Introduction

Carlow County Council Library Service is an essential place where people of all ages gather to freely pursue knowledge, information and enjoyment of life. Libraries in Carlow provide a popular and heavily used service for everyone, allowing unbiased and unparalleled access to knowledge, information, creativity and culture. Carlow County Library Service experienced high demand for services again in 2016.
Carlow County Library Service operates four branch libraries in the communities of Carlow Town, Borris, Tullow and Muinebheag. Opening hours for 2016 remained at 124 per week which include late nights and Saturday openings. The branch libraries are supported by the administrative functions of library headquarters from where the local studies and genealogy service also operates. The Local Studies service is open to the public for 35 hours per week. A dedicated Genealogist is available by appointment two days a week, a partnership agreement with the Irish Family History Foundation.
Carlow Library Service works collaboratively with a range of local and national organizations which allows the library to promote itself as a valuable community space actively engaging with the community. In 2016, the library service continued this collaborative approach to service delivery to ensure the library is viewed as a social and versatile space for everyone.

The Library Collection

The Library Collection currently stands at over 170,000 items. Annual regular investment ensures the collection is current and relevant to user needs. 189,668 items were issued in 2016 reflecting how well the collection is used.
Investment in specialised collections are of great benefit to many people and allow the service to target certain segments of the population and encourage increased library usage. 2016 saw further investment in the Work Matters and Mind Matters collections as well as a dedicated stock purchase of Irish published material. Grant funding of €3,350.32 from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government enabled the purchase a collection of books about the Easter Rising in 1916 as well as an Irish Life and Lore audio Heritage Collection.

Events and Programming

Annual Library and Literary Events

• Harry Potter Day in February saw five events with 198 children and teens participating county wide.
• Hennessy Award winner Simon Lewis launched his debut collection of poetry Jewtown in Carlow Central Library on Friday night, May 27th.
• The Summer Stars Reading Challenge was held on a national level in 2016 with all libraries in the country participating. This year 872 children from around the county participated and over 17,000 children's books were borrowed over July and August.
• A series of craft workshops for children with Carmel Flahavan were held in Carlow Central Library during July with 46 participants over three days.
• Pen Fest '16 was held again in Carlow Central Library over weekend 9th-11th September. The creative writing festival aimed at beginners celebrated its sixth year in existence and a full programme for adults, young people and children. The weekend was launched with a special reading of work by the group of new writers who have been working since February with Writer in Residence, John MacKenna and preceded a weekend of workshops by acclaimed writers and facilitators Anthony Glavin, John MacKenna, Dave Lordan, Pauric Brennan and Caroline Busher. In total over 120 new writers took part in the festival all free of charge.
• A coffee morning was held in Tullow Library on Tuesday, October 18th and €460 was raised in aid of the Tullow Day Care Centre.
• The annual Christmas Carol Service was held in Tullow Library on Wednesday evening, December 14th with circa 60 attendees. Regular Events throughout the year included:
• Children's story time was held on each Saturday morning of the month in Carlow Central Library.
• Writer in Residence Programme with John MacKenna in partnership with Carlow Arts Office continued with three separate groups of new writers throughout the year.
• The regular Popcorn Movie Club in Muinebheag and Borris libraries.

Participation in National and County events included

• Events were held as part of the National Aontas Adult Learner's Festival during the last week of February.
• As part of Heritage Week 2016, Carlow Library Service held the following events:
  
