The Public Library Research Programme assists local authorities in carrying out public library research. The Programme is co-funded by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and local authorities, and managed by An Chomhairle Leabharlanna.
During the year, the Public Library Research Committee monitored the progress of the ongoing research projects and approved new research proposals arising from the Call for Proposals in 2007.
The Taobh Tíre project presented its findings and the final project report was approved for publishing.
Taobh Tíre – A better library service for rural and isolated communities was published in December 2008.
The reports of the marketing project and the eGovernment project were published online.
The new research project, Schools Libraries, being carried out by Dublin City Public Libraries was progressing well. However it was noted that the removal of funding for school libraries in the budget would have a massive impact on this service and that the project would require some revision to take account of the impact of this spending cut. A meeting had been arranged between the Chair and the Executive Secretary of the Committee and the City Librarian and the Project Officer in Dublin City to discuss the impact of the budget on the research. It was agreed by the Committee that it was important that the research continued and that the findings to date should go to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government in advance of their meeting with the Department of Education and Science. The full effects of the budgetary changes would not be apparent until Autumn 2009.
It was also emphasised that the final report of the research should be published as soon as is possible.
A second project which had been approved for funding, Community Partnerships, being undertaken by Meath County Library, had been deferred to 2009 because of staffing capacity in the authority. It was agreed that this was an important area of research and should be pursued.