I work as a librarian here in the states, and thought I'd write a quick(?) tip list for getting Irish some exposure at a library near you. This is written from my experiences in California, but most of this will be applicable in other states and other countries. It also is meant for local public libraries, and not for private, university or special libraries (museums, etc.).

Be ready with this information for the books/music/videos you're interested in:

1. Title, Author, and ISBN.
2. (Less important) Year of Publication and Publisher.

Irish music and videos generally do not use the ISBN, so have instead the cataloging number used by the producer. If you can't get that, it is no big deal as long as you have the other information.

Also first find out if your library or library system already has the item! If it does, your chances go way down that they want to use your donation, or purchase a new copy. Generally they will add the new copy and discard the old one.


There are two main ways to get an item into the library:

1. Purchase the items yourself and donate them to the library. In this case, make sure the book has an ISBN number and is in pretty good if not new condition. Specifically go to the librarian and make a formal donation. (That is, don't just drop it in their book drop and pray that it gets added.) Emphasize the enrichment of the community, the public's interested in the topic, and how the topic might be underrepresented there. Don't be pushy, but don't be shy either.

2. Go to your local library and assess their Irish collection. Language learning books are in the 400 area, or you can search a catalog under "Irish language". If it doesn't have some of the really good books like "Learning Irish", ask that they recommend a purchase of them. If it is a branch system, see first if it is at another branch. If it isn't in any, then the chances are higher that they'll purchase it. Emphasize that there is a Celtic community in the area, or in Ireland that there is a lot of interest in rediscovering Irish. Outside of Ireland, the interest will be mostly in learning materials. In a few communinties where there are concentrations of Irish people (perhaps New York, Boston, San Francisco, Liverpool, etc.) you have a greater chance of Irish language novels etc being added. In Ireland, every type of Irish work should be on the table to go into a library (children, teens, adults, book, videos, music, fiction, non-fiction; computers with Irish language capabilities).

Check out the Irish books at your library! If you are using them, then that is the first proof a librarian sees that the community is interested in that type of item. If it sits on the shelf, it may sit in a waste basket.

Librarians work off of a few notions:

1. Is it popular?
2. Is this subject covered well enough in relation to demand?
3. Is it going to cause controversy?
4. Is this subject well suited to the size of our library or to the community? (A small library will be more picky about what to add due to less shelf space.)
5. Do we have any money to spend on this?
6. Is it current (in print, or superceded)?
7. Is the item reputably produced? (Is it up to industry standards?)


Also, even though some of you may love the old typefaces, I highly doubt librarians will be interested in those books except if it for decorative purposes or it is going to be placed in a large university library. In this case, just face the fact that Roman typeface is the current norm for publication.


A similar method is speaking with a librarian if you think they they should "beef up" their Irish section. This would apply to Ireland residents. I went to a little library in Clifden and saw just a few Irish books, mostly for children. 99% of the library was English. Clearly this is out of proportion to the number of speakers and the public demand. Perhaps this is not the same in the Gaeltacht and large cities like Dublin. Irish residents, however, should try to get large sections of libraries dedicated to Irish language materials. This is more than learning books, but novels, non-fiction works on history, entertainment (videos, music), you name it. Anyone who would shy from this idea, just think that libraries in most cases are publicly funded. If there is not a substantial Irish section in your local library, then one may really wonder if the state is interested in fostering the Irish language, the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. Up in the north you may get some more heat, but I think the tide is turning up there as well toward a clearer realization that Irish is their language too and a great means to foster peace amongst all the people in the 32 counties.


It is a bonus if the librarian or a person with influence speaks Irish or they have an interest in it. They'll work for your in that case.


One other thing is that you can also try to start an Irish speaking or reading club. If you organize it, and only use the library as a venue, they'll be more inclined to host it (also usually for free). Librarians love a "hands-off" program as long as it is within the bounds of propriety. The book clubs generally are once a month where the people get together and discuss the book they've read during the month. The speaking club I think would be better if more often. Once a week, or twice a month. If anyone knows Irish, they could coordinate it. It doesn't have to be a "class". It can just be conversation about topics. Discuss the topic, and the "learning Irish" will be on auto-pilot. Or have levels of speaking groups. Beginner is like a class. Intermediate is more conversation with a class-like feel. Advanced is just plain conversation and practice. You could also implement the clubs at your church if their inclined to host that. [Please, God, they do!]

These are just some ideas off the top of my head that may help Irish in your community. In Ireland the language has to have place in the society outside of the school. Outside Ireland it will help form a surrounding of support for those in Ireland. People who visit will seek the language, and it will find more places in curriculae in our higher learning institution.

Ádh mór oraibh!

Good advice.

Generally, in Ireland, the Books in Irish are hidden away under "Literature" or some such thing in the 890s.

But - using http://www.borrowbooks.ie - you can get a book held by any library in Ireland sent to your local Library.

