have no experience with the wider world and
alternative methods of teaching, to teach that reading is a
pleasure. Indeed, the majority of them simply repeat how they
learnt to read as a child themselves and do not have the
financial means or capabilities, to tap wider world donated
sources of matrials that could be acquired. The result is a
nation of young people to whom literacy is taught, but not
comprehension, or the pleasures to be found in reading. Library
services that do exist, primitive as they may be, are thus under
utilized, as with a low reading comprehension level, young people
shun the use of books as too difficult. Reading for pleasure is
not a strong point of our national educational system and this in
turn is reflected in the low usage of libraries, as the subject
matter is found too difficult to comprehend with any fair rate of
speed.
The 1998 starting date of the Library Technological Plan to
bring the library services nationwide into a modern era, follows.
It can only work if the educational system cooperates and the
will to follow through also exists in Government. Belize is
retarded in development in many fields and this is because of the
nature of importance of political will. At the moment the
country uses a divisive political party system that does not
address many unique national problems due to political party
strife and cyclical changes in political bias and administration.
Nor does this system which is centralized, tap more than a few
inputs and limited idea sources from a very small limited group
of centralized elected representatives. It would seem this
centralized political limitation may change soon and it is hoped
such changes will bring a new breath of fresh air into the
National Library Service ability to expand and upgrade to a
modern facility and services, befitting of a growing developing
nation.
SPECIAL CURRICULUM SERVICE GOALS OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
There is a wide range of geographical needs nationwide
throughout the six districts. In the past, the National Library
Service has not been able to address any of these. For the
present the situation remains the same. The hope for the future
is bright and we do have faith that the National Library Service
can expand and provide those diverse localized needs for a
growing nation and economy.
The Toledo District for instance, requires many picture type
books, as the reading comprehension level among rural villagers
is very low. Also specific magazines and catalogues dealing with
subject matter and development ideas compatible with the
environment and level of expertise in the district. Many "How
to" books also need to be offered to this district. Much of the
needs of this area of the nation require magazine subscriptions
and computer educational CD-ROMs and video tapes. There is a
problem that many communities are not yet part of the rural
electrification grid, nor do they have telephone services. Until
the infra structure catches up, library services in this district
are going to continue to lag behind developmental needs.
The Stann Creek District probably needs more than one regional
center library located in the small port of Dangriga. Population
growth has not yet caught up with the possibilities of
development for this area, but it is rapidly coming. Most of
this is in the tourism and the agricultural field. For the
forseeable next five years, library services in this district
need to concentrate on the needs of schools, general education
and agriculture.
The Cayo District is already well developed and enjoys fairly
large populations. Due to the healthy nature of hill country
life, a large foreign born immigrant influx is bringing new
ideas, modern ways and more needs for more sophisticated library
services. The regional library service in this area, probably to
be located east of San Ignacio, or part way between Belmopan and
San Ignacio, should be modern and much larger than perhaps other
regional centers to the south of the country. There is a need to
make this regional library center a source of agricultural
experiment and knowledge. Central Farm the old colonial
agricultural station, in the past has had much experience and
information to impart to the nation's researchers and farmers,
but has failed to supply this service. Indeed, much of the
research, experience and information has been lost. It should be
the job of this Cayo District Regional Library to collect and
compile all the subjects, information and technological data
pertinent to the Agricultural development of this nation,
throughout the history of the nation and to keep an ongoing
updated archive of what has been tried in the past, the results
and other data, to stop the repeat experiments and loss of
knowledge from past efforts,being fruitlessly repeated by new
generations.
The Belize District requires a good regional modern library
service at the port, in the latest best examples of this field,
as found in industrialized nations. Within this district, two
locations, Caye Caulker and San Pedro have sophisticated
populations with skills and abilities to rival the best of the
industrialized world. The new libraries of these communities
should be about three times larger than the present existing
community centers and of the latest most modern equipped style
and technological resources and magazines. This to encourage
these spots of Belizean entrepeneurial experience, to expand
their activities even more for the larger economic growth of the
nation.
The Orange Walk District is a very advanced district with a
population accustomed to the latest technology, money to spare
and a population willing to learn and try anything of an
entrepeneurial nature. This district needs a modern regional
library center with all the latest possible facilities.
The Corozal District needs a regional library in Corozal and it
also should be an up to date modern facility with all the
expanded resources to rival any regional library to be found in
the USA.
The Belmopan Federal District also requires a sophisticated
modern library and here collections on government, business,
financial planning, and subjects covering all facets of running a
complex country need to be available as resource material for
civil servants, politicians, foreign contractors and visitors.
All these new libraries are going to need to be designed with
sufficient electrical outlets, work stations for computers,
telephone lines and other accoutrements of the modern library to
satisfy the needs of national growth and development. Such
modern technology can provide fast and comprehensive information
services. Laser-disc and CD-ROM's offer a wealth of resources,
such as electronic encyclopedia. Nationwide networked computer
library services can provide access to the database available
throughout the nation as well as communication with other
libraries around the world. Library student media centers can
provide taped educational programs taken from satellite
television and rebroadcast to rural communities. A master
teacher at one library site can team teach students in scattered
communities in different locations and multiple sites. Printers
can print out all necessary information and research, for
business people as well as schools. Overhead projectors,
cassette recorders, LCD Panel projections are all some of things
needed around the nation.
