COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

MOTION NO. 24

MOTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

That this Committee compliments the County Librarian and Library Staff on initiatives/projects which have been implemented by the Council Library Service in the past in Lucan Library to support businesses and persons interested in starting their own businesses, and requests the Manager to make an updated report on the provision of such reports currently, and projects/initiatives planned for 2012.

REPORT:

The staff of the Library Service have recently been involved with the Sustainable Business Executive from the Chamber of Commerce to put in place business support initiatives across the County.  As part of this initiative a survey on access to business information was conducted with local firms and businesses. The result of this survey indicates that local businesses are looking for information on PR and Marketing, Sustainability, HR and Employment and Funding. They voice several concerns in relation to finding information – particularly the issue of the currency of the information they find.  Many report receiving out of date or incorrect information and find that searching online can be a frustrating experience.

Libraries, as curators of information, have a particular skill in the area of information provision and as a result it was decided to develop business specific book collections in all branch libraries and to further develop online resources for entrepreneurs, businesses and people seeking employment. Two very important online business services are now available from www.southdublinlibraries.ie Lexis Nexis -the world’s largest collection of news and business information and Vision Net a website which provides company information for Ireland and the United Kingdom. Access to these services are available free of charge as consortium costs have been negotiated with other library services to deliver high end services at reduced costs.

Library staff are also currently working on business specific web pages which will coordinate start up and business information to facilitate ease of access and use. These pages will be available shortly from the library website which during 2011 has had over 2.5 million page views and almost 300,000 distinct users visiting the site.

November 2011 was designated Business Month across South Dublin Libraries and during this period the new business information collections were launched and over fifteen seminars, talks and workshops were delivered across Lucan and the County Library – topics included Business Idea Generation, Sustainable Business Opportunities and Life Coaching. One event ‘Check Out a Champion’ offered people a chance to spend time with experts in various fields including business planning, marketing, financial control and social media. Similar sessions are planned for 2012 as positive feedback indicated a need for advice clinics. It is also planned to liaise with a range of other agencies across Lucan in late Spring 2012 to work towards delivering a similar business support programme in the library. This will include partners such as the Enterprise Board, CPLN, MABS, FAS (Solas Ireland) and the Innovation Enterprise Network.

Activities currently being planned will include Start Up business information sessions, financial information workshops, and digital training. The FAS eLearning programme will be re-launched in 2012 in Lucan Library. This digital training course is aimed at people currently on the live register who have no IT skills. The Know IT course, which will form the basis for the programme, has been approved as a level 3 course by FETAC. The certification takes account of the learning which takes place in the public library, the first time that FETGAC has recognised such ‘informal’ learning. The programme is a sixteen week programme will involve a skills assessment and a test for those who wish to get certification. NALA’s Writeon4work courseware will also be used.

A recent online survey of computer usage in Lucan Library, completed in late November 2011, indicated that the most significant single user group was unemployed people aged 36-50 years who were using the online services to carry out research across a broad spectrum of information sources.  Lucan Library will continue to support these citizens with information services, online resources, free internet access, online newspapers, workshops, seminars and exhibitions. Similar support for entrepreneurs and businesses will continue to be developed and delivered during 2012.