Ssshhhhh, Mary! Libraries need to get with the times

IT’S hard to believe, but a row over a public library nearly brought down an Irish government. In 1930 Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, a Protestant graduate of Trinity College, was appointed county librarian in Mayo. However Mayo County Council refused to OK her appointment – because she was a Protestant. One prominent Catholic cleric in the county who led the successful campaign to stop the young woman’s appointment claimed that she would prioritise Protestant texts on the library shelves!

The Cumann na nGaedheal government led by WT Cosgrave sacked the council but this caused a government split and a massive boycott of libraries. A compromise was reached by promoting Letitia, 25, to head librarian in the Military Archive.

Today another library controversy is brewing which has generated a savage political row between a current and former Government minister. All around the world at the moment there is a movement to expand the role of public libraries in their communities. With a cast-iron guarantee that there would not be any reduction in staffing, local authorities are trying to increase the opening hours, access and role of these magnificent public buildings by using all the benefits of modern technology.

Former Fianna Fáil education minister Mary O’Rourke – in a bizarre letter to ‘the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed’ Local Government Minister Simon Coveney – labelled the idea ‘crazy, idiotic, half-formed and daft’, while encouraging him to concentrate on building more houses!

How cash-strapped local authorities are expected to fund these massive building projects while protecting one of the few services they still run – libraries – is never mentioned by Mary O’Rourke.

Neither did she bother to mention that Coveney has guaranteed that staff numbers would not be reduced, a promise that would be policed by two of the most powerful unions in the library service, Impact and Siptu. Understandably, after years of cuts, these unions are opposed to ‘open’ libraries – but the future is coming and we all need to embrace it.

Already in Finland and Denmark the automation of libraries using all the latest technology has expanded opening hours dramatically and increased usage by 50% – primarily among young people.

The idea is simple: using swipe cards, mobile phones, wi-fi, CCTV and the latest technology – library buildings play an even more central role in the community.

Libraries could open at 8am and close at 10pm – and operate seven days a week. After all, why should libraries be closed when most people are off work the weekend? Over the past ten years, the Irish library network has been under constant threat with reduced opening hours, staffing and the prospect of some libraries even closing.

‘Open’ libraries would provide a safe, warm and secure community location for meetings, study, research and contact – it would increase usage and, in turn, ensure that the threat to this magnificent service would diminish as more and more people see its value.

Librarians, who are the heart of the service, would still be there as before but the building and all its publicly funded resources would be liberated for longer.

Above all, let’s hope the debate about ‘open’ libraries doesn’t descend into a party-political row.

We need to champion and expand these institutions – and not just dismiss every idea as idiotic.

By the way, do your public duty now and support your local library by signing up.