Tag Archives: Clare library service

AUTHOR John Connell will be the special guest at this year’s annual Clare Reads Day 2022 this Friday, November 11. Every year, Clare Libraries celebrates the work of an Irish author by encouraging the whole community to read a chosen book by that author. The chosen author this year is John Connell, author of The Cow Book and The Running Book. Clare Reads Day will feature John’s latest book, The Stream of Everything, published earlier this year by Gill Books. The Stream of Everything is an account of a two-day trip along the Camlin River in a kayak during lockdown with a close friend. The rich biodiversity of the river forms a quiet backdrop to John’s much-loved philosophical observations. Book Clubs around Clare will read and discuss John’s book together ahead of attending a special author event in Scariff Library. Clare Reads Day also includes a special author event in Scariff Library. John will be interviewed by Jim O’Brien, journalist …

A range of exciting initiatives will be possible in Clare Library Service as a result of a €26,743.94 grant from the Dormant Accounts Funding, according to the county librarian. These will include aids to help those with reading difficulties, books in Ukrainian and other languages,­ and a programme of events for recent arrivals in Clare. The funding, announced by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, will enable the provision of electronic resources both in library buildings and online and will also be used to assist libraries in offering literacy supports across the library network. In recent years Dormant Accounts Funding has helped Clare’s libraries to fund online literacy supports, sensory spaces and gardens, among many other relevant and important literacy-based projects. One of the highlights of the funding this year will be the purchase of “C-pens”, which have a simple scanning mechanism that reads text aloud and will be available for borrowing in a number of libraries, …

Clare Library Service has announced it has Home Energy Saving Kits available to borrow in a number of libraries from this Monday, September 5. The Home Energy Saving Kit is the “ultimate toolkit that helps save energy at home”, according to the livrary service. It contains five easy-to-use tools and six practical exercises, that will allow a person to get a better understanding of the energy usage in their home, problem areas that may need attention and ways to improve energy efficiency. Energy bills can be reduced by up to 20% by implementing easy energy saving measures and could also improve the comfort of the home and helping contribute to a better environment at the same time. The tools in the kit are easy to use, they provide an interactive and tangible way to introduce the concept of energy usage into the home and a perfect way to get the whole family involved. The Home Energy Saving Kit was designed …

CLARE’S library service has been warmly commended at the May meeting of the local authority, writes Fiona McGarry. Ennis area Councillor Ann Norton welcomed the return to some in-person services this month and also lauded the county Arts Office for its efforts to engage young people and children during the lockdowns. “The amount of activity that has been available from the Arts Office and the libraries has been amazing,” she said. As head of the Clare Crusaders Clinic in Barefield, Councillor Norton said that online story-telling and reading initiatives had been of huge benefit. “The seeds initiative was also a huge help,” she said. “It gave a chance to introduce younger children across Clare to horticulture. Getting the younger generation growing is a very positive thing. “Congratulations to all who kept people positive and showing that you can fend for yourself. Children have gotten to know what it’s like to feel soil between their fingers and long may that continue …

THIS year’s Ennis Book Club Festival will be going online, organisers have confirmed. Due to Covid-19 restrictions the popular festival’s March 2021 programme will be virtual, while there are also plans for a day of live events in glór in September. A full programme line-up is due to be announced in the coming weeks, however the EBCF organising committee have revealed some of the big names taking part this year. “We have prioritised giving our readers the chance to engage with their favourite books and writers,” said a spokesperson for the organising committee. As part of that, there will be a bookclub meet-up with Donal Ryan, in small groups, via Zoom, “to allow for intimacy and the sense of one-to-one contact with a writer”. Roddy Doyle will join the festival from home to talk about his most recent title ‘Love’. While Exciting Times author Naoise Dolan will be answering people’s questions in an online chat next March. On September 11 the festival will …

LIBRARIES will operate a call and collect while parks and playgrounds will remain open as part of changes announced to Clare County Council’s services as the county entered Level 3 restrictions this week. The Government announced that, from midnight on Tuesday all counties including Clare would be placed on Level 3 under the Plan for Living with Covid-19. This action is based on a review of the current public health advice and is in response to the deteriorating situation with the virus across the country. All counties will be at Level 3 for a period of three weeks until midnight on October, 27, at which point the situation will be reviewed by the Government, based on the status of the virus and public health advice. According to a spokesperson for the local authority, “Clare County Council will continue to provide services in accordance with public health guidelines during this period.” Members of the public are requested to note that where …

Several libraries across the county reopened this morning in accordance with Phase 3 of the revised Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. They include De Valera Library in, Ennis and those in Kilrush, Kilkee, Miltown Malbay, Ennistymon and Shannon. Other libraries will be opening shortly once the necessary preparatory work has been completed with update on the Clare County Library website and social media pages. Libraries will provide limited services initially, including limits on the numbers accessing the facility at any one time. Libraries will operate in compliance with current physical distancing guidelines and the public are encouraged to use hand sanitisers upon entry to library buildings. Library visits will be of a maximum 15 minutes’ duration and services will include borrow and return of books, printing facilities, delivery service for those cocooning, online services and children’s services including the 2020 Summer Stars programme. The contact and collect service will continue in the other branches and will commence in a …

‘Honest Abe’ most likely would not have been impressed by the failure of one Clare County Library service members to return a loaned book on the former US President after almost three decades. A copy of ‘Makers of History; Abraham Lincoln’ by Herbert Agar was loaned out by the Clare County Council library service in 1987 but has only just been returned. A volunteer from a local charity shop returned the book to Shannon Library after identifying it as library property when going through a pile of donated items. ‘Makers of History; Abraham Lincoln’ was first published by Collins, St James’s Place, London, in 1965.