For close to 177 years, the National Library Service (NLS) has been fulfilling its mandate of serving the Barbadian community as a ready source of information products and services.

Many adults can share memories of their youth while at a branch of the NLS and being caught up in the pages of their favourite book, or a magazine on cooking or craft.

In recent times, the NLS has broadened its scope by offering training programmes to assist young children and adults in improving their literacy and other skills geared towards the workforce.

One such initiative was the recent Pave Your Path Summer Programme for Job Seekers, held at the Tamarind Hall Branch in the Eric Holder Junior Municipal Complex, St. Joseph, for young people ages 16 and over. This was a first for the NLS. 

Participants were taught business etiquette, how to write a Curriculum Vitae and Cover letter, prepare for a job interview, and communicate at work.  There was also a session on opening a bank account and financial literacy.  

Officer in Charge of the Tamarind Hall Branch, Astrid Mayers, who conceptualised the programme, spoke about its significance to a team from the Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), who journeyed there to capture the students in action.

“I know that there are other governmental organisations that do something similar, but I feel like the library, in recent times, needs to pivot from just books and reading and studying, to educating the public. In other words, emphasis should be placed on more than just book learning but on life learning…. So, teaching people how to do a CV to enter the world of work…is something that people need to know how to do.”Officer in Charge of the Tamarind Hall Branch, Astrid Mayers

She stated: “Usually the library does summer programmes, but it is targeted towards children, five to 15. What I have noticed is that this branch, in particular, does not have a lot of juvenile patronage. But more importantly, I have found that a lot of people who come in to get their CVs printed, or they come in to do a CV, genuinely don’t know what to do.

“After a few years of seeing that and just being like ‘this is not what this is supposed to look like’, I thought to myself, you know what? I have the freedom now that I am here at [Tamarind Hall], to have a programme and target it to who I want to target it to.  So, I pivoted from the juveniles to the young adults.”

Ms. Mayers continued: “So, I thought ‘if they are doing CV’s what else would they need to know?’  So, I thought that I’d let them also figure out how to do interviews. When you go to an interview, from my experience, there’s always that question at the end where they ask if you have any questions? I always think, ‘what is this person talking about?’  So, I decided that I will also include that.”

The NLS branch officer noted that a chance conversation with one of the facilitators, Ms. Shirley Morris, unearthed additional elements that could be added to the programme.

“When I spoke to my facilitator, Ms. Shirley Morris, she told me about including soft skills, and we also know that financial literacy is a major talking point now.  So, we reached out to the bank [Republic Bank] and asked them to have a chat with participants about opening their first bank account, using a credit card…. They were willing to come out and speak with us.”

Ms. Mayers said participants were enthusiastic to be a part of the programme and were grateful for the knowledge gained from the facilitators. 

“I know that there are other governmental organisations that do something similar, but I feel like the library, in recent times, needs to pivot from just books and reading and studying, to educating the public. In other words, emphasis should be placed on more than just book learning but on life learning…. So, teaching people how to do a CV to enter the world of work…is something that people need to know how to do,” Ms. Mayers remarked.

She continued: “Libraries around the world have seen a fall-off in people coming in to read because it’s so much easier for you to get your information elsewhere. But at the same time, libraries all over the world are pivoting their services to meet those needs. So, if it is that you see that nobody’s coming in to read Hardy Boys books, stop buying the Hardy Boys books and give them something else that they want. So, it’s really a matter of seeing your patrons, knowing your patrons, meeting their needs, which is what we are trying to do with this programme, and any programmes going forward.”

The BGIS team was also present to see the role-play session of the programme. Senior Manager of Retail Banking at Republic Bank, Sandra Reifer-Wallerson, swapped roles with the eager participants, as she went through the process of opening a bank account.

She explained that the session was part of the bank’s Power to Make a Difference Outreach Programme, and was happy to partner with the Tamarind Hall Branch to prepare young school leavers for the world of work, understanding how to open a bank account and the responsibilities of having a bank account.

“We spoke about the documents required to open an account; when you have an account, the responsibilities of spending the money; how you fashion it out. What do you do? A portion of it would go to your rent, for example, some for groceries, maintenance, and medical. So, they covered all of that. We talked about KYC, or know your customer, and we covered a bit of money laundering as well.

“The session took the format where they would do most of the talking and they would do a role play.  I found that role play is always handy to reinforce anything that you have learnt,” she explained.

Meanwhile,16-year-old Barbados Community College student, Erica Carrington, who was adjudged the most outstanding participant by her peers, was effusive in her praise of the programme. She said she would readily recommend it to others if it is offered next year.

“The programme gives you valuable information, yet it is not boring and drawn out… All of the sessions were useful, but the one that really stood out for me is the session on interviews, where the facilitator gave us all of the information on what and what not to do during an interview.  At the end, we got the opportunity to act out a mock interview with the facilitator,” she shared.

Ms. Mayers is optimistic that the Pave Your Path Summer Programme can be added to the NLS’ list of activities going forward, pointing out “that knowledge is power”. (PR/GIS)

Caption: Officer in charge of the National Library Service’s Tamarind Hall Branch, Astrid Mayers (left) and Senior Manager of Retail Banking at Republic Bank, Sandra Reifer-Wallerson, sharing the moment with participants of the Pave Your Path Programme