The Carnegie Library Roseau (Roseau, Dominica)

In 1904, Sir Henry Hesketh Bell (1864-1952) reached out to philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)  in an effort to persuade him to give a grant for the construction of a public library on the Caribbean island of Dominica. Carnegie agreed to provide the grant and in 1905 gave £1,500 for the library's construction. The city of Roseau, the capital of Dominica, was chosen as the library's location. The architecture of the library was managed by Bell and on May 11, 1907 the library was opened to the public. 

Before the building of the Carnegie Library in Roseau,  there were earlier efforts to bring library services to the island of Dominica. In 1821, Dr. Jean Baptiste Louis founded the Literacy Society. Seven years later,  the Roseau Juvenile Literacy Association was established. Other efforts included:

The Dominica Public Circulating Library  (1832).
The Dominica Reading Room and Library (1847).
The Young Men's Literary Association (1849).

The library is still in operation and is now known as the Roseau Public Library. In December 2015, a tribute to the Roseau Public Library was posted to YouTube:

A Tribute to Roseau Public Library

Update 2/07/2016:

See also:  The Carnegie Free Library of Barbados (Bridgetown, Barbados), the Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia (Castries, St. Lucia), and the Carnegie Free Library of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago (San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago).


Sources: Boromé, Joseph A. "Origin and Growth of the Public Libraries of Dominica." Journal of Library History 5.3 (1970): 200-236. Print. ; Jordan, Alma. "Public Libraries in the British Caribbean 1." The Library Quarterly 35.2 (1964): 143-162. Print.  ; Hinds, Beverly. Historical Overview of Public Library Development in the English-Speaking Caribbean. [San Juan, PR]: IFLA, 2011. 1, 3-4, 6, 8. PDF File. ; Whitford, Gwenith M. "West Indian Murder Mystery Donated to Roseau Public Library in Dominica." Ti Domnik Tales. 23 July 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. ; "State of the Art Library for Dominica." Dominica News Online. 14 May 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. ; "Carnegie Library, Roseau, Dominica." Waymarking.com. 31 Aug. 2008. Web. 30 Jan. 2016; "A Tribute to Roseau Public Library." Dominica Library and Information Service. YouTube. 02 Dec. 2015. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. ; "Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Sir Henry Hesketh Bell Collection, Y3011C-N." Cambridge University Library. Janus, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2016. ; "Andrew Carnegie." Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2016. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.

The Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia (Castries, St. Lucia)

Located in Castries, St. Lucia, the Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia was one of six libraries in the Caribbean built with Carnegie funds. Plans for a library in St. Lucia were discussed in 1909. Seven years later, in May 1916, philanthropist and businessman Andrew Carnegie donated  £2,500 (equivalent to $12,500 in U.S. currency at that time) for the library's construction. Land on which to build the library was purchased for £500 (at that time was about $2,500 in U.S. currency).

Construction of the library didn't began until May 1923 . The delay was due to disagreement between town officials on the library's location and the library's design.  The Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia's construction was finished in June 1924. A grand opening ceremony for the library was held on December 1, 1924.

In 1948, a fire spread through Castries, and the library was one of several buildings  in the town that were damaged.  Approximately, 20,000 volumes in the library's collection were destroyed. Afterwards, the Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia was rebuilt, and in 1958, its name was changed to the Central Library of St. Lucia.

On November 25, 2014, Larry T. Nix, blogger for the "Library History Buff Blog", did a post about the St. Lucia Library's appearance on a postcard and the library's history. You can view his post here:

"St. Lucia's Carnegie Library on Carnegie's Birthday" by Larry T. Nix
http://libraryhistorybuff.blogspot.com/2014/11/st-lucias-carnegie-library-on-carnegies.html

Update 8/05/2015:

Related posts:  Carnegie Free Library of Barbados (Bridgetown, Barbados) and Carnegie Free Library of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago.

