The Central Library falls under the portfolio of the Ministry of Education and is the headquarters of the public library system in Saint Lucia. Its mission is “to provide quality library and information services to all citizens and to develop programs that will help them to become independent users and lifelong learners.”

In the past few years, the Central Library as well as several libraries around the island have seen improvements not only to their physical structures but also how they operate. The Central Library a few years ago was fitted with a computer room and recently, the library’s website was developed to make it more interactive.

“We were able to fit the library with software to help with online cataloguing,” said Joshua Vernor of the ICT Unit in the Ministry of Education. “What this now means is that users can go to the website www.slupl.edu.lc and search for a book. Once it is available it will show up and indicate which of the libraries in Saint Lucia has that book available. If you are a member you can then reserve that book and go pick it up,” Vernor explained.

The library software, he said, also allows for the printing of membership cards.

The Saint Lucia Public Library website also has a number of resources for students including Common Entrance, Common Middle and CXC past papers, and database research tools.