Nov. 7, 2001 –– Libraries: In olden days stern old men reading newspapers glared over their bifocals at youngsters who got to giggling and forgot to whisper, housewives browsed the stacks for a "good read" for the evening in the days before television.
That is no longer the sight that greets you when you enter a library. Now, you see computer terminals, CD software, staff members building Web sites, "librarian engineers" running communication services and advising software writers. And, yes, there are still books, microfilms, story hours, newspapers and magazines. And yes, people still come to libraries to find information, and librarians help them find it.
The Virgin Islands needs a lot of librarians, because there are a lot of institutions in our small communities: public libraries, university libraries, school libraries, hospital libraries, law and court libraries, a library at Whim Plantation Museum, a library at the National Park Service, a library at the new Alton Augustus Adams Music Research Institute.
If you live in the Virgin Islands and have a desire to work in this dynamic field, the University of the Virgin Islands is holding a joint-campus meeting Friday that may interest you. Prospective students interested in a MLIS (Master's in Library and Information Science) are invited to Room EC-302a on St. Croix and room T-213 on St. Thomas at 3:30 p.m., to hear about the University of Pittsburgh's distance-learning FastTrack MLIS program.
This meeting is to identify interested persons and inform the University of Pittsburgh of the level of interest, according to the UVI release from St. Croix Campus Librarian Judith V. Rogers.
If the interest level, including our area and the wider Caribbean, is sufficient, Pittsburgh will consider a faculty member on site to guide students through the full program. A "cohort" group would start together in May 2002, working on their chosen career path, and graduate together, all without leaving the Virgin Islands.
Pittsburgh offers a public/academic career track, and a school library certification program.