DDC/UDC splits Irish-language materials into 491.62 (Irish language) and 891.62 (Irish literature). In the LC system preferred by most major North American universities, they are both kept together in PB1200-1450.

An excellent post, a Sheáin, but you left out all mention of interlibrary loan. If librarians see that they're often fulfilling requests to have Irish-language materials sent from other libraries for their patrons to check out, then they're more likely to acquire the titles for their own collection.

quote:

An excellent post, a Sheáin, but you left out all mention of interlibrary loan.

A Dhomhnaillín, right you be! Thanks for mentioning it. I myself utilize that service often. I am sure every country has a version of this, just like the Borrow Books link.

I am sure I forgot many useful ways to kick these librarians' backsides in gear, so if anyone has ideas, please give them!

If I had my way there would be a little stand when you enter the library with Harry Potter, the Philosopher's Stone, in English and Irish and an audio booth with cds like Gugalai Gug so that kids would get excited about the audio bit. And yeah maybe have a little review of all the books displayed and have the titles revolving every month. And that's a great idea about donations: have a note at the stand saying 'Fáilte roimh bronntanais leabhair'.

(?Is that right way to say 'book donations welcome?? :?)

(Message edited by sineadw on October 07, 2009)

I tried to donate a brand new edition of Learning Irish with CD's to the Seattle Public Library and the Librarian told me I'd be better off just submitting a request that the library purchase it.

Having worked this past year with another branch of the city government, I'm sorry to say I'm not surprised. Gah.

A Dhomhnall,
Results will vary because librarians and library systems are as diverse as humanity. I was able to get my system to purchase five titles: Learning Irish, Speaking Irish, Teach Yourself Irish, Living Language Irish Course, and Easy Reference Irish-English Dictionary. Now I submitted the request as an employee of the system, but there really was a gap in the Irish language resources. For my particular system someone can donate straight to us and we submit the title on a "template" to be added. There can be multiple reasons why that person rejected the donation. In general, again, my library never rejects a donation, but we stipulate that it may not be added to the collection (we then sell them through our Friends of the Library organization, or if absolutely useless, we throw them away). What, is Seattle flush with money to purchase books? Every library system I know of is in the midst of very hard times. But if you want to follow through, submit the request. They may end up purchasing some good stuff which happened in my case. As with everything, results will be mixed, but hopefully in the aggregate the results will be very positive.

The Seattle Public Library is hardly flush with cash, seeing as they had to close down for a couple weeks recently to save money (tax revenue's down along with everything else). Why they'd turn down a pristine, brand new edition is beyond me, but given my past year's experience working at the city, I'm hardly surprised.

I'll certainly follow up with a request for purchase, though. Thanks.

Just following up on this... I stopped by my local library (different library system from Seattle Public). Although they accept donations, they will not add a donated book to their shelves unless it's a copy of something they already own, otherwise it gets sold via the Friends of the Library program as you describe above, Seán.

Now, what kind of sense does this make?

I get the impression that its some kind of big procedure to create a record for the donated item. Can you give me an idea of how onerous a task that is?

quote:

Although they accept donations, they will not add a donated book to their shelves unless it's a copy of something they already own ...

That's silly. I've gotten a few good books which were not in our system yet. We have "templates", one for different editions of a title we do have, and one for evaluation of a title we don't have. As a librarian I put in the bibliographic information, and any reviews the book has, and maybe a personal justification for why I want to add it. Within 1 day to about 2 weeks, there is a record created and I put a barcode on it and scan it in. It is really an easy process. It is one of the easiest tasks I have. Plus almost every US library is in the OCLC system (www.oclc.org), even some libraries in Ireland and the UK are in this. They don't even have to do much cataloging anymore! It is not onerous at all unless it is a very obscure item. Learning Irish is already in this OCLC catalog and in numerous libraries. They just need to download the record and make a few tweaks for their particular system.

I am sorry, but I don't have anymore of an explanation except this. Maybe these libraries are interested in being irrelevant and being cut when the budget gets tighter. I would think they'd be very open in the social climate we're in.

I wonder what they do when the hot best seller is donated but not in the system yet! Hmm ...

A Dhomhnaill, there are too many unknown variables for me to speculate on what's going on here. It may be, for instance, that selection decisions are centralised in your local public system. Additional copies would be welcome because the title has already made it through whatever bureaucratic rigamarole is necessary to add a new title to the collection.

It's also important to keep in mind that gifts are never free (something our own selectors here have trouble grasping). I work closely with our gifts coordinator, so I have a pretty good idea how much work is necessary to sort through even modest donations, process the keepers, and dispose of the chaff. Again, it could be that your local system has decided that unsolicited gifts are such a great hassle for such little return that they've made a centralised decision to reject them all.

The policy may still not stand on its merits, but it may turn out to be less unreasonable than it first appears from your point of view.