Old Graveyard at Drumcliff - major transcription project

The results of a major undertaking by the Clare Roots Society are now available on Clare County Library’s website. Transcriptions and photographs of all headstones in the Old Graveyard at Drumcliff, for centuries the main burial place for Ennis and its surrounds, were donated by the society and are now online. Family names can be searched either using the alphabetical lists or by using the search box in Foto . A map of the graveyard is also provided to help in locating graves on the ground. This addition to the website should be of great use to genealogists and great praise is due to the Clare Roots Society and particularly its indefatigable secretary Fíona De Buitléir.

Seachtain na Gaeilge i Leabharlann Chontae an Chláir

All branches of Clare County Library are hosting events during this national celebration and promotion of the Irish language spanning two weeks in March. Two new writers from publishers Móinín, based in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, will tour some of our branches.

Esther Göbl Uí Nualláin
Beidh Esther Göbl Uí Nualláin ag léamh as a cnuasach gearrscéalta do pháistí
‘Eachtraí Uchtaigh.’ Labhróidh sí faoi chúlra na scéalta agus míneoidh sí cuid des na teicnící scríbhneoireachta atá á chleachtadh aici ina cuid oibre. Beidh deis ag na páistí ceisteanna a chur agus a gcuid tuairimí a chur in iúl. Tá Móinín, Ballyvaughan, chun a cnuasach gearrscéalta a fhoilsiú.
Esther will be reading from her book ‘Eachtraí Uchtaigh’ which is a collection of short stories for children. She will speak about the background of her stories and explain some of her writing techniques. The children will have an opportunity to ask questions and express their opinions. Audiences of 3rd and 4th class children in Primary school are invited to attend these bi-lingual sessions.
Esther will visit the following public library branches at the following times;
Monday March 2nd deValera Library, Ennis at 10am, Corofin at 11.30am and Ennistymon at 2pm.
Tuesday March 3rd Newmarket at 10am and Sixmilebridge at 11.30am

Meadhbh Ní Eadhra
Meadhbh Ní Eadhra is a young writer who is currently a student at NUIG where she is pursuing an Arts degree. She has a passionate interest in the writing of creative literature in Irish and is taking Irish as one of her core subjects of study. Meadhbh is already an accomplished and acknowledged writer. She was a regular columnist with the Irish language newspaper Lá Nua from 2003 until its closure in December 2008, and is now a columnist with the online publication An Druma Mór. Her journalistic offerings also feature in the national Sunday newspaper Foinse, where her range of skills present themselves in feature articles, reviews and news items. Rua, her first novel for children, was published in 2003, and Fáinne Fí Fífí, a novel for teenagers which was shortlisted for Irish language Book of the Year in 2008, was published in 2008. Meadhbh took part in the Children’s Book Festival in 2008 and is always interested in giving writing workshops and readings, in the hope that she may inspire other young people to read and write in their free time. She is looking forward to meeting secondary school students in County Clare, and hopes to give them an insight into her life as a young writer and journalist.
Meadhbh will visit the following public library branches at the following times:
Thursday March 12th Kildysart at 10.30am, Kilrush at 12noon, and Kilkee at 2pm
Friday March 13th Shannon at 10.15am and Scariff at 2pm

Seamus Ryan
Seamus Ryan, Library Assistant at deValera Library, Ennis will present Scéalaíocht do Dhaoine Óga for children from 2nd class upwards in the following libraries:
Tulla Library Wednesday March 4th 11am
Lisdoonvarna Library Thursday March 5th 1.20pm
Kilmihil Library Friday March 6th 11.30am
Miltown Malbay Library Thursday March 5th 11am
Killaloe Library Wednesday March 11th 11.30am

Traffic tops list of ten most popular films among library members

A wide range of film genres was represented in the list of the ten most popular films borrowed from Clare County Library during 2008. The list contains films such as the epic Passage to India, the black comedy Harold & Maude, the French romantic thriller Read My Lips and the critically acclaimed Fargo.

