The National Library Service Celebrates its 85th Anniversary

The National Library Service celebrated its eighty-fifth anniversary today and while it is a milestone achievement, the N.L.S. is tasked with keeping up with technological advancements which have seen more students searching for updated information in the online space.  Nonetheless, with a new Minister of Education in office, the National Library service is looking forward to new ideas and a fruitful partnership in realizing its goals.

Lusiola Castillo

Lusiola Castillo, Chief Librarian

“Eighty-five years means that we have been here serving the public, serving the nation of Belize from before independence.  We are now going towards our forty years of independence and we have also continued to provide information, activities, projections and things that the library and the public really need.  Information is very important as it‘s part of the educational development of the nation.  We also provide a lot of reading activities because without reading we cannot move forward and a nation that reads and understands what they read and comprehends can think critically, can make their own decisions and can also move the development of the nation forward and that‘s what we need with a young nation like Belize.”

Francis Fonseca

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“It’s a historic occasion so we‘re here to celebrate the eighty-fifth anniversary of the National Library Service, serving the Belizean people.  I came here, as I said in my remarks, as a child.  I grew up not very far from here so I personally benefited, myself and my sister, we use to come here very often on Saturdays, benefited from the library service, access to books.  So I have a great appreciation for the work that the people here at the National Library Service do and I wanted to make a special effort to be here.  This is in fact my first public appearance as Minister of Education and I wanted to do so to send a very clear message of support for the National Library Service, often overlooked in the wider mandate of the Ministry of Education.  I wanted to send that very clear message and also as I said, want us to think outside of the box when it comes to the National Library Service.  How can we create cultural spaces using our National Library Service?  How can we interact more with our communities?  How can we allow our artists and musicians and writers to have greater access to the National Library Service and use the National Library Service to help them to promote their work.”