Librarians were challenged to make every effort to attract more citizens, particularly students, to visit libraries and other information agencies, by Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald, during the recent 44th Association of Caribbean University Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) Conference held at the Melia Nassau Beach Resort.
Fitzgerald told the librarians that students primarily avail themselves of libraries to conduct research or to use the Internet, but that once their school work is finished, their relationship with libraries and other information centers cease.
"Your respective institutions must come to represent a place where they are constantly reminded of their history and culture and the men and women who devoted their lives to ensuring they have the freedoms and the identities they so readily enjoy," said the education minister.
The conference was held under the theme "Libraries, archives and museums: Gateways to information literacy and cultural heritage".
Fitzgerald said issues of information literacy and the preservation of culture impact all nations, particularly the Caribbean region.
"Our governments have to constantly weigh the benefits of economic development and investment against external influences and our cultural heritage."
The conference provides the opportunity to discuss the importance of information based-agencies such as libraries, museums, archives, galleries and their role in developing information-literate users.
Fitzgerald said that the world is rapidly becoming a knowledge-based society and citizens who do not embrace that reality will not be able to participate fully in the activities of society. "This may be a seemingly daunting task considering the fact that technology is rapidly supplanting traditional media, such as books and newspapers, as the prominent means through which society acquires knowledge," he said.
He told the conference delegates that as the gatekeepers of knowledge in their respective societies,
they must assist citizens in interpreting and managing the information they are exposed to.
Over 250 delegates from throughout the region, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Europe participated in the conference.

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