  • An Exhibition of Photography chronicling the History of the Fire Service in County Carlow in the Central, Tullow and Muine Bheag Libraries with a special lecture on the history of our Fire Service by Paul Curran on Tuesday, August 22nd.
  • Old Streets of Carlow Exhibition by Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society was hosted in the GB Shaw Room, Carlow Central Library.
  • A historical lecture on Tuesday, August 22nd in Muine Bheag Library by Martin Nevin entitled: Walt Disney - The Carlow Connection.
  • A historical lecture on Wednesday, August 23rd in Tullow Library by John Murphy about Tullow Castle.
  • A historical lecture on Thursday, August 24th by Paul McDonald entitled: The Cold War between East and West 1945-1990
  • Three workshops with Genealogist, Bernie Walsh were held on tracing your family tree using free resources available on the Internet.
• Carlow Library Service took part in Culture Night this year with a special reading of work from the Banshee Writing Group. An exhibition of photography by Jarlath Judge, Carlow in Focus was open until 9pm on Culture Night and continued on display in the George Bernard Shaw Room for the following week.
• The Summer Stars Reading Challenge celebration night was held in the Seven Oaks hotel on Thursday, September 29th. This year 872 children from around the county participated and over 17,000 children's books were borrowed over July and August. All children were presented with a certificate of participation and a medal on the night. Niall de Burca entertained the children on the night with three different sessions to accommodate the numbers attending.
• Children's Book Festival 2016 ran throughout the month of October and several events were held for Primary School children including author visits, the Popcorn Club, craft sessions and Storytime.
• A range of events supporting positive mental health were held across the library branch network as part of Mensana 2016 during week 10th-15th October.
• Carlow County Library Service participated in the national initiative Library Ireland Week 2016: empowering through online access during the last week of November/first week of December spreading the word online of the services and value of public libraries online in today's Ireland.

1916 - 2016

• 1916 Commemoration - Carlow County Library's exhibition reflecting the social, economic and cultural life of ordinary Carlow people, A Snapshot in Time was held in the George Bernard Shaw Room, Carlow Central Library for the first two weeks of September. The exhibition was officially launched by Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, John Murphy and Mayor of Carlow & Chair of the 1916 Committee, Cllr. Fintan Phelan on Wednesday, September 7th. Special guest speaker Imelda Byrne gave insight into the type and cost of food in 1916 comparable with the Ireland of today.
• A Poem for Ireland competition in partnership with the Library Development Unit as part of the 1916 commemoration was celebrated with the national awards ceremony held in Dublin Castle on Friday, May 6th. The Carlow finalist Lucy Ni Duighinn from Gaelcholaiste Ceatharlach came in 3rd place overall.
• Fr. Albert Bibby Lecture by Myles Kavanagh in Muinebheag Library as part of County Carlow 1916 Commemoration.
• A 1916 Special Song & Story night with The Carlow Storytellers as part of the Pan Celtic Festival.

Collaborative events

• Bishop Foley and Green Rd. National Schools participating in the Faraway Friends Literacy initiative with school links made in California, USA.
• International Women's Day full day of free events in Carlow Central Library in partnership with Carlow Women's Network.
• Filming of Live from the Library started in the last week of March with Young Irish Filmmaker's guiding the teenagers from Carlow Regional Youth Services in filming and editing technique in Carlow Central Library and The Vault.
• Spring Clean Your Life campaign in partnership with Carlow Mental Health Association. Series of workshops focused on healthy mind, body and spirit throughout the month of April.
• The Dresser Project launch and exhibition in partnership with the Arts Office. The project and exhibition were officially launched by Cathaoirleach Charlie Murphy on May 18th followed by a talk by artist Michael Fortune.
• Carlow Library staff got involved in the Hello Carlow Day on May 26th in partnership with Carlow Mental Health Association.
• The Bealtaine Festival, celebrating creativity in older age ran for the month of May. A range of events happened across the library network.
• On June 10th, The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms. Mary Mitchell O'Connor, T.D. visited Carlow Library to officially open the FORM - 'design made in Carlow - Craft Exhibition, launch their new directory and brochure, and to meet with local entrepreneurs and employers. The FORM launch and exhibition was a partnership between The Local Enterprise Office and Carlow Library Service.
• A one day energy information event organised by the Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency in partnership with Carlow County Library and Carlow County Council took place on Tuesday 28th June 2016 in Carlow Central Library. The aim of the day was to raise awareness of energy for home, school, work and business showing how small changes can make a big change to your pocket. This event was part of the EU project called Data4Action.
• Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Damien English visited Carlow Central Library as part of his official trip to Carlow to meet with Pat Deering TD and Carlow County Council officials. The Minister took part in the Energy Awareness Day being held on June 26th.
• A Christmas Miscellany with the Writer in Residence Group was held in Carlow Central Library on Thursday night, December 8th. The group read a selection of prose, poetry and drama to an audience of 50.
• The annual Christmas Party for the children of County Council staff was held in Carlow Central Library on Sunday, December 11th with Santy arriving by Fire Engine and lots of fun.
• Carlow Libraries in conjunction with VISUAL launched a new reading group in November. Facilitated in VISUAL the theme of the book group is conflict and will relate to current exhibitions in the centre.
• Carlow Jobs Club visit the library each week for a tour & inductions to the library service
• The Library Link service in partnership with CCDP Care and Repair Service.
• Mobile phone training for older people in partnership with Vodafone Carlow.
• Live from the Library project continued in earnest in partnership with Carlow Regional Youth Services.
• Borris Library once again participated in the annual Borris Film Festival with a special screening of Happy Feet, the movie on Saturday, November 26th.

