Monday, April 4, 2016

Matthew Blake presentation in Jackson Library


Mr. Matthew Blake, librarian for the Jamaica Tourist Board concluded a week-long visit to the UNCG University Libraries on Friday 1 April 2016 with a talk on the role of libraries in promoting Jamaican tourism.

Mr.Blake has been a librarian at the Jamaica Tourist Board since 2002 and worked extensively with the Jamaica Tourist Board’s 60th Anniversary Historical Exhibition and Celebration.  He is an adjunct lecturer for the University of the West Indies Department of Library and Information Studies, focusing on Information Architecture: Web Access and Usability and Management of Library and Information Units.  He is a past chair of the Special Libraries Section of the Library and Information Association of Jamaica and serves as a member of the Advisory Committee for the National Library of Jamaica.

Mr. Blake's presentation, entitled Information and Resources Units, focused on this history of tourism in Jamaica, and on the contributions of not just the Jamaica Tourist Board library but also the National Library of Jamaica and the Jamaica Libraries and Information Network to the development of the tourism industry, which contributes $288 billion to the Jamaican economy, provides 90,000 jobs (plus an additional 100,0000 jobs indirectly), and resulted in over three million visitors in 2013.

During his week in North Carolina, Mr. Blake consulted with several departments in the UNCG University Libraries and visited the Hunt Library at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He also met with the North Carolina Special Libraries Association and participated in the residency recognition program for Orolando Duffus, the diversity resident librarian at UNCG.

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