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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
(Photo: Derek Carroll)
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Freeport, Bahamas – Reading is fundamental for children to achieve their goals, and thanks to BORCO, PharmaChem, Polymers, City Services, The Lyford Cay Foundation, The U.S. Embassy, FOCOL, Royal Bank, Statoil, and the Grand Bahama Shipyard, the Sir Charles Hayward Children’s Library is becoming the best reading nook for local children.
The goal for this year is to increase library membership and improve reading skills in youngsters throughout Grand Bahama. Thanks to the donations from the industrial sector of Grand Bahama and others, the library was able to complete various technological and facility upgrades to help achieve their goals to increase reading and membership. The library recently underwent a technology upgrade establishing an IT room and adding twenty-six new computers, ten Leapfrogs, twenty Kindles, four V-Techs, a Rukus Wireless System, and a Server to the library to make reading and learning more fun and interactive.
“Reading is an integral part of education,” said Robert Gaffney, VP International Operations at Buckeye Bahamas (BORCO). “As a result, we couldn’t be more proud to donate to improving literacy and technology at the children’s library in Grand Bahama. The more access young people have to educational materials, the more they’ll be able to succeed.”
(Photo: Derek Carroll)
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The Children’s Library director and staff were extremely grateful to the Industrial team for helping the facility step into the 21st century and create the enviable IT system that they now have. Thanks to the upgrades, new programmes have been introduced to the library roster and membership in the children’s section of the library has increased significantly.
There has also been an increase in the amount of art and décor in the library, with ABC Construction helping to decorate and Art Teacher, Alisa Robinson, helping to coordinate an art drive to get one hundred pieces of students’ creative work displayed on the walls. Four schools including Jack Hayward Senior High School, St. Georges High School, Bishop Michael Eldon High School and Catholic High School, along with five former art students, participated in the art drive.
(Photo: Derek Carroll)
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“My hope is that the students who participated in creating the art will encourage their family and friends to go to the library to see the art” said Robinson, “and their eyes will be opened to what is available and will help increase membership. Getting young people involved is always a great way to get traffic inthe door and once people are in, the services the library provides will encourage them to join.”
In addition to the increase in membership, there has also been an increase in volunteers, and the library has been able to establish a special Mobile Library service to assist children in East Grand Bahama. ResourceMate, a Small Library Organizer Software has been installed to allow patrons in both Libraries to access the card catalog information digitally instead of manually and thousands of dollars’ worth of books has been contributed to the children’s library this year.
“After just one year as a non-profit organization, the Sir Charles Hayward Library has experienced a major transformation in technology upgrade and physical restructuring, particularly in the Children’s section,” said Geneva Rutherford, Executive Director.
“Sponsorship and donations from entities like the U.S. Embassy, the Lyford Cay Foundation, BORCO, Polymers, PharmaChem Technologies, Statoil, Ross University, The Grand Bahama Shipyard, FOCOL, Statoil and Royal Bank among others, all worked to create a beautiful space for Children and Youth to enjoy a range of learning activities.We thank everyone who has made a contribution and invite your continued support as the Library’s transformation continues.”
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