Preserving cultural products : Libraries, context, technology in the English-speaking Caribbean

Libraries remain crucial for the preservation and dissemination of cultural products in the English-speaking Caribbean. Cultural products span the realm from traditional to contemporary artforms in diverse formats. Technology has facilitated the process allowing cultural intermediaries such as libraries, archives and museums to extend their reach and expand markets. Globalization has also impacted the process, weakening national boundaries to facilitate a polemically viewed transformation. The treatment of cultural products with libraries is an uncommon theme in the literature on Caribbean libraries. This article therefore explores the practices of the Caribbean library in the acquisition, preservation and promotion of the region's cultural product.