George Bernard Shaw Room Exhibitions

• During April an art exhibition by local artist Anne Deere was held.
• The first FORM exhibition was held in Carlow Central Library as part of Carlow Arts Festival in June.
• Also as part of Carlow Arts Festival, an exhibition of work by three local artists, Pat Grassick, Lorraine Heydon and Mary Clare Nolan. 'A Passion Shared' was held in Carlow Central Library in a new space dedicated to showcasing the work of local talent.
• An Art Exhibition by Olaniyan Oladimeji was held in the GB Shaw Room in Carlow Central Library for the last week of July and the first week of August.
• Local artist Lorraine Fenlon held an exhibition of her work entitled A Brush with Summer in the GB Shaw Room for the first week of July and included an exhibition of her work with children within Carlow Library.
• An exhibition of work by local artist Caroline Cunningham entitled The Sacred Life of Trees was held in the Shaw Room during the third week of November.
• FORM, Carlow's craft cluster group exhibited their work in Carlow Central Library in the lead up to Christmas. The exhibition opened from 13th December to 23rd December and aimed to show the people of Carlow the magnificent craftsmanship that is coming from the County.
• An exhibition of work by local artists Pat Grassick, Lorraine Hayden and Mary Clare Nolan entitled New Chapters commenced in the Shaw Room on November 29th and ran until December 5th

Information Technology ICT and online services are an integral part of library services. The library website www.carlowlibraries.ie acts as a digital service point which can be accessed outside opening hours. This fifth branch gives library members access to ebooks, emagazines, language learning, courses, encyclopaedia and library collection catalogue. From August 1st library members have been able to read online and download E-Comics and E-graphic Novels. The collection features 7,000 titles, unlimited borrowing, offline reading, parental controls and great selection of children's titles.
Computer and WiFi access saw no fall off in demand in 2016 with almost 43,000 public access computer sessions and almost 7,000 WiFi connections throughout the year.

National Library Management System
As part of a national initiative, Carlow Library Service will adopt a new Library Management System, Sierra in early 2017. Work in preparation for the new system began in earnest in late summer with an anticipated Go Live date at the end of February. Free library membership was introduced at the beginning of 2016 in line with national policy and fines were increased to 5cent per day as was the quota of items each member can borrow from 6-12 to support the new LMS. For library members, this will mean they can use any library in the country with their Carlow Library card and have access to 18 million books in the national catalogue on www.librariesireland.ie
Other developments in information technology include an upgrade of the technological infrastructure in Muinebheag Library to support the introduction of My Open Library, a new service model proposed by the Department and the Local Government Management Agency. Grant funding of 75% and circa €30,000 was received from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to facilitate upgrades to RFID self-service, CCTV, loudspeaker system and building access. It is anticipated My Open Library service will commence some time in 2017.
The use of Social Media as a method of promotion of library services and communication with the people and organisations of County Carlow increased again in 2016 with users of Facebook reaching 1,940 and followers on Twitter reaching 2,069 by year end.

County Archive, Local Studies and Genealogy
There were 1,406 visitors to the Local Studies Department during 2016. This was an increase of over 31% on the 2015 figure. A wide variety of queries and microfilm consultation were recorded. The Local Studies Department facilitated groups and researchers from a variety of organisations including primary, second level and third level students.
The policy of collecting all publications of local or Carlow interest was continued. Additions to Journals during 2016 included Carloviana, Knockbeg Journal and the Ballon-Rathoe Chronicle.

