Joeten-Kiyu Public Library and NMI Library Council Executive Director John O. Gonzales yesterday said they are still waiting for the “green light” to proceed from Rota Mayor Melchor A. Mendiola.
“As soon as IT&E puts up the internet connection, we can install the ready-to-use desktop computers for patrons to use and research purposes,” Gonzales said.
He said although they were not able to open the library at the end of last month as scheduled earlier, library materials are ready for use.
“Books have already been catalogued and shelved, thanks to the assistance of our children’s library associate Erlinda Naputi who trained the staffers from Rota who came to the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library,” Gonzales said.
He earlier sent Naputi to Rota to assess the library’s collection needs.
“The Joeten-Kiyu Public Library sent about 11 books of initial collections start up and eight computer desktops with help from Mayor Mendiola,” Gonzales said.
U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan also donated many more boxes of books to supplement the collections now being catalogued and readied for circulation.
Gonzales said they have yet to get any reply from the $5,000 community grant application he submitted to the TakeCare Foundation to procure all books and collections for the Rota public library.
He said the letter was sent last January but they are supposed to hear from the foundation before July 1, 2011.
In his Just Keeping People Literate, or JKPL, for Rota Project grant application to the TakeCare Foundation, Gonzalez said the $5,000 grant they are applying for would go a long way in convincing the Rota leadership to fulfill the lifelong learning needs of the community there.
Gonzales said 100 percent of the requested $5,000 community foundation grant will be allocated to purchase basic library and educational materials to supplement the academic portfolio of school elementary and high school students in public and private schools on Rota.
It will also be used for funding resources for wages and salaries of two full-time staffers and to buy supplies and materials for the library.
