*John Murphy from Clare County Library delivers library books to Michael Kenny, Ennis. Michael is a regular borrower in De Valera Library and is availing of the new delivery service from Clare County Council. Visit www.clarelibrary.ie for further details. Photo by John O’Neill.
Clare County Council is co-ordinating a range of initiatives to support people to stay connected while the current Covid-19 public health measures are in place.
As part of Clare County Council’s #InThisTogether campaign, Clare County Library has commenced a new delivery service of library books and other materials to cocooning and housebound adults.
“Cocooning can be a challenge for some people. The benefit of having a book delivery service to people’s doors should be some compensation for the lack of the normal library service at this time. Many of our cocooning customers are valued library members well known to our staff and it was essential to support these readers during this difficult time. Staff likewise have embraced this service and are enthusiastic about this new initiative,” Helen Walsh, Clare County Librarian, said.
Library staff are observing HSE guidelines in the preparation and operation of the service.
Other library services include access to a range of e-resources including books, newspapers, magazines, language and other training courses.
Also in response to the current public health measures, the library’s ‘Spring Into Storytime’ campaign has gone online. This national initiative focuses on the importance of sharing books with children from the earliest years, making all kinds of books, and family engagement with them, a fun and exciting activity. Library staff have chosen and recorded many of their favourite stories and these are uploaded regularly to the library website and are available on social media.
Clare County Library is also running an online creative writing competition for young people. Children and teenagers up to age 15 are invited to submit their stories and reflections on life as it is for them, at this point, in County Clare.
The title of the story is “County Clare 2020: A Day in my Life”. The object of the exercise is not to be prescriptive in what they write but to give young people a platform to write about their experience of the coronavirus.
Clare County Library has collaborated with the Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP) on an activity booklet for children to work on and have fun with at home. The activities are all related to local places of interest in Clare and are reproduced from a book in the ‘My Ireland’ series by children’s writer Natasha Mac a’Bháird with illustrations by Alan Nolan, with their kind permission and that of O’Brien Press. The booklet is available to download from the library website free of charge.
The county-wide delivery service is available to both members and non-members of Clare County Library who are cocooning at present. People can ring any of five libraries Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm to avail of the delivery service. Non-members can also join online at www.clarelibrary.ie. Please contact Ennistymon Library (066-7071245), De Valera Library, Ennis (065-6846353), Kilrush Library (065-9051504), Scariff Library (061-922893) or Shannon Library (061-364266) for further information.
For advice and tips on how you can look after your mental wellbeing, stay active and stay connected, visit www.clarecoco.ie/together
