Jamaicans Urged to Support JLS Book Drive to ‘Keep Reading Alive’

Jamaicans are being urged to support the Jamaica Library Service (JLS) in its national book drive, themed ‘Keep Reading Alive in 2025’.

Senior Director of the JLS, Kishma Simpson, told JIS News that the initiative aims to collect some 2,025 books per parish.

“We encourage everyone to donate, to their local parish libraries, books that are new or very gently used, and you may purchase books from your favourite bookstore and donate to your branch libraries or any library across the island,” she said.

Ms. Simpson said that the aim of the book drive is to expand the collection of reading materials available to young Jamaicans islandwide.

The JLS currently provides service to 109 public libraries and support to 898 government schools, and delivers various programmes for students, unattached youth and adults.

“We certainly welcome donations to help us to augment our collection and make reading material freely available to our public and our students through the school libraries that we operate,” Ms. Simpson said.

She explains that the Library Service places high priority on providing current and relevant material for youth, particularly those between the ages of six and 18, who represent the most active users of the service.

Ms. Simpson said that the Library Service is seeking donations in critical subject areas, including business, entrepreneurship, history, law. mathematics, medicine, and science and technology.

She noted that the goal is to support the Government’s literacy and numeracy interventions, particularly in underperforming schools.

“We want to support them with high-interest, low vocabulary material as well as easy reader material, picture books and age-appropriate fiction books,” she added.

Emphasising the importance of reading, Ms. Simpson cited the growing influence of video content on young people, which may reduce the opportunity “to interface with the printed word and to make that connection with vocabulary development”.

However, she pointed out that the Library Service is not suggesting that persons abandon the technology but rather promote a balanced use of both technology and printed materials.

“Whether you are reading on tablets, your laptops or your phones, there is the need for children to read more recreational material that stimulates creativity, imagination and critical thinking,” Ms. Simpson said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, announced at a recent Education Transformation Oversight Committee Press Conference that grades one to three students at the primary level will soon benefit from at least two hours of scheduled reading each week.

“The Jamaica Library Service welcomes this new intervention. It is something that we have been promoting, that reading should form a part of learning, language development, literacy development and word recognition,” Ms. Simpson said.