Miami, Florida, United States…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
The Office of Education for the church in Inter-America held its first Adventist Virtual Library Conference April 9-11 to set parameters and to establish the functionality of the library, which will be available later this year. The conference, which took place at the Inter-American Division (IAD) headquarters in Miami, Florida, was attended by librarians and educators throughout the territory.
Dr. Moises Velazquez, director of the Office of Education for the church in Inter-America, says that the conference was designed to emphasize the potential of the virtual library as a way of enhancing education in the territory. Attendees explored the purpose and scope of the project and brainstormed on the various managing aspects and other details of the library.
The concept of a virtual library was borne from the need to upgrade existing university and school libraries and also for schools which lack the funds and/or facility to have a traditional library built on-site, says Dr. Velazquez.
It is a huge and unique project that has educators and church leaders confident they can satisfy the growing educational and technological needs of students at elementary, secondary and university level. The library will be available in English, Spanish and French, the three major languages of IAD's vast territory.”
“We want to make aware of the importance of networking among Inter-America’s institutions, as the virtual library will make more professional data banks available to all who participate, which in turn will enhance and enlarge each institution’s data banks of resources,” says Dr. Velazquez.
The library will initially provide 10 to 12 professional data banks which consist of millions of articles and other sources of information on subjects ranging from medicine to theology to history and many more, according to Velazquez.
The virtual library project will integrate with IAD’s Centro Educativo Interamericano (Inter-American Education Center), an educational institution under contract with Griggs University which will offer online undergraduate courses in Spanish beginning later this year.
Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church for Inter-America, is confident on the benefits of IAD’s Adventist Virtual Library.
“The impact on the whole educational system in IAD is enormous,” says Leito. “Many schools and universities cannot start new programs, for lack of library volumes. With the arrival of the virtual library, an immense hurdle has been conquered for our universities and schools, and thus allow greater progress and possibilities for students in our schools and universities.”
“As we enter this new era, not only students can be benefitted but also members with a thirst for knowledge,” he adds.
In an era when there are multiple choice of universities, Dr. Velazquez says the virtual library will give the edge to Adventist education, and will be a good marketing tool to attract and keep current students in a competitive educational environment.
For more information on IAD's Adventist Virtual Library, go to https://recursing-golick.147-182-135-0.plesk.page/bva/
