In the new millennium the frowning, bespectacled librarian will be a forgotten image from the distant past. Only happy, welcoming librarians will be seen at libraries throughout the country which will soon be stocked with new books, CD ROMS and other electronic media, following an allocation by Noel Dempsey TD, Minister for the Environment and Local Government, last week of a further £500,000 in funding.
It is the dawn of a new age in the management and approach of libraries, as laid out in a report on standards for the Public Library Service in Ireland, which was released last week. The Minister's announcement is a top-up on an earlier grant of £1 million which was promised last year to the Public Library Service in order to facilitate its acquisition of additional stock.
"The public library, even in the smallest town, will be the institution which builds a sense of community in the next century," according to Pat McMahon, president of the Library Association of Ireland. It will be "the building in which the community will most commonly define itself as a community. Let our libraries be places to celebrate and to explore life."
A report on the service, which follows four years of consultation and research by the Public Libraries 2000 Working Group, was launched last week also. It is hoped this will "put flesh on the bones of the vision for a new public library service". Libraries will maintain close contact with all local schools, according to this report, which is entitled National Network - Local Service. Also the library will maintain regular and close liaison with educational services, it says. "Visits by schools to public libraries should be encouraged, and librarians responsible for young people's services should actively promote the resource of public libraries to schools."
Each library service point "should have bilingual staff, especially in the big libraries", the report states. "There should be bilingual signs, forms, information leaflets and library materials in each library," it adds.
Libraries are urged to "recognise the growing importance of adult education and lifelong learning, and give due consideration to how they might support such activities.
"The children and young people's area of the library should be relaxed, safe, informal and accessible to all, with bright colours, posters, music provision and, where possible, activity areas," says the report.
Libraries are urged to pay particular attention to "the needs of the under-fives, children of primary school age, children with disabilities, teenagers and young adults, in terms of space, including study or homework space, furniture, shelving, ICT, audio-visual and other equipment".
The working group, which consulted widely in its preparation of this report on library standards, was made up of six individuals, all of whom have experience in the management of libraries at different levels. They are Dilys Bateman, Anne Coughlan, Liam Ronayne, Ruth Flanagan, Jess Codd and John McGinley. According to the report, the library profession is taking the lead "in describing best practice, and encourages all library authorities to come up with the highest standards".