Also, the Central Library of St. Lucia (formerly the Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia) has a Facebook page:

Central Library of St. Lucia
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Library-of-St-Lucia/131762740327635

Update 2/07/2016:

Related post: Carnegie Library Roseau (Roseau, Dominica)

Sources: Hinds, Beverly. Historical Overview of Public Library Development in the English-Speaking Caribbean. [San Juan, PR]: IFLA, 2011. 4. PDF File. ; Aimable, Anselma. "Did You Know: Controversy over Central Library." St. Lucia News Online, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 July 2015. ; Nix, Larry T. "St. Lucia's Carnegie Library on Carnegie's Birthday." Library History Buff Blog, 25 Nov. 2014. Web. 27 July 2015.

Carnegie Free Library of Barbados (Bridgetown, Barbados)

The Carnegie Free Library of Barbados was opened on January 26, 1906 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The library was built with a grant of £2500 (approximately $12,150) given by Andrew Carnegie to the city of Bridgetown in 1903 at the request of Governor Frederic Hodgson. It was the first Carnegie Library built outside of Great Britain and North America. The library remained in operation until August 2006 when it was closed due to structural damage and deterioration. Plans to restore the Carnegie Free Library of Barbados have been postponed due to economic and financial issues. Restore the Barbados Public Library has created a Facebook page to generate support for the library's restoration:


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Restore-the-Barbados-Public-Library/257288390990399

Sources: Hinds, Beverley. "Historicising the Carnegie Free Library: The Case of Barbados." World Libraries 18.1 (2008):n.pag. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. ; Jordan, Alma Theodora. The Development of Library Service in the West Indies through Interlibrary Cooperation. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1970. 91. Print. ; Hinds, Beverley. "Historical Overview of Public Library Development in the English-Speaking Caribbean." World Library and Information Congress, 77th IFLA General Conference and Assembly. N.p.: IFLA, 2011. 3-6. PDF file. ; Freudenthal, Juan R. "West Indies, Libraries in." Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, Vol. 33. Ed. Allen Kent and Jay E. Daily. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1982. 39, 44, 46, 49, 61, 63, 74, 83, 90. Print.

See related posts: Carnegie Free Library of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago;  Suva City Carnegie Library (Suva City, Fiji). ; and Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia (Castries, St, Lucia).

Update 2/07/2016:

Related post: Carnegie Library Roseau (Roseau, Dominica)




                                                                                                                                                      

Carnegie Free Library of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago

The Carnegie Free Library in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago was built in 1918 with a gift of £2,500 from Andrew Carnegie. It opened for service in 1919 and is still in operation today. In 1998, the Carnegie Free Library, the Public Library of Trinidad, and the Central Library of Trinidad and Tobago were place under the governance of the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) per the NALIS Act, No. 18 of 1998.

The following monograph on the Carnegie Free Library of San Fernando was found through a search on OCLC's WorldCat database:

Commemorative Brochure: 60th Anniversary Celebrations, 1919-1979. San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago: Carnegie Free Library, 1980. Print.

Sources: Caribbean Libraries in the 21st Century: Changes, Challenges, and Choices. Ed. Cheryl Peltier-Davis and Shamin Renwick. Medford: Information Today, Inc., 2007. 4, 9, 12, 134-135. Print. ; Hill, Claudia. "Early Days of the Central Library and the Book Van in Trinidad and Tobago." Libraries & the Cultural Record 42.2 (2007): 183, 188. Print. ; "A Brief History of San Fernando." TriniView.com. TriniView.com, 4 May 2007. Web. 1 May 2012. ; Fabrizio, Claude. Towards A Cultural Development Policy: Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1981. 22. Print. ; "History of the National Library and Information System Authority." NALIS. National Library and Information System Authority, n.d. Web. 1 May 2012.

Update 05/10/2012:

Here is an additional source for information on the Carnegie Free Library of San Ferndando:

	Jordan, Alma T. The Development of Library Service in the West Indies through Interlibrary Cooperation. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1970. 66-67, 71, 143, 148-149, 160, 168, 177, 247, 258-259, 297. Print.

Update 09/30/2015:

Related posts:  Carnegie Free Library of Barbados (Bridgetown, Barbados) and Carnegie Free Library of St. Lucia (Castries, St. Lucia)

Update 02/07/2016:

Related post: Carnegie Library Roseau (Roseau, Dominica)