Sir, – I remember meeting a 78-year-old woman, who had reared a large family, and who after a lifetime of family worries and cares, had a first exhibition of her paintings in a local branch library. A review of her exhibition stated: “The walls of the library are now not only visited for the books on the shelves, but also for another view – a local woman’s expression of freedom.”
But for how long more will such facilities be so widely available ("Two of Sligo's three branch libraries face threat of closure", September 15th)?
In 2010, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government abolished An Chomhairle Leabharlanna (the Library Council), declaring it to be a quango. The Library Council, established in 1947 by Erskine Childers, did invaluable work in its 64 years of existence in maintaining standards and in providing leadership for the public library service. With library staff not being replaced, and library opening hours being reduced, one can only consider as very unfortunate the loss of the voice of An Chomhairle Leabharlanna in making the case for libraries in tough economic times.
It has been replaced by Libraries Development, an advisory vehicle for public libraries within the Local Government Management Agency, a body rich in the words and concepts of corporate management such as customer care, good practice, and performance indicators, but weak, in my view, in its sense of civics, citizenship and community.
In the struggle to preserve public libraries, perhaps not enough stress has been laid on the library as a place. The author Alan Bennett feels that for anyone living in “a flat or house, say, where space is at a premium and peace and quiet not always easy to find, a local library is vital; a library needs to be handy and local; it shouldn’t require an expedition”.
There is a large and silent population out there who need and use our libraries. Officials in local and national government need to be constantly reminded of this. – Yours, etc,
PAT McMAHON,
Galway.