CMA

About Library Services

Overview

The Caribbean Military Academy Library (CMAL) is the epicentre of information for the preservation, documentation and public engagement of military history. One of the main goals of the CMAL is to provide a medium through which the public can access military resource materials through its Main library and several sub libraries that collects material pertinent to military history, its study, research, strategy and training. It has a user centred approach in all aspect of its programs and services positioning itself for the needs of its community in both physical and online environment. CMAL is dedicated to serve its global community with its extensive resources and digital collection. Its CMAL mandate to seek, identify and establish partnerships with other libraries locally and internationally, with collections that are relevant to the subject matters covered under the schools of the CMA in an effort to ensure that the library remains relevant and trending with contemporary research.

Mission


To positively impact military schools, with access to readily available information for thought-provoking research, enquires and high-quality learning opportunities.

Vision


To become the premier Military library which promotes intellectual growth and creativity through continuous reinvention with a focus on information and activities that benefit learning and research? Our aim is to meet the needs of present and future generations of students by preserving materials which will provide access to information and resources; also teaching critical evaluation skills by offering research assistance.

Library Regulations

Borrowing

  • No book must be taken out of the Library until the loan has been recorded on the Library system.
  • Borrowers are responsible for all items issued to them. This responsibility ends only when the item has been recorded as returned on the Library system.
  • All books on the open shelves may be borrowed except those temporarily or permanently confined to the Library (Reserved Collection).
  • Books and other loanable items must be returned no later than the due date. Fines will be charged on books and other loanable items kept overdue, as indicated and at such rates as may from time to time be determined.
  • Users with outstanding fines or overdue items may not be allowed to borrow further books or other loanable items or use library facilities until the fines are paid and books are returned or renewed. The Librarian shall have power to remit or reduce fines in any particular case.
  • Books which are already on loan may be reserved by another borrower. When returned, reserved books will be available for collection for a limited period only.

Base Access

As a visitor to the CMA Libraries, you have limited access to Library resources. Limited access is defined as onsite usage of print collections and unique digital collections. You must abide by Jamaica Defence Force security regulations which govern access to Camp.

Opening Hours

The Libraries will be open during such periods of the year and during such hours as may from time to time be prescribe:

Day Library Open
Monday-Friday 0745-1800
Saturday 0900-1600
Sunday 0900-1600

Conduct

The Library aims to provide an environment conducive to study and reflection. To achieve this goal, all members of the Library staff are authorized to require users to adhere to the Library’s rules and regulations.

The Campus Librarian may exclude from the Library, or suspend from its use, any reader who breaks these rules. Serious or persistent breaches may be reported to the President or Vice President.

  • All users are required to behave considerately and to respect the study needs of others.
  • Users must not mark, deface or damage Library books, furniture and fittings in the Library building.
  • Users will be liable for any loss of, or damage to, books or other items while in their charge. Any loss or damage must be reported immediately to a member of Library staff.
  • Photography and filming in the Library are allowed only where prior written permission from the Librarian has been given.
  • Absolutely no eating and drinking is allowed in the Library

Visitors Access to Libraries

The Caribbean Military Academy includes the current students, faculty, and staff of the Academy as well as all other servicemembers. All other visitors may have access to the CMA Libraries as described below:

  • JDF active duty military members, JDF military retirees, JDF civilians may have access to physical resource and will be able to check-out Library materials.
  • Government civilian employees and scholars may request access to the Libraries based on a need for unique information.
  • Foreign visitors must contact the CMA HQ. All foreign visitor requests will be routed through the CMA HQ before coming to the Librarian.

Visit Requests

The Librarian approves visits. Submit an CMA Library Visit Request Form with the date, time, and purpose of your visit. Visits are only approved for a specific date, time, and purpose. Open, unlimited access will not be approved. University activities and prior commitments also impact the approval of visits.

Policies

Heritage:

Definition: Collections of internationally or nationally significant depth and breadth which the Library will continue to develop.