Steven Soderbergh’s thriller about the drugs trade, Traffic, featuring Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones topped the list of the most borrowed films from Clare County Library in 2008, up from 8th place last year. It was closely followed by Magnolia, starring Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore, which interweaves nine separate yet connected storylines about the interactions among several people in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley, California.

About Schmidt was the third most popular film among library members, up from sixth place in 2007. Jack Nicholson stars in the role of Warren Schmidt – a man enduring an end-of-life crisis.

Movies featuring other movie greats - Gene Hackman (Royal Tenenbaums), Paul Newman (Road To Perdition) and Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) also featured on the top ten list. Films by some of the most critically acclaimed directors such as the Coen Brothers ("Fargo"), David Lean ("A Passage to India") and Ken Loach (Land & Freedom) were also much in demand in the libraries.

"Harold and Maude", a film that revolves around the exploits of a morbid young man who develops a relationship with septuagenarian Maude, was released in 1971 and remains a cult classic.

The French Romantic thriller "Sur Mes Levres (Read My Lips)" in which a secretary with hearing problems uses her ability to lip-read in assisting a petty thief she has hired as a trainee was the only foreign language film on the list in 2008, compared with three in 2007.

Top Ten Films Borrowed from Clare County Library in 2008:
Traffic
Magnolia
About Schmidt
Rain Man
Royal Tenenbaums
Fargo
Land & Freedom
Sur mes Levres (Read My Lips)
A Passage to India
Harold & Maude

New Poetry Club in Scariff Public Library

Following on from the success of its adult and children’s bookclubs, the staff in Scariff Public Library are starting an adult poetry club in the library which will run at 6.30 pm every Tuesday beginning on March 10th. Focusing initially on Irish poets, the group will read a poet’s work and examine what was going on in their time, historically or politically, that may have affected their work. Aileen McDonagh who will lead the group stresses that anyone wishing to join the group does not need to be an authority on literature – all that is required is an interest in poetry and a willingness to express their own views at the same time as learning from the views of others. The staff recognize that there are a lot of artistic and creative people living in the area and this club will provide an opportunity for them to share their own work with others if they wish. However members need not be poetry writers themselves to participate as the focus will be on reading a range of poetry. Aileen hopes to have about ten people in the group and each meeting will run for about an hour. To book a place, call Scariff library on 061922893. For those with an interest in poetry, the Ennis Bookclub Festival running from 6th – 8th of March features poets such as Medbh McGuckian and Micheal O’Siadhail, in addition to Clare’s own The Clare Three-Legged Stool Poets.

The adult and children’s bookclubs at Scariff library would also welcome new members. The next meeting of the adult group is on March 12th at 6.45pm when the book under discussion will be Booker prize winner Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. The children’s bookclub will next meet on Thursday, March 26th at 3.30pm to discuss John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Death of Hugh Leonard

Hugh Leonard, the playwright, died on February 12 aged 82. Hugh Leonard was the pseudonym of John (Jack) Keyes Byrne, who was raised in Dalkey, Co Dublin. He enjoyed enormous success on Broadway with his two plays, Da and A Life. "Da" ran for nearly two years on Broadway and earned Leonard a Tony Award in 1977. It was later turned into a film starring Martin Sheen. He published two hugely popular volumes of autobiography, Home Before Night (1979) and Out After Dark (1989). Until 2006, he wrote a regular humorous column, “The Curmudgeon”, for the Sunday Independent, in which he often dwelt on his love of cats. Mr. Leonard was also renowned for his adaptations of classic novels - Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights among them — for British television.

Obama Speech in Support of Libraries

Barack Obama gave the opening speech at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago in 2005. Below are extracts from that speech.

“More than a building that houses books and data, the library represents a window to a larger world, the place where we’ve always come to discover big ideas and concepts. That’s the reason why, since ancient antiquity, whenever those who seek power would want to control the human spirit, they have gone after libraries and books. Whether it’s the ransacking of the great library at Alexandria, controlling information during the Middle Ages, book burnings, or the imprisonment of writers in former communist block countries, the idea has been that if we can control the word, if we can control what people hear and what they read and what they comprehend, then we can control and imprison them, or at least imprison their minds.”

