“The university library is the most important intellectual resource of the academic community,” wrote Dr Alma Jordan, Campus and University Librarian.
Her words come from a contribution she made to a 1974 publication, Overseas Universities: Special Issue on Libraries. Titled, quite dryly, “Trinidad’s University Library”, she gives a comprehensive report of the rise of library and information services at The UWI. She gives the reader enormous detail on the library at UWI St Augustine – its development over the years, its total floor area (47,664 square feet on the modular plane), the layout of its collections, its seating in the study areas (over 400 seats), and even the colour of the walls (a natural grey finish).
She writes with great precision, remarkably free of emotion, and without self-promotion. The one detail Dr Jordan leaves out, however, is her own pivotal role in the library she describes. There is no way to overestimate how important Alma Jordan has been to the library system that The UWI enjoys today. Today, the “Trinidad University Library” she described so meticulously is the Alma Jordan Library (AJL).
Jordan, who passed away in late January, was a pioneer in Caribbean library science, and instrumental in the development of The Alma Jordan Library and The UWI library system, and the National Library and Information System (NALIS) Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.
Friend and colleague, Dr Shamin Renwick said Jordan’s era spanned more than 40 years from the 1960s to early 2000s and noted that Jordan’s work remains relevant. “She influences all of our work [at UWI]. She generated the system; generated the building [main library] and fostered the appreciation of the libraries. Things have changed over the years, but she continued to be an influence even after retirement. Once you become a librarian in T&T or even in the Caribbean, you learn the name of Dr Jordan,” said Renwick, a senior librarian in the School of Education.
Born in Tunapuna in 1929, Jordan attended St Joseph’s Convent, Port-of-Spain where she has since been inducted into the Hall of Excellence. After completing her BA in Spanish at London University, Jordan continued on to Columbia University eventually earning a PhD in Library Science in 1966 – the first person in the English-speaking Caribbean to do so.
According to Renwick, Jordan was “always first”. Among Jordan's firsts are serving a first Campus Librarian at St Augustine (from 1960 onwards); then as first University Librarian from 1982 until her retirement in 1989. She was also a founding member of two important organisations, the Library Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) and the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL). Jordan was also an author who published numerous articles and books on librarianship. Moreover, she served on several boards and committees such as the Journal of Library History, and the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials. For these many accomplishments and her commitment to public service, Jordan was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (Gold) in 1989.
Perhaps Jordan’s greatest career feat, however, was establishing the Main Library at St Augustine. Maureen Henry, former Deputy Campus Librarian and colleague of Jordan, noted that the library had very humble beginnings:
“When I started [in 1963], it was just a small library on one floor with a few hundred books. One of [Jordan’s] greatest accomplishments was moving the library from what it was – from just a few hundred books on one floor of a building – to four floors and subject subdivisions in the JFK compound. A lot of libraries in the Caribbean took an example from what she did there.”
The Alma Jordan Library was constructed using a grant from the US government through a process that Jordan was heavily involved in, overseeing construction, reclassification and acquisition of volumes. Completed in 1970, the Alma Jordan Library is now the central library in a network of over 10 satellite and affiliate libraries on the St Augustine Campus. The other libraries in the network include the Medical Sciences Library, the School of Education Library, the Norman Girvan Library at the Institute of International Relations, the library at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, the Seismic Research Centre, and Centre for Language Learning libraries. There is also the Festival Library and Cultural Resource Centre, the library of the National Herbarium of Trinidad and Tobago, the Patience-Theunissen Memorial Library located at Mount Saint Benedict, and the library at the UWI-ROYTEC School of Business and Applied Studies.
The Alma Jordan Library is the largest in this network, housing more than 430,000 books and e-books, 57,000 e-journal subscriptions, and access to over 200 databases. Its subdivisions include Food and Agriculture, Law, Science and Technology, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Social Sciences and the prized possession, West Indiana and Special Collections. West Indiana is home to a wide-range of Caribbean raw, source materials with 150 special collections including the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants minutes and books, and three United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Memory of the World Registers - the private collections of Dr Eric Williams, CLR James and Derek Walcott.
