The library delegation comprising foundation president Chantal Schaminee, Director Monique Alberts, Librarian Karia Arnold and Treasurer Clayton Holiday met with Parliament's Permanent Committee for Education, Youth and Culture to outline why the library should be assisted.
The library needs some US $6 million to construction a new 3,000-square-metre multilevel building with a possible paid parking facility to help generate additional income. The building, still in the exploratory design stage, would cater to increased use of new technologies, provide a 100-seat theatre-style auditorium for events and cater to teenagers with their own dedicated space.
Proper facilities for digitising documents and special research material also will be part of the new building that will replace the 28-year-old library building located next to Sundial School, once funding is found.
At present, the library covers its operational cost, including salaries, via an annual government subsidy of NAf. 1.2 million. Asked by MP Marlin whether this amount was enough to keep up with the library's growing cost, Holiday said an increase to NAf. 1.8 million annually would better cover expenses.
The possibility of acquiring a loan to cover the cost of the new building has not been possible so far because government is not in a position to increase the library's subsidy, Schaminee said. Alberts added that talks had been held with St. Dominic High School about how it had been able to obtain a loan for its needed wing, but the same cannot happen for the library without an increased government subsidy.
Permanent Committee Chairwoman MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce (UP) said the committee definitely would give the library all the support it needed to achieve its goals. Similar words of support were expressed by MP Louie Laveist (NA) under whose tenure as Culture Commissioner in the early 2000s the library was tipped to be the national library in the Integrated Culture Policy.
Answering questions posed by MP Roy Marlin (DP), Schaminee said talks about making the library the national library of the country already had started with Education and Culture Minister Rhoda Arrindell. She hopes these talks will move further and called on the MPs to lend their support.
Holiday added that the library was still to be placed properly within a government sector. The current leaning is to place it under Sector Education and Culture, which would be a perfect fit considering the purpose of the library.
Alberts explained that "important documents" related to St. Maarten's history and culture were stored in the director's office at present, a situation not suitable for preservation. She pointed out that once the library was formally recognised as the national library, its tasks would increase and the need for better and proper storage would become paramount.
Staffing for the library continues to be an issue, although study financing for library science is on government's priority list. Alberts said the library was looking into ways to help current library assistants upgrade with courses to become full-fledged librarians.
The idea of a library college which all the Dutch Caribbean islands can support and have people trained in library science also has been floated around. Alberts said all of the islands were facing similar staffing issues.
MP Romain Laville (UP) queried about the impact of technology on the role of the library as more people have access to information and e-books. Alberts said that in the long term the library would see the ordering of fewer books and more computers. However, the need for the library will not diminish, because a significant number of children don't access to a computer at home and are not credit card holders, she said.
Arnold outlined some of the library's major activities in the community: promoting reading at all age levels, including the bookmobile that serves 14 after-school activities programmes and 12 day care centres. The library also has an ongoing "book box" project that delivers a box of 25 books to various organisations to help children with their reading skills.
The library also wants to expand its services into the districts via partnerships with community centres and after-school activities programmes. These centres can make books accessible to children in a community who cannot reach the library in Philipsburg. Staffing for the outreach libraries is not seen as a major issue, as high school students who have to complete a community service requirement can man the operations.
MP Johan Leonard (UP) also was present for the meeting.
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