Maureen Thompson, director general of the Jamaica Library Service.
The excited laughter of children flying kites filled the air at the St Mary Parish Library in Port Maria during a recent fun day.
This lively scene in an otherwise quiet environment was part of the library’s effort to attract new visitors and reimagine the space as a vibrant community hub, Senior Parish Librarian Kareen Burton told The Sunday Gleaner.
Since opening in 1951 with 1,400 books, the parish library has remained a cornerstone of the community, providing access to books, educational resources, and a safe space for social interaction. However, in recent years, the library has adapted to the changing needs of its patrons by embracing the digital age.
One of Burton’s key goals is to ensure that the library evolves into a vibrant, dynamic hub that caters not only to readers but also to those seeking digital literacy and online resources.
“We are very passionate about the library space,” Burton declared, said describing the library’s mission to attract new visitors and ensure its continued relevance.
One of the primary focuses of the St Mary Parish Library is bridging the digital divide. Despite Jamaica’s impressive 85 per cent Internet penetration, 15 per cent of the population remains offline, particularly in rural areas where access to the Internet is limited or unaffordable.
Burton explains, “We are bridging the digital divide. With the changes that are taking place with digital books and everything available online, we are also digital, you can see us in that space as well.
“I find that some people will say the library is not needed. We are needed,” Burton insisted. Because even for those who cannot afford [Internet and devices], … this is where they come for that kind of access so they don’t feel left out. And we may think that that is not so much but it is,” she said, noting that the St Mary Parish Library and its seven branches also offer free computer training.
“Persons will choose to use their digital resources and whoever needs us we are able to facilitate that,” Burton told The Sunday Gleaner.
She pointed to efforts within the Jamaica Library Service (JLS) to promote digital inclusion in its long-standing senior citizens’ computer training programme.
“We try to get them comfortable so that they can handle their financial affairs and those little things that they normally would be scared to do [online],” Burton said.
While stressing that the library is “not just about the physical book”, Burton acknowledged that it is still an important part of the library’s identity.
“Due to financial challenges, the service itself has not been able to replenish the stock a[of physical books] they would love to,” she said.
“A few books could be updated,” she said, but the rise of e-books has allowed the library to offer access to the most up-to-date information, albeit in digital form.
The library saw 1,176 visits up to March this year, with the majority (872) being adults.
Despite the library’s success in becoming a vital community resource, there are still numerous challenges to overcome. Burton highlighted several key issues, including a lack of sufficient computers.
Currently, there are eight functioning computers at the St Mary Parish Library, Burton said, expressing hope for more monetary support to help maintain the library’s infrastructure – and possibly expand it.
She also lamented a shortage of funding for infrastructure repairs such as leaking roofs, and the suspension of the Bookmobile service, which once brought library services to remote areas
“The Bookmobile is very critical because when we had the Bookmobile, we are able to take the books into those communities that do not have a fixed library near to them, and to be honest sometimes the mobile library bears greater fruit than the actual fixed library because we take the books to them,” Burton explained.
Despite the increasing reliance on digital resources, public libraries across Jamaica continue to play a crucial role in promoting literacy, particularly among children and young adults. The Kingston and St Andrew Parish Library, a large and historic institution, is no exception. However, like many public libraries in the country, it faces challenges related to its ageing infrastructure and a lack of resources.
On a hot summer afternoon, Senior Parish Librarian Fiona Hutchinson laments the heat in the multi-storey Kingston and St Andrew Parish Library, expressing her desire for the entire building to be air-conditioned.
She also pointed to ongoing maintenance challenges, which she said the library tries to address “as we go along”.
“We have spaces that we would want to have the roofs fixed, ACs in areas that would make it a little more conducive for our patrons ’cause when there is a full house, it gets hot,” she said.
But acknowledging that the building is old, Hutchinson said its specific design features such as open windows, would mean extensive renovation before the full installation of air conditioning units, which she admitted would be expensive.
Despite these challenges, the library remains a vital community resource, especially for children and families. This summer, the Kingston library’s programme for children aged six to 14 saw 90 registrations across its six branches. The library offers a wide range of activities designed to stimulate creativity, enhance literacy, and promote socialisation.
“I sent them here so they could socialise. I want them to be in a new environment, experience different kids’ personalities and all of that,” Kelesia Burke, a guardian of two children in the programme, told The Sunday Gleaner.
She lauded the valuable impact of the initiative” “They’re enjoying the curriculum; they’re enjoying the play.”
The positive impact of the library’s programs is seen through the success of initiatives like the National Reading Competition, which encourages children to develop reading skills and a love for literature.
The Sunday Gleaner spotted Ricardo White in the library’s junior section, dutifully selecting the prescribed books for his teenage son, who is taking part in the National Reading Competition.
The beaming father shared that his son, 14-year-old Renaldo White, is a previous winner in the JLS’s annual five-month competition.
White, who works as a bearer, said he always encouraged his son to read and helped to facilitate this. He also credited the library for nurturing his son’s love of reading, noting that the knowledge and skill gained from it are invaluable.
