I am so saddened by the recent burgle of the National Television Network (NTN). I have gone through so many emotions within that time but one of the key emotions is sadness…sadness that our intangible cultural heritage is destroyed whether through circumstances beyond our control like fires (The Patrick Anthony Folk Research Centre - FRC), malicious acts such as the recently burgled NTN or through closure, neglect and inevitable molding and destruction of archival material (an inevitable demise of Radio St. Lucia’s material if it is not tackled soon).
The repost below from John R Lee in reaction to NTN and new queries about Radio St. Lucia (RSL) archives etc. echoes some of my thoughts on the importance of a national library system initiative...definitely an urgent cause worth fighting for to safeguard our intangible cultural heritage - the performing arts, oral traditions, social practices, our rituals and festivals, knowledge and practices concerning our traditional craftmanship and the way we live and so much more. When will it begin to matter to each one of us?
John R Lee post "Years ago, when libraries were important and many of us were involved in library and information services development, there was much talk, with papers prepared, about creating a National Library System which would encompass all libraries and information resource centres, including the National Archives. This National Library would be responsible also for developing policies and programmes for the preservation of national archives of documents, including the RSL and other holdings. That dream of a National Library (as exists in Tdad and Jca nos) never came to life. In fact libraries - public, school, special, with other archives - have declined in all kinds of ways. And don't tell me that Internet etc have made libraries obsolete. Nonsense. Libraries have a huge community role as community centres at whose heart is the collection, organisation, preservation, dissemination, especially of local and related information, not available anywhere else, including the touted Internet. That boat was missed. Will it ever return?"
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