We welcome gift donations as these significantly enhance our collections and ensure that the libraries continue to provide all the important resources that our users require. The Library has a particular interest in West Indian material, scholarly, current, and rare items, personal papers, and personal collections. For such donations please contact the Campus Librarian, Dr. Paulette Kerr, or the Head of the West Indies and Special Collections, Mrs. Bernadette Worrell-Johnson.
When the Library accepts donations of books they become the property of the Library. We reserve the right to use or dispose of such material in any manner deemed appropriate. Please contact the Head of the Acquisitions Section, Ms. Cheryl Kean.
A brief letter of acknowledgement will be sent to the donor.
West Indies & Special Collections Opening Hours
| Semester 1 and Semester 2 | |
|---|---|
| Mon - Fri | 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. |
| Saturday | 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. |
| Sunday | Closed / Online Access Only |
UWIlinC brings together UWI information resources from across the English-speaking Caribbean in all formats including UWI's intellectual output, subscribed resources (electronic journals, databases, electronic books) and the catalogues for all four UWI campuses.
When you donate your personal papers to West Indies & Special Collections, your family history becomes a part of the national and regional community’s collective memory.
We provide research access to the contents of the papers, both to you and to the scholarly public. In future years, researchers, including students, professors, genealogists, journalists, and many others, may find your papers both interesting and of value to their work.
Most repositories accept donations of as little as a single item and as large as dozens of boxes. We are interested in a coherent body of material and can discuss with you the historical value of your papers.
The following is a list of the types of materials that are often valuable to a researcher. This list, which is suggestive and not definitive, illustrates the wide range of documentation often useful for historical and administrative research:
*Letters
*Memoirs/ Reminiscences
*Diaries
*Scrapbooks/ Photo Albums
*Professional Papers
*Genealogical Information *Speeches/ Lectures
*Business Records *Subject files
*Legal documents *Minutes/ Reports
*Brochures & Flyers *Photographs (labeled)
*Films/ Videos/ Audio Tapes (labeled)
Also of interest are files relating to your civic, business, religious, political, and social activities. Churches, political organizations, businesses, economic interest groups, community groups, voluntary associations, professional associations, and other collective enterprises all produce records which document their purpose, policies, and activities. An individual or family may hold the records of such a business or organization, and this material, too, may be significant.
We Will Work With You
The Librarian will work with you to determine the historical significance of the material and its suitability for our collection. Some material, though, may be of more sentimental than historical value, and as such should be kept by the individual or family of the material.
We evaluate all material offered, and ask you to sign a donation agreement form before accepting the materials. Once you donate papers, the staff will continue to work with you as you locate or identify other materials to donate.
The West Indies & Special Collection's staff carefully preserves the collections of written, pictorial, and acoustic material generated by private citizens both past and present. They ensure that these valuable personal and family papers are available for research by generations to come. The first priority of the staff is to preserve the historical value of the materials. The papers are stored in environmentally controlled, protected rooms and emphasis is placed on the proper handling and use of these treasured resources.
The West Indies & Special Collections aims to provide an environment conducive to research. In order for everyone to enjoy this benefit, all users are required to observe the following rules and regulations:
