Councillors give the go-ahead for staffless library

THE ‘Open Library’ project – providing access to a staffless facility outside normal office hours – is to be trialled in the city for a one-year period.

City councillors gave the go-ahead for the pilot project after hearing presentations from Galway County Librarian, Peter Rabbitte and Offaly County Librarian, Mary Stewart.

Councillors voted in favour of a proposal tabled by Cllr. Pearce Flannery that the ‘Open Library’ concept be trialled at one of the city’s three libraries [Westside, Hynes Building, Ballybane] at a future date.

Cllr Flannery said that there had been a lot of negative publicity about what was essentially a good news story for library users in terms of providing extra accessibility during oout-of-office-hours, including the weekends.

“This will increase opening hours and accessibility while we have a guarantee that there won’t be any reductions in staffing levels,” said Cllr Flannery.

He also rejected any concerns that the non-staffed facility could attract anti-social or that security issues could arise. “Why should a few little pups be allowed to stop a service like this going ahead,” said Cllr. Flannery.

Galway County Librarian, Peter Rabbitte, in a presentation to councillors, said that where the ‘My Open Library’ units were introduced, there had been no reductions in staff numbers while usage of the service had increased.

Offaly Librarian, Mary Stewart, said that their two open libraries at Tullamore and Banagher now each offered total access hours per week of 98.

The extra hours were operated through a membership scheme, card entry, with CCTV coverage providing security. Under-16s could only use the service if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

“We have a lot of students commuting from Offaly to Dublin and they make great use of the after-hours service. Overall the feedback to the ‘Open Library’ has been very, very positive,” said Mary Stewart.

However, a number of city councillors expressed concerns about the whole concept of a staffless library with Cllr. Ollie Crowe saying that librarians were ‘a pivotal part of the library service’.

Cllr Mike Cubbard said that he didn’t want the library service in the city to be turned into a ‘faceless and staffless one’.

Cllr Mairead Farrell said that while everyone wanted to see longer opening hours, the libraries needed to be staffed.

Cllr Colette Connolly said that with the high percentages of people who had literacy and numeracy difficulties – as well as those who were uncomfortable using technology – there was an obvious need for the service to be people based. “Human interaction is important,” she said.

However, Fine Gael councillor, John Walsh, said that ‘the myth had now been put to bed’ about any jobs being lost. “This is a very positive development for all library users that will improve existing services and opening hours,” he said.

Cllr. Padraig Conneely said that the proposal had been at the centre of a lot of mis-information when first mooted. “Sometimes we’re very much afraid of change – let’s give it a try and see how we get on,” said Cllr Conneely.

Eventually, councillors voted to give the go-ahead to a one year pilot scheme at one of the city’s three libraries (to be selected later) but no timescale for its implementation was set out.

Galway County Library have plans well advanced for the Open Library service to be rolled out at its branches in Ballinasloe and Oranmore over the coming months.