“At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. It’s an enormous force for good. We have to get books into our children’s hands early and often. At the dawn of the 21st century, where knowledge is literally power, where it unlocks the gates of opportunity and success, we all have responsibilities as parents, as librarians, as educators, as politicians, and as citizens to instill in our children a love of reading so that we can give them a chance to fulfill their dreams.”

Reading Bridget Jones could improve your love life, new study shows

According to The Guardian newspaper a new brain-imaging study is shedding light on what it means to "get lost" in a good book — suggesting that readers create vivid mental simulations of the sounds, sights, tastes and movements described in a textual narrative while simultaneously activating brain regions used to process similar experiences in real life. The study, forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science, is one of a series in which Jeffrey Zacks and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track real-time brain activity as study participants read and process individual words and short stories. If the character in the book "pulled a light cord", brain activity increased in the frontal lobe region which controls grasping motions. As the character in the story "went through the front door into the kitchen", activity went up in the regions in the temporal lobes that are activated when people view pictures of spatial scenes. So, according to The Guardian far from being a way to avoid reality, burying yourself in the disastrous romantic adventures of Bridget Jones or following Oliver Twist in his journey from rags to riches could make you better able to cope with similar situations in the real world. More ...

Library Ireland Week 2009 & World Book Day

The fifth annual Library Ireland Week, celebrating libraries and librarians across the country, takes place this year from 2nd – 7th March, and Clare County Library will again host a range of events to mark the occasion.

Library Ireland Week is orchestrated by the Library Association of Ireland and encompasses all kinds of libraries from public to academic to educational. It is an opportunity for libraries and information services to highlight their work by holding public events which celebrate their continuing successes, particularly in these difficult times.

This year Clare libraries will host a series of readings from works by Clare authors. The readings for adults will be performed by Eleanor Feely, actor, dancer and writer. Eleanor has performed on stage and screen both in Ireland and abroad, and has recently worked on several community-based projects with both the Clare Arts Office and Clare County Library. Eleanor will visit libraries in Kilkee, Ennis, Ennistymon and Sixmilebridge on the following dates - Kilkee on Monday 2nd March at 3.00 pm, DeValera Library, Ennis at 7.00 pm. on Tuesday 3rd, Ennistymon on Wednesday 4th at 3.00 pm and Sixmilebridge on Thursday 5th March.

A representative grouping from the Clare Three-legged Stool poets have joined with the library service to host poetry readings at 6.30 pm in the following libraries – Shannon on Tuesday 3rd, Kilrush on Wednesday 4th and Scariff on Thursday 5th. The Clare Three-legged Stool Poets was founded in 2003 with the aim of providing poets from the North, West, and East of Clare (its “three halves”) with an outlet to celebrate the diverse aspects of the County. Entry to all events is free and all are welcome.

Coinciding with Library Ireland Week is World Book Day, which takes place this year on Thursday 5th March in Ireland and the UK. This UNESCO designated day is a worldwide celebration of books and reading and is a partnership of libraries, publishers, booksellers and other interested parties who come together to promote the value of books for the betterment and enrichment of all. World Book Day will be celebrated in Clare in a variety of events. A Poetry Competition for Primary & Post-Primary school students will take place and budding young poets are invited to write a poem on the subject of their choice. Eighty poems will be selected by competition judge Terry McDonagh, an acclaimed Irish poet and dramatist. The finalists will be invited to attend a reception at De Valera Library, Ennis, on World Book Day, Thursday 5th March at 8.00 pm. Here the young poets will have an opportunity to share their winning poem with a live audience, and all winning entries will be published by Clare County Library. On World Book Day a school in Miltown Malbay, who are already involved in the WOW Reading Challenge at the library, will bring their reading logs with them to the library and read as many books as possible in a type of marathon reading session. A similar event will take place at Killaloe library. Children from Tulla Playgroup will celebrate World Book Day with "Storytime” at Tulla library at 9.45am. This will be suitable for children ages 3 to 5. Children’s events are also planned at Newmarket-on-Fergus library. Readings for adults by Eleanor Feely will take place on World Book Day at Sixmilebridge library at 3.00 pm, while a group from the Clare Three-legged Stool Poets will read in Scariff library at 6.30 pm. Free book marks and activity sheets for children will be available in all libraries in Clare on World Book Day. On the same day, Clare County Library will provide information on its wide variety of services at an Information Point in the Dunnes Stores Shopping Mall in Ennis.

