AFTER FIVE YEARS in the making the Gordon Greenidge School's G4S Community Library officially opened last week in St Peter.

Patron of the school and library, Gordon Greenidge, in his address said he was excited to see the project finally come to fruition and to have it opened during the school's Reading Week.

The fully air-conditioned 40-foot container, which will also be outfitted with a G4S state of the art $80 000 security system, offers a comfortable and conducive environment to learning, thanks to G4S Security Services, who partnered with Greenidge to set up the library.

Greenidge said the concept for the library came two years after the school opened its doors, and since then on his travels back to Britain he had been soliciting help for books in the library.

He hoped to expand the project further, he said, by having a teacher/student exchange for a year between Britain and Barbados. As part of his patronage to the school, each year the two top students would be presented with a laptop and $250 as one of their main prizes.

He has also sourced more than 15 laptops and there are plans to build a community centre that can be accessed by both students, parents and those in the nearby community. That extension to the school, if approved by the Ministry of Education, will cost about $450 000.

Greenidge urged students and teachers to cherish their new library and use it as often as possible.

Minister of Community Development and Culture Steve Blackett, who gave the feature address, said the library would do much for the school and indeed the community.

"Many of our young people have fallen victim to the alluring nature of the PSP, Nintendo DS, X Box 360, [and so on]. Parents, I encourage you to ensure that your children do not spend endless hours glued to video games. Instead, you must ensure that they expand their minds through productive activities which expand their knowledge base and develop their young . . . minds. I urge you to steer them in the right direction. Reading is an important key," he said.

He added that the ministry faced an unfortunate shortage of trained professional librarians. (CT)