US Embassy opens second "Corner" in Ghana

Accra, Sept. 26, GNA - The Public Affairs Section of the United States Embassy, in partnership with the Ghana Library Board on Wednesday launched the second "American Corner" at the main library complex in downtown Accra.

The new Corner, valued at 55,000 dollars, is the second in the country following the successful launch of the first Corner at the Institute for Local Government Studies in Tamale last year. The Corner is to provide access to current and reliable information about the US via book collections, the Internet and local programming to the general public.

Its book collection will include reference titles, works of fiction, business and government publications.

The Corner would also provide access to US information through supervised Internet access, audio and video products. Pamela E. Bridgewater, US Ambassador in Ghana, speaking at the launch said the new Corner would serve as a resource and programming centre for clients who patronized the Martin Luther King (MLK) Jnr library at its old location in the Ridge.

She said the Corner housed many of the old books and resources from the old MLK as well as brand new titles and resources selected by their librarians to target areas of key interest such as health care, education, politics, current affairs, gender and outreach to diverse religious groups.

She said 10 Internet terminals had been made available for clients to use at the place, which would be manned by trained librarians from the GLB.

Ms Bridgewater also announced that educational advisors from the US Embassy would make frequent trips to the Corner to give brief talks and answer questions for people who wanted to study at US Colleges and Universities.

Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Education, Science and Sports, commended the US Government for its numerous interventions and projects, which had improved the social life-styles of the people. He said the cordial relationship that had existed between the two nations had resulted in immense benefits to Ghana including infrastructure, human resources, agriculture and education. Prof. Fobih said the fruitful collaboration between the GLB and the US Embassy showed a practical demonstration of the US policy of helping developing nations.

"We in Ghana are proud to observe that we are one of the lucky few countries to benefit from this policy."

Mr Omari Tenkorang, Acting Director of the GLB, said the opening of the second Corner fitted into their programme to provide ICT Centres in all the regional libraries.

He said the objective was to improve upon inter-office communication, provide readers with worldwide access to information and to computerise some of the routine library operations.