Also coinciding with Library Ireland Week is Seachtain na Gaeilge, 2nd - 17th March, an international celebration of the Irish language with the emphasis on fun and participation. Every public library branch in Clare will host an event to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge, including storytime as Gaeilge for the very young, and author visits for older students. Writer Esther Göbl Uí Nualláin will read from her book ‘Eachtraí Uchtaigh’ - a collection of stories for children - as well as discussing the background to her stories and some of the writing techniques she uses. And aspiring young author Meadhbh Ní Eadhra – already twice published – will meet with post-primary school students at a number of library venues to discuss her work and to promote reading and writing in young people.

Finishing off the week, the Ennis Book Club Festival runs from 6th – 8th March, bigger and better than ever. Clare County Library is proud to be associated with this annual literary and social gathering for readers everywhere. It’s a great place to meet authors, discuss books and pick up useful tips on reading material. Among the host of authors attending this year are John Boyne, Jennifer Johnston, Salley Vickers, Kevin Myers, Mark O’Halloran, Gerry Adams, Gerard Stembridge and many more.

All in all, an extremely busy time in Clare libraries – come along and join in the fun.

Costa Book of the Year winner

Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture has won the Costa Book of the Year Award 2008. Chairman of the judges Matthew Parris said the decision was an "extraordinarily close finish" with Adam Foulds' book of poetry entitled The Broken Word. Barry’s novel had also been shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize for Fiction which was won by Aravind Adiga for his novel The White Tiger. The Costa Book of the Year, which has a £25,000 (€27,000) prize, recognises the most enjoyable books of the past year by writers in the UK and Ireland. The Secret Scripture centres on Rosanne McNulty, nearing her 100th birthday, who faces an uncertain future as the hospital where she has spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to the upheaval, she often talks to her psychiatrist Dr Grene. The two begin writing parallel accounts of their meetings, each of which becomes a secret scripture of their lives. Sebastian Barry based his book on the true story of his great-aunt who was banished to a Roscommon psychiatric hospital for transgressing Catholic codes of behaviour. In Roseanne he has created one of the most memorable narrators in recent fiction.

French Knighthood for JK Rowling

French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently bestowed the title of Knight of France's prestigious Legion of Honour on Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, at a ceremony in the Elysée presidential palace. "You've helped give young people back the taste for reading and writing," Sarkozy told Rowling, thanking her for making children understand that "reading is not a punishment, but a source of pleasure". Since Rowling's first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in 1997, her books have sold more than 400 million copies and been translated into 67 languages. The English version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the first book in English to top the French bestseller lists.

"Before Green Gables" by Budge Wilson

For fans of LM Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books, Before Green Gables will be received as an excellent prequel. Based on Anne’s life before her arrival at Avonlea and demonstrating plenty of research into the eight books that chart the life of Anne Shirley, its author Budge Wilson creates a realistic account of Anne’s young life. Orphaned as a baby, Anne is sent from one foster home to another living a very difficult life as a young girl. Her constant hardship of caring for children is only alleviated by her ability to escape to the world of her imagination. An assertive and curious child, Anne finds comfort in reading and in dreaming of a bright future. Only through these flights of fancy can she cope to any degree with her impoverished childhood. Before Green Gables was published in 2008 to mark Puffin's celebration of Anne Shirley’s centennial anniversary. For readers young and old, those of you who love the Chronicles of Avonlea and those of you who have yet to discover the enjoyment to be had from Montgomery’s books, Before Green Gables is the ideal start to this well-loved series.