“[Dr Jordan] was instrumental in getting the Eric Williams collection of books, papers and memorabilia to be held on deposit in the St Augustine campus library because she had the confidence of Dr Williams’ daughter, Erica Williams-Connell, and that was a major achievement. His whole library is lodged at our campus library,” said Henry, who added that this acquisition was of particular importance. “He was our first prime minister and a globally respected scholar, and it’s important for anything related to him to be held at his home base rather than a foreign place.”
The Eric Williams collection was made available globally in March on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death through the hosting of a virtual exhibit curated in partnership with the University of Texas. The push for continued technological advancement is yet another aspect of Jordan's legacy as she introduced the first computerised library system to UWI shortly before retiring in 1989. Since then, many innovations have been made such as the introduction of the Digital Library Services Center in 2008 and the launch of UWIlinC in 2011. UWIlinC is a digital platform that allows users to search for information in libraries throughout the region. It was also in 2011 that the library was named after Dr Jordan on The UWI’s 50th anniversary.
When speaking to Dr Jordan’s former colleagues and friends, two things are bound to come up: her strictness, and her love for education. Though Jordan was described as uncompromising in her commitment to high standards in academia and customer service, she was similarly known for encouraging her staff, friends and family to push themselves to do and be their best.
As Henry put it, “She was very pleasant. Strict, but pleasant.” Henry started at the library as a library assistant and moved her way up the ranks, becoming a Fellow of the Library Association (Great Britain) and head of the Technical Services Division with Jordan’s support. “Working with her was quite interesting and I think I achieved quite a lot having worked with her. Her watchwords were discipline, production, and perfection. And she set an example and expected it of her staff. It was not always easy because you had to keep on the right path, do the right thing. She was very meticulous and expected you to be the same, especially if you were in charge of staff or a section or division. You had to live up to her expectations,” added Henry.
Renwick, who attended ACURIL conferences with Jordan, fondly remembers the mentoring she received when planning conferences, applying for fellowship status, and even help with ideas for a PhD proposal. “She was someone you could run things by, get background from, a person you could go to learn how to handle and manage matters, or whom to speak with. She was very knowledgeable of protocol and, coming out of the colonial system, was very strict about protocol. But she was also charming, witty and graceful,” said Renwick.
Renwick described Jordan as a brilliant scholar. “I’ve heard from campus people that when Dr Jordan stood up to speak, [campus] principals sat down and listened. That was the nature of the person.”
Dr Simone Primus, Faculty Liaison Librarian of the Engineering division at the Alma Jordan Library, actually grew up at the library. Primus' mother worked at the library with Jordan, and Primus spent many afternoons reading in the stacks after school. Jordan was Primus’ godmother who could be intimidating but also quite nurturing.
“She was always so very charming and hospitable. One of my favourite things growing up was to go and have tea with Nen [short for “nennen”, a term for godmother). She loved to bake and she always had a nice spread. I’ll always remember the tea and fine china. She had a lot of fruit trees and flowers and was always sharing. She’d let you go outside and pick as much fruit as you wanted," shared Primus.
A little-known fact about Jordan is that in addition to librarianship, she was also an accomplished musician with a musical performance diploma from the Royal Academy of Music. Her instrument of choice was the piano. Primus remembers her expert playing vividly. "As a child, I was a bit afraid of my godmother. She was tall and had a powerful voice and presence, and she could be strict so I was a little fearful of her, a little apprehensive. She loved the piano, loved music and played the piano very well. And I used to take piano lessons, and every time I visited, she’d want me to play for her on her big, fancy grand piano, and I was just learning so that was very daunting but of course, she was very encouraging. She was serious, but she was also nurturing and always interested to hear what I had to say and my stories," said Primus.
After Primus completed her education, their relationship changed. "She always believed in studies and education and trying to better yourself. We would talk about things like that and what I wanted to do and become and, if I was dissatisfied with work, she would try to give me advice."
Although Primus is now a librarian, she doesn't see herself or anyone else soon, taking Jordan's place. "I don’t think I’d ever be able to follow in her footsteps because her shoes are mighty big. The legacy of the Alma Jordan, her contribution to NALIS. The drive, the energy is really something to emulate and to be in awe of."
