Muschett High contemplating digitising library books after Hurricane Melissa experience

WESTERN BUREAU:

Almost one year after Hurricane Melissa damaged library books and equipment at Muschett High School in Trelawny, the institution’s administration is considering digitising its reference materials for students to use, an option that was being reviewed before the Category 5 storm slammed the island last October.

The school’s Millicent Gray Library, named after past principal Millicent Gray, suffered leakage during the passage of the hurricane, resulting in damage to the institution’s main server, which was stored in the library. While the library is currently in use, a sizeable number of books are water-damaged as a result of water seeping into the building.

Principal Leighton Johnson told The Gleaner that while the digitising of library materials has been under consideration for some time, copyright issues with some of the books was a concern that delayed that plan’s implementation.

“The digitising of the reference material is part of the school’s action plan and the library’s developmental plan, so that they can be accessible on the devices that we have here. One of the challenges or hindrances to that is that we had to seek copyright permission to have these material reproduced in that way,” Johnson explained.

“We did not want, as a school, to find ourselves in the position where we are reproducing the intellectual property of other individuals, so that retarded our effort over the last year coming into Hurricane Melissa. It is something that we are now going to revisit because we want our library to be operating in the current dispensation, where we are understanding the use of the devices and providing greater ease of access to reference material,” Johnson added.

Dominic Hines, Muschett High’s computer lab technician, said that digitising the library’s books would take significant time due to the amount of material involved and the need to make them accessible for both students and teachers.

“Some of these books have only one edition, and to digitise them, you have to scan them, upload them, and then put them together. It can be done, but it is going to take some time to get it done,” said Hines. “We would hope that for future books that will come here, they would go into an e-book format, so that if students go to the computer, we can bring up a library that has the books there.”

Digitising of school material is not a new concept in Jamaica, as the Ministry of Education previously announced in August 2020 that it would begin a phased introduction of electronic textbooks to replace printed versions during the 2020-21 academic year.

At that time, it was revealed that the initiative would be rolled out across secondary institutions, with some high schools to benefit from e-books or flat books. Flat books utilise page units applied to screens which enable users to read a text document as easily as turning the pages of a printed book.

Meanwhile, Johnson noted that although books are not being handed out from the library at this time, the facility still operates as an open resource centre.

“We have not yet gotten back to the place where books are being exchanged in the library, but the library here at Muschett High School acts as a resource centre, and for the most part, it is up and functional. With it being functional, students, teachers, and ancillary workers are able to utilise that space,” said Johnson.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com