Dublin City Public Libraries welcomes the wonderful news that the capital has been formally designated a UNESCO City of Literature, part of The Creative Cities Network. In receiving this accolade, Dublin proudly joins Edinburgh, Iowa City and Melbourne as one of only four cities in the world to bear the title of UNESCO City of Literature. City Librarian Margaret Hayes said ‘I am particularly pleased that Dublin City Council, through its library service, has played the lead role in winning this great honour – one which reflects the fact that although Dublin is indeed a literary city, it is the gateway to literary Ireland. It is my belief that Libraries all over the country can take real pride in this re-affirmation of our importance as cultural and literary ambassadors’.
For further information contact: Jane Alger 01 6744809
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Individuals interested in disaster management are sought for Intra-European Fellowship applications for post-doctoral or visiting researcher positions to work at the University College Dublin (UCD) in Dublin, Ireland. Candidates with a dual background in information science and computing, and who are interested in the interplay of people, information, technology and social structures in the context of emergency response, are particularly encouraged to apply. The envisioned project relates to outlining the ideal characteristics for the development of new information systems for real-time emergency response management.
These prestigious EU fellowships have salaries that begin at €56,400 plus a mobility allowance and training stipend. They are for a period of 12-24 months and are anticipated to begin in summer 2011.
- Candidates must be in possession of the Ph.D’s by 1 August 2010 (as verified by their university’s registrar) and have highly competitive academic credentials
- All nationalities welcome, but the candidate must currently be residing in an EU member country or affiliated state (e.g., Turkey, Switzerland, Israel)
- Irish candidates can apply, if they have been out of Ireland for 36 months
- Non-Irish candidates currently living in Ireland can also apply, if they have not been in Ireland for more than 11 months as of 1 August2010.
Interested applicants should send their full CV and publication list to Dr. Debra Laefer and Prof. Diane H. Sonnenwald at the following addresses: debra.laefer@ucd.ie and diane.sonnenwald@ucd.ie
In recognition of, and to celebrate the holding of the 2010 LILAC conference at Limerick, the LAI and CONUL (Consortium of National & University Libraries) agreed to sponsor an Irish Information Literacy award. Nominations were invited from individuals or teams who had engaged in IL initiatives in the Republic. Sixteen nominations were received from a range of academic, special and public libraries.
The winner was Wexford County Library. Details of the Wexford entry ar available at http://www.wexford.ie/wex/Departments/Library/LibraryResearchSkills/
A number of enquiries have been received as to the types of projects which had been entered for the award. We are delighted to list the runner-up entrants and their projects here to illustrate the range and calibre of IL work which is is currently in progress in Ireland.
| Institution | Project Title | Lead Person |
| A&L Goodbody Solicitors | Information literacy: formal legal research training programme | Celine Kelly |
| Dublin Institute of Technology | Developing the Information Literacy practitioner at DIT | Brendan Devlin |
| Dublin Institute of Technology | Get Smart! Enhancing the first year experience | Brian Gillespie |
| Dublin Institute of Technology | Information Literacy: A generic embedded module | Allison Kavanagh |
| Institute of Technology Tallaght | Online Tutorial: How to research your assignment | Philip Russell |
| Limerick Institute of Technology & LNSS: Library Network Support Services | Individual contribution | Padraig Kirby |
| National Documentation Centre on Drug Use | Evidence-based drug prevention practice: an e-learning course for allied health practitioners… | Brian Galvin |
| NUI Galway, Trinity College Dublin & University College Cork | Graduate information skills module | Isolde Harpur; Niall McSweeney |
| NUI Maynooth | Double Impact: Design and delivery of an accredited undergraduate module in information literacy across two campuses | Rachel Hynes & Mairead McQuaid |
| NUI Maynooth | From library to lab and beyond:
Information Literacy for the Faculty of Science & Engineering |
Mary Antonesa |
| NUI Maynooth | LIST: Library Information Skills Training | Elaine Bean |
| University College Dublin | Teaching the UCD community how to avoid plagiarism | Ursula Byrne |
| University College Dublin: School of Information & Library Studies | Individual contribution | Claire McGuinness |
| University of Limerick | 23 Things @ UL | Peter Reilly |
| University of Limerick | UL – Cite it right: a guide to referencing at UL | Aoife Geraghty |
From Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 April 2010, Tallaght, the administrative centre of South Dublin County hosted the Library Association of Ireland/cilip Ireland Joint Conference on the theme of Smart Libraries. A total of one hundred and nine delegates from all over the island of Ireland, from the UK and from a wide range of library services attended along with eleven trade exhibitors. Ash from the Icelandic volcano prevented two speakers and another ten delegates who had booked from attending.
The raison d’être for the conference was outlined by Siobhán Fitzpatrick, President of the Library Association of Ireland in her introduction to the conference brochure where she noted that in these pressing times we need to operate to the optimum, to be efficient and effective and to communicate smartly with our users, our parent bodies and our funding agencies. We need to think smart, work smart and communicate smartly. These ideas were echoed by Elga Logue of cilip Ireland who stated in her introduction that the current recession was forcing all of us to look at smarter ways in which to deliver cost-effective and efficient library services that still advocate quality.
Mr. John Gormley, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government who officially opened the conference on Wednesday afternoon, spoke of his support for libraries. In his address, he noted that Einstein once commented that ‘in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity’ and that we could therefore say that library authorities, on both sides of the border, are now confronted with unprecedented opportunities in the midst of the current economic difficulties. He added that today, when the requirement for the skills and knowledge to participate fully in an information society is more necessary than ever, libraries have a central role in ensuring that the public has access to resources they need throughout their lives.
The wide conference programme addressed the challenges and opportunities outlined by the Minister by providing a forum for thought-provoking papers on communications, the ways in which we engage with the various media and how we might use these more advantageously. In addition the conference sought to update the delegates on smart collaborative, cost-effective access models which benefit the public at little cost to the exchequer.
The Conference Brochure details the conference talks, presentations, workshops and events. Conference presentations will be made available on this website once they have been collated.
Thanks to all the speakers for their enthusiasm and for sharing their wide knowledge and expertise. Thanks are also due to Georgina Byrne, County Librarian, South Dublin Libraries and to her staff for hosting and for facilitating the conference. Mayor Mick Duff and County Manager, Joe Horan were most welcoming and supportive. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir!