Clare County Library has announced the awarding of two grants from the Department of Rural and Community Development.
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has approved €3 million funding for public library upgrades and measures to respond and adapt to Covid-19.
In total, 113 libraries will benefit from €4.1 million in overall funding.
Clare County Library service was awarded €100,000 from this grant to upgrade library facilities in Ennistymon and Shannon. The upgrades will include creating multi-purpose rooms and other upgrades to both library buildings.
The libraries in Ennistymon and Shannon were built in the 1980s based on architect Anthony O’Neill’s Scandinavian-influenced design. O’Neill designed five libraries in Clare at the time. Each library is a single-room facility mainly comprising glass and wood with a flat roof. All aspects of the service are provided in one room, so there is a great opportunity to develop a multi-purpose room in two of these libraries.
The second announcement of funding is for library programming and literacy software from the Dormant Accounts Fund. Four programmes will be facilitated by Clare libraries during the autumn. The programmes include a play therapy programme with Cloughleigh NS, a mindfulness programme with students from Kilrush and an online sensory programme run by the staff in Scariff Library. The fourth programme is smartphone classes for older people, which is currently paused until libraries resume Level 2 re-opening.
Clare Library will also distribute Touch, Type, Read, Spell (TTRS) licences, a literacy software programme, to schools over a number of months, also provided by funding from the Dormant Accounts. This software helps to develop the typing and literacy skills of children, young people and adults who have difficulties with reading, writing and spelling for a broad range of reasons, and at the same time increases their levels of confidence, self-esteem and motivation as learners. Clare County Library will begin the roll-out of the software in early November.