The Good Library Blog

I am very fond of a quotation which I came across a few years ago which says: "even in the smallest town the public library is the institution which is building a sense of local community as we enter this new century."

I saw clear evidence of the truth of this statement during the visit to the Rath Cairn library last Wednesday night.

One could sense immediately that this is a library which is alive and welcoming, and in Treasa Ui Mhairtín the Rath Cairn library has a wonderful Branch Librarian. One could see that under her skilful direction that the library is giving a real service.

The Rath Cairn library functions as a place of education and information, and as a cultural and community centre for Rath Cairn.

A librarian wrote in 1876 that we should “receive readers with something of the cordiality displayed by an old-time inn-keeper.”

On Wednesday night the Rath Cairn Branch Librarian, Treasa Ui Mhairtín, stood in her library and welcomed us with warmth, honesty, poise, affection, a sense of scholarship, and knowledge. As I stood and watched her, I could tell that she was clearly conveying something. And as the evening went on, and as she introduced members of the local community and the musicians in An Bradán Feasa, I understood that what she was conveying was a sense of civics and of citizenship and of community.

And, mercifully, there was an absence of the vocabulary of business in everything she uttered. There was no corporate speak, no advertising speak

Up to a few years ago those who ran libraries defined them in their own terms, and defended them by being knowledgeable about books and reading and literacy and learning and local studies. Now the words and concepts of corporate management have swept in. Even people who read and study in libraries are becoming known as clients or customers.

Public education institutions such as a library are created to provide enlightenment, assistance, and care. When they take on the same management and accounting terminology as private companies, then there is a disconnect.

Local government and library seminars these days are awash with terms such as customer care, good practice, strategies, performance indicators, delivery of output etc. etc. etc.

In such seminars one rarely hears word such as “liberate” or “humanity.”

It was refreshing, even energizing, to meet and listen to Ms. Ui Mhairtín last Wednesday night. It was very clear to me that Rath Cairn library is a place where people are valued, welcomed and encouraged.

Her role reminds me of the term “Animateur” as used in an old Council of Europe Report which I have to hand. The work of a good animateur affects the totality of life in the community, from town-hall to corner shop, from pub to factory floor. A good community animateur, or an animateur in a library, will enable people to develop resources within themselves - powers of expression, creativity and communication – independent of market and commercial processes.

We need more Animateurs - derived from the Latin word “anima” meaning spirit, breath, life or soul - in our libraries, and less of the sterile language of the corporate world.

It was great to see first hand the work of Treasa Ui Mhairtín, Ciarán Mangan and the Meath County Library Service who have clearly put the Rath Cairn Library at the heart of the community.

Thanks,