The
Resource Centre for Caribbean Children's Literature
Children’s literature represents an important
part of our cultural heritage; through it our children learn about
themselves, develop self-esteem and pride in their cultural heritage
as they see themselves and their lifestyles positively portrayed
in the literature.
For years the Department has taught courses on Literature
for Children and Young Adults, with a strong component on Caribbean
Children’s Literature. Staff members have actively conducted
research in this area, published articles and bibliographies and
made presentations at conferences. Quite often the Department receives
and responds - in an ad hoc manner - to requests for information
and research on Caribbean’s Children’s Literature.
Given the growing research demands, the absence
of a regional focal point and the need to preserve this important
aspect of our cultural heritage, the Department has undertaken the
task of documenting, preserving and disseminating information on
children’s literature from the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Objectives
· To work with publishers, libraries, publishers, National
Development Book Councils, and other related groups to systematically
collect, disseminate and document children’s literature from
the Commonwealth Caribbean
· To be a focal point for students, scholars, librarians,
publishers, authors, collectors, interested researching the literature
for children
· To promote reading and the use of Caribbean children’s
literature through seminars, awards, conferences, exhibitions, author
visits etc.
To achieve these objectives we will establish a
website, where we will initially present:
- Online reviews of new books, bibliographies etc
- Bibliographies of current children books and retrospective materials
- Author profiles and criticisms of works
Currently
The collection stands at over five hundred fiction and non fiction
items collected from the 1970s onward. Over one hundred of them
have be indexed, abstracted and placed on a database. Persons searching
the database will find a summary of the item, its intended audience
and some biographic data on the author/illustrator.
We therefore invite publishers, authors to send
us review or sample copies for our collection.
You may email us at rcccl@uwimona.edu.jm
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