COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

QUESTION NO. 23

QUESTION: Councillor P. Gogarty

"To ask the Chief Executive to outline the current numbers using Lucan Library for study of formal courses or programmes available at the centre and outline whether there is additional capacity available for further usage by members of the public?"

REPLY:

In 2015/16 the library delivered computer classes/tablet classes, creative writing, TTRS and language classes as formal programmes.  There were also a number of once off workshops, lectures and presentations delivered. In terms of attendance at classes it broke down as follows: 

Computer classes/Tablet classes: 78 learners over three terms in March, May and June

                                - Smartphone classes 24 learners over two classes.

Language Classes - English for beginners 50 (2 terms @ 25 students per term)

                                - English for improvers 50 (2 terms @ 25 students per term)

                                - Irish for beginners 50 (2 terms @ 25 students per term)

                                - Irish for parents of children learning Irish 50 (2 terms @ 25 students per term)

                                - French Language Class 14 (1 term)

Creative Writing   - 6 workshops over 2015 with 15 participants per workshop

TTRS (Touch, Type, Read, Spell) an assisted typing program for children with specific learning needs.  The library maintains 16 licences, this has recently increased to 20 licences.

There is no additional capacity in each class, 25 is the max that a teacher can take to deliver a valuable learning outcome. The seminar room is the only space available to deliver formal learning, the space is in demand for study space and also for other library events.

Given the demands on the library space and budget there is limited capacity to deliver additional programmes.  The decision to provide an extra English and Irish class was demand driven, a fall in demand led to the French being cancelled.

Language learning is also provided online via Transparent Languages and we have recently subscribed to a new suite of online learning material, which provides a variety of courses, free of charge to library members. We cannot distinguish the home library of our members using the online resources as the usage statistics available do not provide a breakdown by library.