In the case of Belize, this is not upgrading of an existing
outmoded system, but the building and installation of a complete
brand new system where it does not presently exist at all. In
this regard, technology planning and technology transfer have
completely different meanings than that of a school, or existing
library in the USA.
It is important to remember here, that in the case of the
nation of Belize, technology planning does not mean just
technology acquisition, but rather the successful implementation
of technology to enhance learning, development and teaching.
EXTENDED ACCESS PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
At the very minimum, all regional library centers and those
mentioned as entrepeneurial centers should have access to
programs and services of the most modern nature. Some of these
would be; computers, internet access for research, films, videos,
CD-Rom's, laser discs, good quality encylopedias like World Book,
be networked to all other regional libraries, particularly those
with specialist archived collections and inter-library loan
services. These regional library centers should be able to
provide distant learning courses and capability to rural
communities in their districts via computers, monitors and
telephone lines.
THE HISTORY OF CIRCULATION AND CATALOGUE INFORMATION
The current system of card catalogues is sadly ancient and
outdated. New software for computer cataloguing and accessing
from any rural community library computer should be accessible to
any other library to be found nationwide. They should be on one
system.
LIBRARY STAFF TECHNOLOGY TRAINING
In the past this has been a mostly learned on the job
experience. Since the library services have been minimal this
has been adequate, but in our new technological age for the
future, this no longer can be adequate. Staying up with the
technical changes and improvements on a world wide scale is
imperative if the nation of Belize is to compete in the world
arena.
Some steps have already been taken and distant learning via
the internet is proposed with a Librarian Training Course out of
Scotland for ten staff members. Future staffing should seek
candidates with minimum Bachelor degree qualifications, though
technicians could have only High School Degrees. The ability to
communicate in English and reading comprehension are of utmost
importance as also computer literacy.
Due to the scarce nature of funding in the nation of Belize
and competition for these funds, the process of training future
library staff at this stage and for the next five years can be
adequately met by using existing staff with High School Degrees
and demonstrated competency in both computers and English, doing
what would be a Masters Degree Course in Library Science, doing
organized distant learning via the internet. This would in some
cases, skip the Bachelor of Arts ,or equivelent degrees found in
such people in other countries, but nevertheless some equivalent
accreditation for this training should be given to such
successfully trained staff in the nation of Belize. As we are
primarily concerned with the development of the nation of Belize
and not the training of people with suitable accreditation for
overseas employment and standards, this accomodation meets our
home based needs admirably.
FIVE YEAR TECHNOLOGY IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Over the next five years, land must be found in every village,
town and community for government to build upon it an adequate
library building. These buildings should be built for future
expansion in mind and at the very minimum be at least five times
the current size of village community centers, sometimes doubling
as health clinics. At the very least, four to five good size
rooms are required for a future adequate district library
service, enough electrical outlets for computers, phone line
jacks, bookshelves, storage and office space, toilets, childrens
rooms separate from the main library room, young adult space for
school students to do research and homework, a reference section
separated from the whole and an up to date reading room and
magazine racks with modern day subscription type technological
magazines.
Due to the long process of acquiring land and construction of
buildings, this part of the process will probably consume three
of the five years. By this time, the first ten library staff
that are taking the distant learning Library Education Degree
program should be ready to be sent out to the regional centers.
The last two years will be occupied with seeking the funding
and resources, for equipping the regional district libraries with
the equipment they need to function properly. To make it work,
the Education Department have to make a concerted effort with
their teacher training program, to emphasize an increase of
reading comprehension not just literacy, the next generation must
acquire the hobby of reading for pleasure. Typing on a keyboard
should also be a compulsory subject in Elementary Schools. There
are typing computer programs for self teaching assignments for
school students. Regional libraries can enhance and speed up
this process by having comic books, pictorial books, like Dr.
Suess books and other similar things for the very young childrens
room and collection. Class assignments and weekend reading
programs to village children groups, via volunteers, or trained
library media staff who emphasize the fun of reading are a
prerequisite. These sort of programs are standard in
industrialized nations and must be for Belize to compete in the
future. Funding of this program will be discussed later.
SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREAS, GOALS AND MEDIA SKILLS
While technical magazines will be needed as subscriptions in
each district, catalogues and informative books on subject matter
for tropical agriculture, international trading and export and
marketing materials. A lot of this can be found via the
internet. Computers and internet access, and classes on how to
use search engines and other criteria will have to be library
staff public conducted classes, not only for the general public,
on a one on one basis, but also for school groups brought in by
teachers. Library staff are going to have to become media
specialists, web researcher guides and teachers, as well as
looking after the traditional library materials of the bygone
era.
