The public library in Long Look East End has been relocated to the Wheatley building in Major Bay.

The library which is located on the ground floor of the Wheatley building was closed for several months to allow for infrastructural work on the building. The new location has a ramp and will be easily accessible by physically challenged persons, in keeping with the standard for library buildings worldwide.

Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Honourable Shari De Castro congratulated the Chief Librarian and her team on the reopening and spoke of the importance of public access to information in relation to the mandate of the ministry.

Honourable DeCastro said, “We are really appreciative of this step to create a public space where reading can come alive. Important is how close it is to the Willard Wheatley Primary School, and it creates an opportunity for the students to visit and truly experience what it means to have a library and to make it an integral part of our education system once again.”

The Minister added that her Ministry was extremely elated and looks forward to the additional steps to be taken to advance library services in the Territory.

Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Dr. Natalio Wheatley also addressed the library’s opening and spoke of how integral public libraries are to nation building.

The Premier said, “The foundation of the success of the Virgin Islands is education, and you cannot have education without having reading and libraries to be able to consume that information. I grew up in the library. I know the power of libraries to open up the minds of our young people to explore the possibilities way beyond the shores of the Virgin Islands and to engage your imagination to think of all the possibilities that exist for an individual.”

Meanwhile, Chief Librarian, Ms. Suzanne Greenaway said the space in the building will allow for a better organisation of the book collection and other furnishings. Ms. Greenaway said the  library will now provide two small units which it did not have at its previous location: a Caribbean Studies Unit where Caribbean and local materials will be housed and computer sections where customers can access the Internet, check email, do word processing and print their documents. She added that the ambience in the library and the aesthetically pleasant layout will be pleasing to the public.

The Chief Librarian said, “We know that the library is an integral part of the community, and we are eagerly looking forward to welcoming the public again, and meeting their varied information needs.”

The public is reminded that the Virgin Gorda and Anegada Community Libraries are open and available to meet their information needs. 

Persons can contact the Public Library Service via email at libraryservices@gov.vg, on Facebook at Public Library Service of the Virgin Islands, and they can gain access to the Library’s catalog VILIBCAT at: www.vipubliclibraries.goalexandria.com          

The Public Library Service of the Virgin Islands continues to provide information through technology and various formats to meet the educational, historical, recreational and cultural needs of the general public of the Virgin Islands.

Photo 1: (Left to Right): Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Dr. Natalio Wheatley, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Dr. Marcia Potter, Chief Librarian Ms. Suzanne Greenaway, Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Honourable Sharie de Castro

Photo 2: Photo of Chief Librarian Ms. Greenaway presenting some of the library inventory to the honourable ministers

Photo 3: Picture of the computer section of the library

(Photo credit: GIS/P. Bridgewater)