Forty-six female and ten male law library assistants from CARICOM Member States were trained at a workshop entitled “Caribbean Law Librarianship in the Digital Age” from January 25th – 27th, 2016, in Kingston, Jamaica. The training provided the opportunity for these persons, some of whom had never received formal training in Law Librarianship, to upgrade their research, administrative and service delivery skills. Participants hailed from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia.
His Excellency Sylvain Fabi, High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica
His Excellency Sylvain Fabi, High Commissioner for Canada to Jamaica, delivered the Welcome Address on behalf of the Government of Canada at the Opening Ceremony. Ms. Connie Crosby, President of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries brought greetings from that association and Prof. Velma Newton, provided background information on IMPACT Justice.
Among the trainers were law librarians from the Norman Manley Law School, the Hugh Wooding Law School, UWI Cave Hill Campus, UWI Mona Campus, York University Canada and the Office of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. The Campus Coordinator for the School of Graduate Studies Research, UWI Cave Hill Campus, was also part of the training team.
Prof. Velma Newton, IMPACT Justice Regional Project Director presenting a participant with his certificate after completing the Law Librarianship Workshop
The topics covered were Primary Sources of Law; Secondary Sources of Law; Introduction to Customer Service and Workplace Etiquette; Organisation of User Services; Collection Development; Cataloguing and Classification of Legal Materials; Law Library Cooperation and Law Libraries in the Digital Age: Coping with New Practices and Services. Participants also undertook several practical exercises on the abovementioned topics.
The workshop received very high reviews from participants who all reported that their law librarianship skills had improved as a result of the workshop.