Most popular music CDs in 2008: the enduring popularity of The Beatles

First released in 1968, The Beatles’ "White Album" was the most popular music CD borrowed from Clare County Library in 2008. The Beatles also claimed two further places on the top ten list with "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Revolver". County Clare fiddler Martin Hayes claimed second place on the list with his album "Live in Seattle" featuring tunes ranging from the slow and tender to the fast and furious. Australian rock band AC/DC, Pink Floyd and The Clash were also popular with library members. Bob Marley regularly features on the list and 2008 was no exception with Legend featuring. Brasiliero, a wonderfully diverse introduction to Brazilian music was also very popular. Nora Jones’s debut album, "Come Away With Me", has been consistently in demand since its release in 2003. More recent releases like "Sam’s Town" and "Sawdust" by The Killers and Amy Winehouse’s "Back to Black" failed to make the top ten list but were nevertheless very popular with members of the library.

10 most popular music CDs in 2008:
The White Album - The Beatles
Live in Seattle - Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles
Back in Black - AC/DC
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
London Calling - The Clash
Brasileiro - Putumayo
Revolver - Beatles
Legend - Bob Marley

Creative Writing Project in Shannon

Clare County Library in association with Clare County Arts Office and Ballyvaughan-based publishers Móinín have come together to offer Shannon post- primary students a unique opportunity to work with one of Ireland’s most famous and prolific writers and to develop their writing skills under his tuition and guidance. A group of 12 students from St. Caimin’s Community School and St. Patrick’s Comprehensive School, selected by their teachers, joined Ré Ó Laighléis in Sean Lemass Public Library, Shannon for a series of creative writing classes, the first of which began on the 9th January 2009. The participants’ work will be inspired, chosen, read and evaluated with constructive suggestions for its amendment and development by Ré on a continuous basis up to the 6th of February 2009. Ré O Laighléis is the biggest selling contemporary author in the Irish language. His novel Gafa (Móinín, 2005) has recently featured on the Leaving Cert syllabus and works of his, such as Ecstasy & other stories (Móinín, 2005), Hooked (Móinín 1999/2007) and his Burren titles are read widely by the general readership and at second and third levels, not just here in Ireland, but also throughout Britain and North America.

Clare County Library’s World Book Day Poetry Celebration

World Book Day takes place on March 5th 2009 in the UK and Ireland. To mark this day, Clare County Library is initiating a poetry competition for children. Children at Primary and Post Primary Level in Clare’s schools are invited to write a poem on a subject of their choice for World Book Day.
If you are interested in writing poetry and would like to
• Write your very first poem
• Improve your writing
• Share your poems with other young writers or
• Find out what others think of your poems

Simply send your poems to
World Book Day Poetry Competition, Library Headquarters, Mill Road, Ennis, to reach us by Monday the 16th of February 2009.

Click here for full information on the competition.

Clare libraries rise to the Recession

A serious downturn in the economy - such as we are currently experiencing - has historically been a boom time for public libraries.

Libraries become busier as people return to more economic ways of accessing information, education, entertainment and communication. More people tend to borrow – rather than buy – books, CDs and DVDs. In County Clare over 480,000 books, music CDs and film DVDs were borrowed from all branch libraries during 2008, an increase of 40,000 on the previous year. In Killaloe library Gráinne Ryan, Senior Library Assistant, has remarked on the increased usage saying "without examining actual statistics, I can tell from simply observing the number of people coming through the door that the library has been busier in recent months."

Libraries large and small become increasingly important as centres for job seekers and those returning to education, by providing diverse resources including free internet access, self-help books, and information on community assistance services.

Commenting on the situation Mayor of Clare, Madeleine Taylor Quinn, stated "Libraries are a great resource for those who wish to re-educate themselves financially and otherwise, and to learn new ways of cutting costs both in business and in the home. We have a wonderful service throughout the county. Practically any book you need can be acquired, either directly from the huge and varied Clare County Library stock of books or through the inter-library loans system. It’s a great and economical way of learning, educating and of reading for enjoyment."

