Friday 14 March 2008

Catalóg Ar-Líne Nua - New Online Catalogue


Clare County Library's new Online Public Access Catalogue is now available on our website. Just click on 'Catalóg Ar-Líne' for the Irish version, or 'Library Catalogue' for the English version. Clare County Library is one of the few library authorities to offer its online catalogue through both the Irish and English languages. Among the additional new features on the online catalogue are full colour images of book jackets, book summaries, tables of contents, and first chapters or book excerpts. Books can, of course, be reserved and renewed online as before.

Ní amháin leabhair! - Not just books!

The services provided by Clare County Library go far beyond the lending of books.
CDs and DVDs are available to borrow at Ennis, Shannon and Scariff libraries, while Miltown Malbay library has a collection of Irish traditional music. Shannon library is home to the Shannon Language Centre which includes audio-visual materials and language learning books. A selection of audio books for the visually impaired can be ordered from Kilrush library and are posted free of charge. Books for literacy students and tutors are widely available throughout the county’s library regions. And don’t forget, Internet access is available free of charge in every library in Clare.

Séirbhísí do Pháistí - Children’s Services

Clare County Library is especially committed to nurturing the reading habit in children, and works closely with schools and parents’ groups around the county. Amongst the many regular events held are the Transatlantic Reading Challenge, Children’s Book Festival, the Summer Reading Scheme, World Book Day events, and the DeValera Library Children’s Summer Project. Book promotions and Book Clubs are held regularly, and every library hosts its own programme of fun events throughout the year. Contact your local branch for details.

FOTO

FOTO was launched in August 2004 and is an online image database made available through Clare County Library’s website. To date it contains almost 9,000 images. In November 2007 FOTO was the winner in the Arts and Culture category of the Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards. The collections in FOTO date from the beginning of the 20th century and cover topics like archaeology, architecture, railways, landscape, flora, postcards, mortuary cards, gravestones and people.
We need your help in putting names and dates to unidentified faces and places. You can pass on your information by clicking on the ‘Do you recognise these people’ and ‘Do you recognise these places’ links on each of the photographic collection pages. A large number of our website visitors have already submitted valuable information in this way.
You may download and print for free any images for which the library holds copyright.
Log on to www.clarelibrary.ie, and click on FOTO.

Músaem an Chláir - Clare Museum

The Riches of Clare - its people, places, and treasures - occupies two galleries of the Clare Museum. The displays have been designed to have a wide visitor appeal and comprise a large loan of artifacts of Clare provenance from the National Museum of Ireland, the de Valera Museum collection, and artifacts collected locally.
The concept of the exhibition is thematic, focusing on the lives and experiences of the people of Clare through the themes of Earth, Power, Faith, Water and Energy.
The Clare Museum is located near the Templegate Hotel in Ennis, and admission is FREE.
Telephone 065.6823382, or check the library website

Oifig na hEalaíona - Arts Office

Clare County Council’s Arts Office is based in the head offices of Clare County Library, in Ennis, and its web pages can be accessed via the library website at www.clarelibrary.ie/arts.htm. The role of the County Arts Office is to encourage and promote all levels of artistic endeavour throughout County Clare, as well as providing up-to-date information on arts events and developments on both a local and national level.

Seachtain na Gaeilge – Irish Language Week

Is í Seachtain na Gaeilge an fhéile Ghaeilge agus chultúrtha is mó a bhíonn in Éirinn gach bliain. Tá sí ag dul ar aghaidh ar feadh níos mó ná céad bliain anuas agus maireann sí ar feadh coicíse sna laethanta díreach roimh Lá Fhéile Pádraig.
Seachtain na Gaeilge is a non-profit organisation which for over one hundred years has helped to promote the Irish language and culture both at home and abroad within a two-week festival held in March every year.
Craic! Seachtain na Gaeilge, féile a thugann deis do chách sproai agus craic a bheith acu trí Ghaeilge agus an bá acu léi a léiriú.
Seachtain na Gaeilge is a time to experiment with the language and to have some fun in the process!
Clare Library Events: Ré Ó Laighléis, Bríd Ni Mhóráin, and staff member Marie Clohessy will host a serious of events as gaeilge in various libraries around the county during the month of March.
Contact your local branch for details, or check the Library Events page on our website.

Cartlann Chontae an Chláir - Clare County Archives

Clare County Archives was established in 1999 and provides an integrated cultural and information service to researchers at home and abroad. The Archives seeks to maintain the highest preservation standards possible for the collections in its care while seeking to maximise public knowledge of and access to archives.
The Archives is a county-wide service and in addition to local authority records, it also collects other material relating to the county including private papers, solicitors’ papers, architectural drawings, maps and plans, estate papers, photographic collections, and records of academic, social, and economic institutions.
Telephone 065.6846414 or 065.6846269, or check the library website.

