BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS part of their ongoing community development initiative, the St. Kitts National Youth Parliament Association (SKNYPA) donated over 350 books to the Charles A. Halbert Public Library last week.
Librarian Carolyn Henry and other members of staff were on-hand to receive the donation from two members of the youth organisation.
According to SKNYPA Public Relations Officer (PRO) Shadine Julius, the donated books consisted of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction children and adult books. She noted that the books included items such as textbooks, self-help and development books, books in popular children series such as Blue’s Clues and Barney, and novels by renowned authors such as John Grisham and Dean Koontz.
She further stated that the variety of the books was attributable to the methods of collection utilised by the group.
“We placed collection boxes in several of the island’s supermarkets including Rams and ValuMart. We also put boxes in some primary and secondary schools.
“Additionally, persons could contact individual members of the group if they had any books and they preferred to give them directly to someone. Our aim was really to just collect as many books as possible so that we could give the library something substantial,” Julius said.
The PRO reiterated the group’s belief that reading is important and that education aids every aspect of both individual and national development. She also stated her confidence that the books would be put to good use, thus making the purpose of the project worthwhile.
Henry reassured Julius that the books would only enhance the library’s ability to effectively serve the literary needs of society. She thanked the Youth Parliamentarians for their charitable gift and urged the wider community to follow suit, as the library only receives limited funding annually and relies on donations from the public to replenish their stock of books.
This marks the second donation within a month to the library, as the US Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados donated a set of American encyclopaedias to the literary institution in early January.
