Increased investment at a local and national level has been crucial to sustaining this vital service which has seen many people to look to the public libraries throughout the pandemic, a habit that has continued though we are now open. As with many services a blended approach of in person and online looks to be the way forward for the future of lending materials within our library service. As has been the pattern throughout the pandemic membership of Cork City Libraries continues to increase, with an 8% increase to year end this month on 2020 and 13% increase on 2019 (37,441, 2021: 34,416, 2020: 33,075 2019) *
*City boundary extension of 3 extra libraries increased membership on 31 May 2019
From May 10 to 31, 26,527 visits were made across our ten service points, 63% less than in May 2019. May, in more normal times, sees a huge influx of Leaving Certificate students using the library spaces to study in. We look forward to welcoming increased numbers of visitors as the months progress. Tina pisco’s tenure as Cork City Libraries’ first Writer -in- residence came to an end on May 15. While the ‘residency’ was not what we imagined when submissions were sought, Tina made this inaugural tenure one to be remembered and met all obstacles with resilience and creativity. The entire residency was carried out remotely over Zoom and included engaging through writing workshops, blogs, podcasts and World Book Fest sessions. Much of the work created are legacy pieces which can be built on. Work from the workshops will appear in Cork Words, Poetry in the park and other citywide initiatives. The libraries supported LGBTI+ Awareness Week during May with online events featuring a blog on the life of the writer Patricia Highsmith , an interview by Jamie O’Connell with Gaye Shortland on her book Mind that tis my brother, a virtual tour of the Stonewall exhibition and an interactive mapping project on LGBT friendly spaces in Cork city from 1970’s to the present day. Staff member Dr Sorcha Fogarty held a very successful creative writing workshop on Memoir during the month and the libraries partnered with our colleagues in the Learning City on a livestream lecture with John Wooding, Professor Emeritus in the University of Massachusetts, Lowell on pacifist and social philosopher Richard Gregg.
Free Rhyme and Sign online classes were hosted for parents encouraging communication with babies before they can talk. May saw literature installed on hoardings as the city develops. As part of Cor k City Libraries’ Cork Words project, these were installed on Horgan’s Quay in a collaboration with the libraries and Clarendon Holdings. We hope this is something that will continue as our city redevelops bringing contemporary literature onto our streets showcasing the city’s litera ry vibrancy.
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