“Everything that you do in life is a choice, and the library is here; it’s like an olive branch to the world of the unknown,” he said, acknowledging the library’s role in shaping his son’s future.
It’s this very benefit of reading that drives Hutchinson’s call for more parents to take an active interest in getting their children involved with public libraries.
‘I think a lot of people believe the library is irrelevant, but that’s only because we, as adults and parents, have stopped taking our children there,” she said. “I don’t believe the nation has stopped reading; it’s that we – the adults – have stopped showing interest in encouraging it.”
This sentiment is echoed by other library professionals, including Natalee Chambers, senior parish librarian at Clarendon Parish Library, who believes that libraries are more important than ever. Chambers’ library network actively visits schools weekly to facilitate reading activities, helping to nurture a new generation of book lovers.
“When we go back, God’s willing, September, we’re going to have a different perspective as to how we can help the students by us doing our sessions, because we now have a better understanding of how we can engage them,” she said.
Chambers also pointed to the growing demand for digital services, noting that many library visitors require access to computers for online classes, job applications, and other essential tasks.
“We have a need for computers overall for public use, we don’t have enough of that for sure,” she said.
“A person can come into the library and want a laptop to use, because they are having an online class, we offer that; a person can come into the library and say to us, we want to use the tablet for this purpose, we offer that,” she said.
On a monthly basis, she said between 6,000 and 7,000 visits are made to the libraries in the Clarendon Parish Library network to access the more than 40,000 books in stock and other services.
“There are people who just come to sit and relax and to read The Gleaner, or to browse a book or to browse the Internet. There are persons who come in to print, laminate, do some spiral binding, and to access a justice of the peace at two of its branches. Other people are doing interviews, studying, or simply checking their emails,” Chambers said.
Others visit libraries to take part in various programmes promoted like Read and Rhyme Fun Time, Early Literacy Jump Start, and Seniors’ Coffee and Conversation.
The Seniors’ Coffee and Conversation is a major monthly event for the branches in the St Thomas Parish Library network, where seniors are engaged in various forums, games and get a chance to socialise.
Simona Spencer, the acting senior librarian for the parish, said initiatives like these are critical for helping the library to maintain relevance.
She shared that last year, 885 individuals received assistance through the on-the-spot training offered in the parish library network. Additionally, the homework assistance programme recorded 436 sessions between April and May, reaching a total of 530 participants.
“For me, that says a lot. We are still being used; we’re still being accessed by persons for services and programmes. Libraries still a keep and, yes, we are still relevant,” she said.
Maureen Thompson, director general of The Jamaica Library Service – a key government agency under the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information – oversees the 13 parish libraries and 96 branch libraries.
The public library network receives subvention from the Ministry of Education to fund their operations. However, this is often not enough to cover the costs of repairs and modernisation. As a result, the JLS has turned to donations from corporate entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to fill the gap. In addition to these external donations, libraries generate income through services like printing and space rentals, which help keep the doors open.
Thompson told The Sunday Gleaner that due to budgetary constraints, the fleet of aged mobile libraries deteriorated and was no longer deemed safe to carry out its intended functions of transporting and distributing materials and providing mobile learning spaces for children.
Currently, there are just four Bookmobiles are in operation across the island – within the St Thomas, Hanover, St Catherine, Clarendon parish networks. As at May, they had made 334 mobile library stops.
But Thompson said that the JLS is “actively working to procure new vehicles by also collaborating with corporate partners”.
Despite the challenges, she remains optimistic about the future. She highlighted the JLS’s efforts to modernise and expand its digital services, including the launch of free Wi-Fi and the Online Public Access Catalogue, which allows users to access a wealth of information remotely.
She noted that over the past three years, libraries across the island have seen steady user traffic. In 2024-2025, total visits stood at 720,195. In the previous years, user traffic reached 777,142 in 2023-2024 and 759,140 in 2022-2023.
But she emphasised that library services have expanded beyond the borders of the physical space and beyond the use of physical information resources. For the last three years, the users have increasingly accessed online resources which include reprographic and e-information. In 2024-2025, there were 825,156 virtual visits, following 967,102 in 2023-2024 and 1,002,656 in 2022-2023.
“Through expanded digital access, including public computers and online platforms, JLS promotes equitable access to information,” Thompson explained.
However, despite these advancements, the library system continues to struggle with staffing shortages. According to Thompson, there are 93 posts for librarians, but only 47 positions are filled. The library network also faces a significant gap in the number of assistants, with only 218 out of the 235 available posts occupied.
Moreover, five library branches – Shortwood (KSA), Gayle (St Mary), Pennants (Clarendon), Lancaster (Manchester), and Anchovy (St James) – were permanently closed due to deteriorating infrastructure, which further exacerbates the strain on existing resources. But there is some hope: two libraries, the Green Island Branch in Hanover and the Discovery Bay Branch in St Ann, were reopened in recent years after undergoing rehabilitation funded by NGOs and corporate partners.
“The Jamaica Library Service continues to monitor and rationalise library spaces, aligning service delivery and the management of human and physical resources with community population needs and library performance,” Thompson said.