Local History and Archives Online
With the imminent introduction of the new Library Management System, Sierra the Carlow Local Studies catalogue required preservation. The library service invested in an additional Local History database and catalogue in 2016. This will give access to the full local studies collection and allow increased user participation and communication with the library service worldwide. This service will be launched in 2017.
The preservation and dissemination of valuable local studies and archival material is priority for the library service. Omeka Carlow was developed in 2016 to highlight and make available some of the rich photographic collections held by the County Local History and Archive. The website will be made available in early 2017 through www.carlowlibraries.ie.
Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society digitised the entire catalogue of annual Carloviana journal in 2016 and donated a digital copy to the Library Service. This valuable resource is fully searchable and available for consultation in the Local Studies and Archives Department.

Genealogy Service
Carlow Library has been providing a Genealogy service within the Local History department of the Carlow Library Headquarters, since February 2015. This service has proven to be a great success with Family History question and answer talks during Bealtaine 2016, Start with Yourself lectures, each Monday in June 2016 and Genealogy Talks for Heritage Week during August 2016, drawing a lot of visitors to Local Studies. Local researchers or diaspora can either visit the Genealogist, by appointment and get assistance with researching their family tree or use the email service. There have been many tears shed, by clients, who after many years of their own research, have found their long-lost ancestors, by utilising this service. The Genealogy resource attracts people worldwide, making their visit to Carlow an emotional and worthwhile journey and some people have made great connections in Carlow. A high percentage of callers to the local studies have queries of a genealogical nature.
One visitor in 2016 was journalist, film maker and author Nic Dunlop, descendent of the Browne Clayton family who visited Carlow and our Local Studies for research purposes with a view to forming a lasting relationship with the Library Service.

Staff Developments

• County Librarian, Josephine Coyne departed from Carlow County Council and returned to the library service in Kilkenny in January after four years with Carlow Library Service.
• Jannette O'Brien departed from the library service to take up the position of Environmental Awareness Officer at the end of August.
• Interviews were held over two days (October 27th & 28th) for the permanent filling of an Executive Librarian (Grade 6) post.
• John Patton was transferred temporarily to Carlow Central Library as Acting Librarian, Grade 5.
• Margaret Byrne was transferred temporarily to Tullow Library as Acting Senior Library Assistant, Grade 4.
• Ciara Cross Lunney joined the Library Service on a temporary contract as Library Assistant in Carlow Central Library from September to December.
• Sylvia Madyda joined the Library Service on a temporary contract as Library Assistant in Carlow Central Library in December.
• Fiona Foskin, Executive Librarian went on Maternity Leave in December.

Staff Training and Development

• February 2016 - All frontline staff were trained on Dealing with Violent and Aggression in the Workplace.
• April 2016 - Margaret Byrne, Jean Broderick, Jannette O'Brien, and Monica Murphy attended a Library Staff workshop "Activities for Children and Reading Development" in the LGMA, Dublin
• April 2016 - John Shortall attended the Library Association of Ireland/Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals(Ireland) Joint Conference and Exhibition in Killarney
• May 2016 - Deirdre Condron attended "Digital Resources and Tools for Local History" by McGrath Barrett & Associates
• May 2016 - SafeTALK Training was provided to Library staff by Regional Suicide Resource Office, HSE.
• May 2016 - Training was provided to staff on Agresso Milestone 4
• June 2016 - John Patton and Clodagh Kinsella attended "Library Success Stories" hosted by the Youth Library Group in Ballyfermot Library
• June 2016 - Jannette O'Brien and Deirdre Condron attended "Mind your Mental Health" Workshop hosted by Carlow Mental Health Association
• October 2016 - Acting County Librarian, John Shortall attended a two day autumn seminar for City & County Librarian's in Tallaght
• November 2016 - Fiona O'Toole, Margaret Byrne and Jonathan Dunne attended the Library Association of Ireland annual conference in Faithlegg House, Waterford. John Shortall detailed the project Live from the Library in a presentation to conference attendees.
• November 2016 - Basic Circulation training on the new Library Management System, Sierra was provided to four staff in Pearse Street Library, Dublin
• December 2016 - Fiona Foskin attended a two training course on the new Library Management System, Sierra covering the areas of Systems Administration and Cataloguing
• December 2016 - Five staff members attended a "My Open Library Information Day" in Tullamore which included a tour of My Open Library service in Tullamore Library

Next Year

Carlow County Council, Athy Road, Carlow. R93 E7R7 Tel. +353 59 9170300.