Féile Club Leabhar na hInse - Ennis Book Club Festival

Book Club enthusiasts from all over Ireland and beyond gathered recently in Ennis for the second annual Ennis Book Club Festival. This year’s event built on the enormous success of the inaugural festival and proved once again how popular book clubs have become, both in terms of encouraging an appreciation of books and reading, and also as an important social event in the various communities.
Ennis Book Club Festival 2008 featured a host of events and drew many leading lights from the world of books and literature including Joanne Harris, Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger, Fintan O’Toole, Morgan Llywelyn, Brian Keenan, and many many more.
To get a flavour, log on to www.ennisbookclubfestival.com.

Dúshlán Léamh Trasatlantach - TransAtlantic Reading Challenge

30 schools in Clare are competing in the County Library’s second Transatlantic Reading Challenge. The total number of children involved this year is 2,430. These young book enthusiasts are reading more than ever before in an effort to be named the best readers in the world, as they compete with schools in Canada, USA and London in a friendly and positive way.
Clare County Library staff and members of the Clare Garda Division under the direction of Sergeant John Staunton will visit all schools taking part during the six month project. With the help of the teachers involved they will actively engage in the promotion of reading, and also in the promotion of the resources available to our young people through the library service.
The Reading Challenge was established ten years ago by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as part of their Adopt-a-Library Literacy Program. With this aim in mind, library staff, teachers and thousands of children in Clare will work together to endorse the virtues of reading.
€2000 will go to the school in Clare that reads the most books between November 2007 and April 2008. They will also then have a chance to win an additional overall prize of €2000, if they out-read the other competing schools.
For further information, contact Patricia Fitzgerald by emailing patricia.fitzgerald@clarelibrary.ie or by phone at 065.6846266.

Clubanna Leabhar - Book Clubs in Clare Libraries

Several libraries around Clare host active Book Clubs. You don’t need to be a member to participate. Just contact one of the following branches for more information:
DeValera library, Ennis (065.6846353) Adults, Teens, and Children
Shannon library (061.364266) Adults, and Children
Killaloe library (061.376062) Adults
Kilrush library (065.9051504) Adults, and Children
Newmarket-on-Fergus library (061.368411) Adults
Scariff library (061.922893) Adults and Children
Miltown Malbay library (065.7084822) Children
Kilkee library (065.9056034) Children

Slán go Noel! - County Librarian retires after 32 years service

Noel Crowley retired as Clare Co. Librarian at the end of 2007. It marked the final professional milestone in the career of this popular Cork city native who was appointed Clare County Librarian in 1975, and who in the intervening 32 years has contributed enormously to the success not just of the library service in Clare, but also to the social and cultural fabric of the Banner County at large.
Noel spent his early library years with Cork County Library, travelling the highways and byways of west Cork with the mobile library unit. It was to be a telling introduction to the workings of a library service, and in particular to the needs of local communities.
That background served him well as Noel brought with him the vision and confidence to implement changes to the then burgeoning library service in Clare. Those changes and numerous developments since have culminated in Clare County Library being recognised at home and abroad as one of the leading and most visionary of library services in the country.
The staff of Clare County Library take this opportunity to wish Noel every happiness in his retirement.

Fíorais agus Figiúirí – Facts and Figures

Internet sessions
The provision of free internet access at all our branch libraries around the county resulted in almost 100,000 online user sessions during 2007.

Members new and old
A total of 17,697 people - adults and children, young and old, national and non-national – joined or rejoined a library branch in Co. Clare during 2007.
This figure shows a 3% increase over the previous year. In fact, in each of the last three years, membership numbers in the county’s libraries have shown a continuous upward trend.

Books borrowed
The number of books and other items borrowed by library members throughout the county remains consistently high at over 440,000 each year. This figure includes fiction and non-fiction books for adults and children alike, as well as DVDs and music CDs.

Fóram an Leabharlann - Library Forum

An online forum for County Clare has been developed in a joint initiative between Clare County Library and the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library of Nova Scotia in Canada.
The Forum offers people worldwide an opportunity to share their interest and knowledge of County Clare, from books and local history to arts and culture, as well as their favourite place in Clare.
To view or join the forum simply go to the library website at www.clarelibrary.ie and follow the link to ‘Forums’. Each forum is moderated by either library staff or volunteers.
It is hoped that more and more people will see the forum as a natural place and space in which to share information about County Clare, books and literature, and the arts in general.

Teaspeántas ‘Wood of Life’ - Wood of Life Exhibition

Wood of Life is a travelling, hands-on, interactive exhibition from Just Forests on the social, economic and environmental importance of the world's forests through development education (DE) and education for sustainable development (ESD).
Just Forests - an Irish voluntary organization - use the state of the world’s forests as a tool to establish links between 'development' and poverty.
Who should visit?
The Wood of Life exhibition has very broad appeal and impacts many social disciplines. The exhibition is suitable for pupils from 5th and 6th class primary, and students in the junior and senior post-primary cycle. Transition year students, woodwork and construction studies students, as well as students of architecture, agriculture, engineering, biology, science, geography, and religion are also encouraged to explore the exhibition.
During March and April, the Wood of Life exhibition will tour the following Clare libraries: DeValera Library Ennis, Sean Lemass Library Shannon, and Sweeney Memorial Library Kilkee. Check locally for dates and times.