Management: Heritage collections will be actively developed as live collections, able to respond to current teaching and research. Access to material will be via the most appropriate route, but outright ownership will always be considered. Items will not normally be withdrawn from these collections, but measures will be taken to preserve material of all formats contained within them. To develop these collections, items may be transferred in from elsewhere through collaborative collection development schemes, or received as donations.

Self-renewing:

Definition: Collections which do not have sufficient depth or breadth to be of national significance, but which are required to meet the needs of current research and teaching. Material will only be retained within these collections for as long as it is required for teaching or research.

Management: Items within self-renewing collections will be regularly considered for withdrawal from Library stock. Access to material will be via the most appropriate route. These collections will not generally require measures to ensure long term preservation, however items may be digitized to facilitate current teaching or research. Material will not be transferred into these collections from elsewhere through collaborative collection development schemes, or received as donations, unless to satisfy a specific academic need.

Finite:

Definition: These are collections which have neither historic strength, nor relevance to current teaching and research. Some of these collections will be considered for withdrawal. In this context a ‘collection’ may be either large or small, and may be confined to one subject or physical location, or may be distributed across the different school library.

Collection Strategy Policy

Introduction

The Caribbean Military Academy Library’s collections are central to the learning, teaching and research of the Academy. They provide the information base for the academic work and are a repository for the Academy research outputs, learning resources and institutional memory. The Library will continue to curate its rich assets, combining print and digital to ensure the currency, longevity, depth and breadth of information appropriate to the needs of a major research-intensive university.

Many of our main collections however have great historical strength and breadth. We have also built up over the recent electronic era collections of online database, journals and digitized content to support current research and teaching in the Academy.

In this rapidly changing environment, we recognize that we cannot and should not attempt to build or maintain collections in all areas equally. We need to target our collection building, digitization and preservation on areas we have prioritized as the most important to the Academy, and be guided by these principles in curating our electronic as well as our physical collections.

Categorizing Collections

To meet this challenge we have embarked on a major programme of categorizing our physical and digital collections to establish where our true strengths lie. Once strengths have been identified we will use this categorization to guide all decisions relating to purchase, subscription, location, preservation and digitization of our collections, whether analogue or digital. Collections will be categorized as follows.

Digital collections

Digital collections are complex and varied in their origin, content types and preservation needs. Some may be created, owned and hosted by the Academy, including items we have digitized from our own physical collections, where the originals are often rare or unique.

With all these materials entrusted to our care we need to ensure that mechanisms and resources for the digital preservation of this content are in place as required.The application of our Collections Strategy to our digital material means we will:

  • Prioritize electronic delivery of content where appropriate
  • Collect and store the Academy’s research outputs digitally in our repositories
  • Digitize material from our own collections in line with the Library’s Digitization Strategy, to be hosted in our e-prints repository
  • Preserve and curate digital materials which are required for the long term and for which curatorial responsibility resides with the Library
Collection development and management

Collections will be developed and managed in keeping with the principles outlined above. The Library undertakes to consult academic colleagues on collections that relate to their areas of teaching and research primarily through Schools Library Representatives, and also, where appropriate, Directors of Research and Heads of School

Physical collections

Our physical collections will continue to be very important into the foreseeable future. The maintenance of these collections will entail a commitment to physical preservation where feasible and desirable, and/or to digitization, both to enable access and for the purpose of preservation.

The application of our Collections Strategy to our physical collections means we will:

  • Ensure access to reading list materials for students, purchasing multiple print copies where necessary and e-copies where practical, cost-effective and appropriate
  • Manage and stock edits our self-renewing collections to support the Academy’s current learning, teaching and research. Continue to develop our heritage and Special Collections for current use and for future generations of scholars.
  • Make our physical collections available to external researchers through Document Supply and through reciprocal visiting and borrowing arrangements with other libraries, where appropriate and feasible. Material which by law can be made publicly available will not be rejected solely on moral, political, religious, and racial or gender grounds.
Access to collections

The Library will make all of its resources easily discoverable to its users using single search functionality where possible.

