Caribbean Archives Association provides post-hurricane recovery assistance to Dominica

Dominica has received some assistance from the Caribbean Archives Association (CARBICA) in the country’s on-going recovery of archival, library and museum collections following the hurricanes of 2017.

Head of Conservation at the Curacao National Archives and CARBICA representative, Valerie Martens-Monier, visited Dominica recently during which she worked with Chief Librarian, Vernanda Raymond and a team of officers of the Dominica Library and Information Service to advance the recovery process, a release from National Document Centre stated.

During the visit, from April 9-14, Martens-Monier carried out a survey of damage to buildings and collections, met with collection caretakers and made recommendations about the on-going stabilization of damaged collections. She also held a round table for staff in Government registries to ask questions about salvage and recovery of Government records.

While on island, Martens-Monier also paid a courtesy call on the Permanent Secretary, Education and other officials. She was also expected to meet with members of the National Emergency Planning Organisation  (NEPO) to discuss ways that cultural assets may be included in national and indeed regional disaster plans going forward.

Martens-Monier’s visit was funded by CARBICA in supports of its region-wide objectives to enhance member abilities to recover the loss of cultural heritage and to encourage consideration for cultural assets by disaster management authorities. The visit formed part of CARBICA’s larger “Archives at Risk” project, a three- year initiative funded by the International Council on Archives (ICA).

Martens-Monier left on April 14, 2018 for a similar visit to the British Virgin Islands (BVI).