Monthly Library Slot: September

And you're welcome back to the show where it is our monthly look at what's happening across

Claire's libraries and joining me in studio to find out about that.

And Eammer Bowen, executive librarian at Devler Library Nero's here.

And the acting senior executive librarian there, and Eve Adon of an Eammer.

Very good morning to both. Thanks for coming in.

Good morning, Alan.

Eammer, can you tell us, or rather, can you tell us a bit about National Public Libraries

Open Day, which is coming up later this month on the 26th of September?

Yeah, so you had the right name first.

Exactly.

Make the public aware of what the library service has to offer for them.

So I suppose when we're talking to people coming into the library,

we're preaching to the converted.

So we're trying to reach the cohort of the public who don't normally come to the library

and just to let them know what's happening in their local libraries and the facilities

that's available for them to use there.

Okay, and I mean, libraries have changed so much since I was young,

glad there are so many different additional facilities and things that people can avail

of at libraries these days.

Yeah, so I suppose traditionally, as we've mentioned before, it's books,

but we've expanded to, we discussed the HESC, the Home Energy Savings kits,

and the RAID on monitors.

So there's also newspapers.

You can come in and read your newspaper.

You can get it free online as well through our Barra Box app.

And you can come in and you can study.

There is also different events that take place in the library.

So we have book clubs, we have poetry clubs,

and for National Public Library's Open Day, there are other events that are taking place.

So for example, the theme of this year's National Public Library Open Day is take a closer look.

So in Scarrow, for example, they've taught outside the box for this one,

and they have a local geologist that's going to come in, Aiman Doyle,

and he is going to look at fossils that were found in the Scarrow region.

So families and children, everybody's welcome into Scarrow to have a conversation with Aiman

and he's going to explain the fossils.

So they're taking a closer look at the library,

and they're also taking a closer look at something different that's happening in the library.

We know Aiman Well from the show, and if there's something about fossils that Aiman doesn't know,

then it's not worth knowing, basically.

So okay, that should be very interesting.

And Eimer talked to us a bit about how clear libraries are supporting children.

Starting school, of course, since kind of the end of last week,

and I know my own at home on Tuesday back to school,

how are you going to be helping them out?

Yes, Anne.

So this year in Claire, 1,143 children are starting school in September.

And we have a little library bag for each and every one of those.

And inside that bag, they will get two lovely picture books for free that they can keep.

That's all about making friends and settling into school,

as well as some pamphlets and resources for parents to read

around establishing good reading habits in the home.

And resources that we have available in the library then for parents.

So we're encouraging everyone to come in and collect these bags.

So this program is in its fifth year now, and it's growing,

and becoming more popular as people are becoming more aware of it.

And it's been great.

We've had a huge response to it this year,

and I would say about 60% of the bags have been collected.

But there's probably about 300 or 400 kids that still haven't got their bags,

and we have them in the libraries, and we really want to get them into the hands of the children.

So if anyone is listening and you know somebody who's starting school this week,

encourage them to go to the library for the parents to go down with the child and collect the bag.

And then also, if they don't already have a library card,

they can join the library while they're there and it's free.

Yeah, I was going to ask you whether the free book's bag is a way,

quite often of starting or establishing a long-term relationship with children,

and their local library.

And that they take off from there then.

Yes, absolutely.

I mean, that is one of the core purposes of the project.

It's all part of this National First Five initiative,

where there's all these different initiatives for children,

eight, not to five years to help them have a good start in life and a good start in school,

and also an equal start in school.

So it's all about establishing that connection with them when they come into the library.

And we're looking now at the long-term effects of this program.

And statistics are showing that children who have a library card by the age of nine

are far more likely than to go on to third-level education as a young adult.

So this program will hugely benefit any child

than that gets this bag and joins the library.

So you're hurting me now if you're a child,

get in there, get that bag, and start that journey towards third level.

That's a little workout.

Start them early.

Start them early.

And you've just, before we finish anything else,

the people should be aware of.

No, it's just that we'd just like to let everybody know that there are 15 libraries in countercare.

We have nine full-time branches.

So we just encourage everybody to come in and visit their local library.

It is a free resource.

It's a wonderful resource to have on your doorstep.

So everybody should be coming into their library.

And if not borrowing, books just engaging with whatever activity,

or book club, or poetry group is happening within the library service.

Yeah, libraries are about so much more than books.

And even if they were only about books, that's brilliant.

All by itself as well.

Okay, my thanks to Neven Donovan and Emer Bowen

from the Devilara Public Library.

Ladies, thank you very much, Sophie.

For joining us on the show, we'll be touching base with Clara libraries again.

Next month.