Chief Librarian and senior staff

(1) The Chief Librarian and senior Staff of the Service shall be full- time officers and in the case of the Chief Librarian, shall be a suitably qualified and experienced citizen of a county which is a party to the Caribbean Community Treaty, including the Caricom Single Market and Economy. (2) The Board, after consultation with the Minister, shall appoint as the Chief Librarian of the Service a suitably qualified and experienced person with appropriate qualifications in library and information science. (3) The Chief Librarian shall, (a) coordinate and foster the development of library resources and services throughout the country of Belize by providing leadership in key areas such as, (i) policy and strategic planning; (ii) definition of standards and appropriate training; (iii) collection, building and management; (iv) user services including reference, enquiry, education and dissemination; 15 (v) technology and resource sharing; and (vi) partnership and cooperation; (b) provide consultancy and management services to the public and private sectors in respect of matters for and in relation to the establishment and conduct of a library; (c) promote awareness and understanding of the nation’s culture and history through efficient physical and electronic access to the information contained in the collection and through effective exhibition and dissemination activities; (d) establish and maintain an inter-library loan system at the national level; (e) establish, maintain and control a national library for Belize; (f) operate a centrally administered network of Public Libraries throughout Belize so as to make information available through all formats of materials; (g) provide for the central employment, training and supervision of library staff in all sections and branches of the Service; (h) establish sub-committees at service-points which shall make policy proposals to the (i) determine and approve activities aimed at generating income; 16 (j) perform such duties as the Board may lawfully assign, and supervise the other staff in the performance of their duties; (k) be responsible for the safe keeping of all funds, documents and other property of the Service and for the efficient running of the (l) ensure that staff responsible for the safe keeping of materials be held accountable and made to pay for any material missing while in their custody; and (m) be the principal administrative officer of the Service and have the general charge of all service points. posts.