On my holiday in Co. Galway in Ireland last week I of course visited the local library. The Irish are, according to the local librarian, expanding the library service and purpose built libraries in deprived urban areas are on the top of the government's agenda. Those same libraries have, since built in the last few years, proven to be the most popular ones and are steadily increasing their user uptake . The Headford library is not amongst those - it's a small rural library.
The public library is only two years old but prior to that the people in the area made use of mobile library services.
The Headford public library is trying and growing. It may look like a church hall on the outside and it may not have that much in its physical collection, but as I say - it is trying.
This is what awaits the young people on the inside:
And two computers, cramped in the corner, which I waited in line to get on to.
The most surprising aspect of Headford library was however this:
It's oddly fascinating for a studying librarian to see this in practice, still. I remember this of course since I was a kid in Iceland but the working conditions of some librarians are truly amazing. The one on the right is the user card catalogue, 400 children and 100 adults. The one on the left is the collection catalogue.
Users can access the web, use Microsoft Office applications and a photocopier . The librarian works manually. It appears.
