COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
MOTION NO. 18
MOTION: Councillor G. O'Connell
Cathaoirleach's Business
"That the Manager provide a report on the current situation re branch Libraries and Digital Hubs with particular reference to current Library Development Programme and the status of the intention to develop the service in Palmerston and to include how the present facility located in Stewarts Hospital can be maximized to the benefit of the local community and in a manner that will further the concept of a local branch library."
REPORT:
A new Library Development Plan 2012- 2016 is currently being progressed. The framework for the plan was presented and adopted by the Arts, Culture, Gaeilge, Education and Libraries SPC on the 14th February 2012. Decisions on where best to site new library buildings will be informed in part by the results of Census 2011 in relation to population demographics by area. The CSO have only recently released these statistics and the publication schedule for all other socio-economic results and the Hass Index of social deprivation is late June 2012. The current national capital programme for libraries is under revision with the formation of the new Libraries Development section within the LGMA. It is understood that assessment of applications for funding will now require mandatory detailed demographic and site analysis – identifying where spatial gaps exist and the spread of branches across geographic areas will be forensic. Competition for resources has never been so rigorous and challenging.
The development of a hub library for Palmerston is an objective of the current library development plan subject to satisfying the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government criteria. With the revision of the national capital programme for libraries these criteria may change. Even more critical will be identifying sources of funding for this development. South Dublin County Council’s current rolling capital programme categorizes this project under ‘planned programmes’ subject to the identification and availability of funding. A one acre site at the entrance to Woodfarm Acres was recently identified as a potential site for the development of a library for the Palmerston area. However currently no funding source has been identified.
Work continues to upgrade and raise the profile of Stewart’s Branch Library. The stock collection is excellent and new PCs and significantly faster broadband services were delivered in early 2012. Programme development with external agencies such as the National Library continues with a major Local History series being planned for autumn 2012. New signposting is on order which will direct people to the building from Kennelsfort Road Lower and Mill Lane. Ideally this joint use library would benefit from a larger building with more visibility to the local communities. This issue will be raised as an action under the new library development plan and library staff will continue to liaise with the CEO of Stewarts Hospital to progress this on a regular basis.