The Library will maximize the availability of its collections to the University community and external researchers, as far as licensing conditions or other restrictions permit.





  • Storage
    1. Maintain at least three copies of each data object, with at least one copy in a geographically separate location.
    2. Introduce different technology choices to avoid common mode failure across all stored copies.
    3. Prevent malicious damage by restricting access to the data and storage infrastructure.
  • Approach
    1. We will use a formal and documented means of assessing and accepting digital content.
    2. We will define a timetable for retention if there is a requirement based upon the content type or collection.
    3. We will monitor and survey the rate and type of content coming into the Library and weigh this against content already held when deciding priorities.
    4. We will monitor digital content acquisition to plan future preservation activities.
    5. We will join up digital preservation and curation activities within the Library when possible.
    6. We will train all staff across the Library involved in the digital preservation workflow.
  • Access
    1. The library endeavours to make material openly available whenever possible.
    2. Requests to access restricted material will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This process will be monitored based on the frequency and number of requests.

    Digital Preservation Policy

    Introduction

    Caribbean Military Academy Library’s mission is to collect, create, deliver, and preserve collections for current and future research, learning and teaching activities. Collections historically managed by libraries were acquired in physical form, but increasingly content acquisition is of digital files. Digital content is at risk of being lost or unusable due to rapid changes in technology and infrastructure. There is a reputational risk if the Library does not address and mitigate the risks presented to the storage and access to digital content

    Strategic Planning

    Digital Preservation is a distributed activity between the Library and IT with specific groups and individuals responsible for elements of the life-cycle. Digital preservation may be one of many activities an individual is responsible for within their remit so coordination and communication across teams is essential to the delivery and safeguarding of content. As the digital preservation landscape is constantly changing so will roles, responsibilities and designated leads for a specific area. Strategic planning includes defining current capacity within the library, defining roles and responsibilities and forecasting future needs and staffing..

    Key Principles of Digital Preservation Activities

    1. Assessment, action and longevity
      1. Collect and appraise digital content in accordance with CMA Library Collections Strategy.
      2. Collect content in its original form when possible.
      3. Periodically assess digital content for digital preservation risks and assess risks identified.
      4. Act to ensure the longevity of data when clear risks have been identified but avoid pre-emptive or unnecessary preservation actions.
      5. Always retain the originally deposited data or sufficient information to enable re-creation of the original if format migration or other transformations become necessary in order to ensure continued access to the informational content.
      6. Provide guidance to depositors when possible about arrangement and conventions and best practice.

    Ask the Librarian



    The Ask a Librarian email reference service is provided to CMAL users with mission-related inquiries that are brief or factual in nature. In most cases we will respond to questions within two working days. You may submit a question anytime!

    Please use this form to submit your inquiry. Please see the specific information we request below. It is not necessary to address every point; however, we can most effectively help you if you provide us with as many details as possible.

    • What would you like to know? Be as specific as possible. Please explain acronyms or unusual terms.
    • What resources have you already consulted?
    • Do you have suggestions for keywords, acronyms, synonyms or phrases?

    Email us at: altheawalker2@gmail.com or althea.walker@jdf.mil.jm

    Library Service

    Library staff will guide you to the collections that you will need for your research, circulation services, reference services, online information services, you may have limited photocopying of library materials. Services include the use of wireless network, loan of materials, research services, interlibrary loan, or other privileges and services granted to primary users. CMAL personnel have first priority at all times. The Library will provide a Document Supply service and support reciprocal visiting and borrowing arrangements with other libraries, to allow our members to access material not held at CMAL. Some of our services are but not limited to:

    • Institutional repositories.
    • Research Queries.
    • Digital archives.
    • Integrated access to e-journals, e-books, databases, and printed resources.
    • Digital preservation.
    • Copyright and licensing.
    • Printed resources.