Dublin Libraries: a pictorial record by Seβn Lennon (Dublin Corporation Public Libraries, £9.99)

This book serves as a timely reminder of the treasure trove available to the general public in the libraries of Dublin

This book serves as a timely reminder of the treasure trove available to the general public in the libraries of Dublin. Lennon - a writer, artist and librarian (Marino) - focuses less on the contents of bookshelves than general ambience and architecture. He evinces as much reverence for the not-so-grand as the salubrious - Trinity College, Chester Beatty, Marsh's the National Library etc. The book will serve as a worthwhile memento for readers who have savoured the delights of the Dublin Corporation library service over the years and introduced offspring to its advantages. My own favourite, Capel Street, Dublin's first public library - now alas, subsumed into the ILAC centre - opened on October 1, 1884. Capel Street features in Ulysses, as Lennon notes, and was even used as a "safe library" by Michael Collins during the War of Independence. A significant feature, too, of many strategically located libraries - such as Pearse Street - is their enormously understated role as fomenters of love of learning in areas of acute disadvantage.