A lot of questions have to be answered by the implementation
of a brand new library nationwide service and planning of the
technology to be used. Will the computers be networked? What
size computers are you going to get? How many computers would
you have in a regional library, versus the port city main
library, or that of the agricultural research library near
Belmopan and Central Farm? How will you replace these computers
and upgrade every couple of years? How will you budget for
maintenance, service, replacement, provide security for theft and
acquire insurance for loss?
PEOPLE WHO WILL BE NEEDED IN THE LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY PLAN
The trained library staff will be needed of course. But also
volunteers to carry on story reading and entertainment classes on
Saturdays in particular in the young childrens room. Opening up
the young minds, filling them with the excitement of stories,
fantasy, imagination and possibilites will create the
entrepeneurial generation of the future. This does not take
long, only about twenty years. Volunteers, whether school
teachers, foreigners, entertainers of any kind, who can and will
participate to encourage the very young children in an active
weekend program are necessary for building the nation of Belize.
The library must be an exciting place to visit. Lectures by
businessmen on their specialty, be it logging, shrimp farming,
fish farming, use of organic fertilizer, all these subjects
should and could be provided by regional district libraries with
an active Library Director. Music, poetry and story writing
groups add to the fair of such services. Most of this will be
volunteer and is usually dependent on an active Library staff to
solicit and organize. Such organization training for library
staff is necessary in most cases in Belize.
FUNDING OF A NATIONWIDE LIBRARY SERVICE
Since Belize is a poor nation with limited resources, much
funding will have to be found from donations and grant writing.
Training courses for library staff in writing of letters, seeking
donator sources, continuing a correspondence with donators,
compiling lists, keeping records, grant writing courses, grant
sources and possibilities for overseas funding should be taught
to all library staff and in particular for each regional library
director. Such regional directors should by their training, be
able to solicit donated books from abroad, usually from overflows
or sample copies from other libraries, arrange the shipping and
government exemptions out of Belmopan for customs duties and
such, establish partnership arrangements with numerous libraries
in other countries who have excess copy discards normally given
away, or trashed. Computers, programs and other equipment can
also be found in this way. Funds for upkeep, maintainance and
even expansion can be solicited by donation or grants, if the
Regional Library Directors are taught the necessary skills and
methods. This will alleviate the necessity on the limited skills
of central government for find unlimited funds to keep up with
the demands of such an expanded library service. None of this is
impossible or even hard. It simply requires some new skills and
an enthusiastic person. Belize is unique, in that it is a very
small impoverished third world nation. There are many tens of
thousands of people out their in industrialized nations willing
and eager to help, if only they were asked. Surprisingly enough,
sending photo's, thankyou letters and other such warm personality
skills at which Belizeans excel, will bring more equipment and
materials than can be absorbed if past experiences are valid.
BUDGET COSTS
The regional libraries will probably cost in the neighborhood
of $100,000 Belize for building, and initial equipment. Rural
community libraries will probably cost about $50,000 BZ outside
of the cost of land and building. Afer the initial installation
the bills of electricity, salaries and other maintainance must be
met. It should be hoped though, that careful selection of
Regional Library Directors and appropriate training in seeking of
donations, importation procedures, and research in grant sources
and grant writing courses will equip these regional directors
with the ability to keep their regional library centers updated
and relatively well equipped and modern thereafter, at no further
cost to the central budget of the nation of Belize.
Funding for regional library budgets is going to be high. We
have to consider the insurance coverage for theft, damage and
loss, phone lines, expendable materials, maintainence of
equipment like printers, paper, ink, personnnel costs, staff
training and ongoing development, seminars, consultant fees,
registration fees for courses. Losses due to theft will probably
be the major problem, as due to the example and nature of the
robber baron colonial political system inherited and centralized
political police force, endemic thievery is rampant throughout
Belize and uncontrollable by local population officials.
Technology is changing at a rapid pace, tight budgets are
common in all fields, so specialized training in alternative
funding resources is necessary. What are some of these
alternative sources open to a small third world nation and who
would do it? How do you tackle the negative influence of
community members and teachers who now enjoy a aecure environment
in the status quo and will fight any change in technology that
challenges them in ways for which they are not prepared? Local
requirements may differ throughout Belize, so how do you alter
your priorities and shift your goals and plans rapidly.
Population changes and external effects to the country may effect
the economic base of your communities, so how do you readust your
services and plans?
- National Libary Technology Plan variation started implementation in
1996. The NATIONAL LIBRARIES ACT legislation was made in 1997.-
(This catalyst report was successful!)
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS TECHNOLOGY PLAN
Ray Auxillou and Silvia Pinzon
Copyright by Silvia Pinzon. Quotes, or copying is
authorized, if the credit is given to the author.
Useful Reference: Library Technology Planning for Pakistan of
1996.
http://library.wustl.edu/~listmgr/devl-l/Apr1996/0022.html
https://ambergriscaye.com/BzLibrary (Belize Electronic Development
Library)
Trustee
Belize Development Trust (NGO)
Dangriga, Belize, Central America
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