In 2005, Senator Barack Obama spoke of libraries as "sanctuaries of learning". Today we’re more likely to hear the words "recession sanctuary" being employed to describe the public library and its increasingly vital role as a primary information provider in these challenging times.

Library usage patterns during difficult economic periods provide an interesting barometer of the psyche of a nation. Experience shows that people don’t like to read about doom and gloom, but instead like to read about good times. Escapist reading comes to the fore: crime, thriller, and romance books are borrowed and reserved in greater numbers. Romance publisher Mills & Boon says it has traditionally enjoyed stronger sales in times of crisis.

The borrowing of non-fiction books in particular casts interesting light on the effects of a negative economy on library users. Self-help books become ever more popular. Do-it-yourself becomes more than just a hobby. Library users are now looking to fix their own cars and homes, grow and cook their own food, manage and reduce their own budgets.

Six of the top ten non-fiction books for the year were cookery books; a good indication that staying in is the new going out! And books of house plans and designs – for many years in the top ten most borrowed library books – have dropped way down in the popularity stakes.

The Official Driver Theory Test has topped the list of the top ten non-fiction books borrowed from Clare libraries since 2002. It was joined this year by Conor Faughnan’s Pass That Test, as changes to the provisional licensing system were implemented. Will there be a similar demand for this type of book in 2009?

There has always been an interest in books on spirituality and self-help in Clare Libraries, and 2008 showed a particularly strong move in that direction with high issue figures for Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose, Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret and Lorna Byrne’s Angels in my Hair.

Finally – and most encouragingly - the amount of children’s books borrowed in Clare during 2008 increased significantly, up a healthy 14% on the previous year, a good indicator that parents and children are eschewing the high cost of children’s books and making more use of that most reliable of flexible friends: the library card.

As the Dole queues lengthen, so do the queues at the library desk. Your local "recession sanctuary" is open for business.

Deaths of John Updike and John Mortimer

January saw the deaths of two of the English language’s most prolific authors – John Updike and John Mortimer. The American author John Updike will be best remembered for his four 'Rabbit' novels – Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest. Chronicling the adventures of one Harry Rabbit Angstrom - high school basketball star turned car salesman, householder and errant husband - and his efforts to cope with the seismic public changes (from feminism to the counterculture to antiwar protests) that rattled his cozy nest, the Rabbit novels captured four decades of middle-class American life. Both Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

John Mortimer was a successful barrister, award-winning playwright, novelist and creator of one of British television's most adored character, Horace Rumpole. His experiences at the Bar afforded the material for the creation of Rumpole, the shambling but stylish barrister whose quirky devotion to apparently hopeless causes made him one of the most compelling characters in books and on television.

Noddy is 60

HarperCollins will publish a new Noddy picture book this Autumn to mark the character’s 60th anniversary on the 22nd November. The book will be written by Enid Blyton’s granddaughter Sophie Smallwood. The story will focus on Toyland with the action set on a farm. Lookout for all your favourite Toyland characters!

New picture book on Barack Obama

Simon and Schuster will publish a new picture book for children in February on the life of Barack Obama. Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope is written by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier. It will give even the youngest readers an insight into the early life of the 44th President of the United States when he lived in Jakarta and Hawaii and how he came to be elected as US President.

New Tolkien title from HarperCollins

The Legend of Sigurd and Goodrún is to be published by HarperCollins in May 2009. The new book by the late Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien will be edited and introduced by Tolkien’s son, Christopher.

Dracula Chosen as Dublin Book for 2009!

Dublin City Council has chosen Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula as its featured 2009 title for its One City, One Book initiative. Stoker was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent on Dublin’s northside. Now entering its fourth year, "Dublin: One City, One Book" is a project designed to encourage everyone in the city to read the same book during the month of April each year. The project promotes reading in a city which boasts one of the world’s greatest literary heritages including four Nobel Laureates. Dracula was written in 1897, and has been translated into many languages. It has been the inspiration for many other works, and has been widely adapted for the stage and film.