Author: Andrea Braham,
Title: All Jamaicans Urged to Embrace Technology
Source: Jamaica Information Service
Date published: 16 April 2013
URL: http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-111/33581
Abstract:
The article reports on speeches delivered to a group of librarians and information specialists attending a seminar to introduce the implementation of a new international cataloguing system, Resource Description and Access (RDA). The event was hosted by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the Library and Information Association of Jamaica and National Library of Jamaica.The objectives of the seminar are stated, namely to create national awareness of the introduction and implementation of RDA and to educate and inform all members of the Jamaica Library and Information Network (JAMLIN) community and Information Technology personnel about the system.
In the speech by the Jamaican State Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Julian Robinson, he mentions the Government's efforts to connect the libraries, post offices and schools is part of an overall strategy to ensure universal access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services for Jamaicans. The Minister further reports statistics regarding the establishment of community access point projects, whereby computer labs and Internet cafes have been established in churches and other public sites. Mr. Robinson is also reported as stating that librarians need to change the services they offer to students and youth.
Also reported is the Head of the Cataloguing Section at the University of the West Indies, Rosemarie Runcie. Ms. Runcie notes that the new RDA system has emerged in response to the changing nature of how users discover and access information. She is further reported as saying that the new system is an improved version of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2) currently used in Jamaica. She also reports on what the RDA tool kit contains and how it differs from the AACR2.
President of the Library and Information Association of Jamaica, Matthew Blake, is also cited as urging his colleagues to begin early adoption of the system in their various organizations.
Excerpt:
In the meantime, Head of the Cataloguing Section at the University of the West Indies, Rosemarie Runcie, noted that the new RDA system has emerged in response to the changing nature of how users discover and access information.
She assured them that the new system is an improved version of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), currently being used in Jamaica.
“The RDA tool kit contains all the important areas, but with a few additional ones, created especially to accommodate more information about the resources themselves and in particular online resources and about the creators, so as to help us better identify them,” Ms. Runcie informed.
The RDA will also provide rules and guidelines to facilitate the description and access of all digital and analogue material, resulting in records that can be used in a variety of digital environments.
President of the Library and Information Association of Jamaica, Matthew Blake, urged his colleagues to begin using the system in their various organizations, as early as possible.
“A new standard is out. The world we interact with has begun to use it…So, as the world starts, we must also move to be in tandem with what is happening across the globe. Information is dynamic and we as dynamic professionals must move with it, to ensure that our clients (also) move to access that information that they need in a timely manner,” Mr. Blake urged.
