Introduction

In February 2006 the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) announced a project to examine cultural inclusion. Libraries were one of the three main strands targeted in the project. An Chomhairle Leabharlanna made a submission to the project team, which may be downloaded in pdf or is available on request to info@librarycouncil.ie.

The foreword to the submission may be read below.

Further information is available from Brendan Teeling in An Chomhairle.

Foreword

An Chomhairle Leabharlanna welcomes the interest of the NESF in developing the cultural inclusion agenda and in particular the concern with broadening access to cultural services which the public library service shares.

Public libraries throughout their 150 years of service and in recent times have become increasingly agents of cultural inclusion. Their purpose is to provide access to the world of the imagination; to the cultural memory of communities and society at large, and to sources of information and knowledge. The service is both personal and collective and is perceived as local, in that people universally refer to ‘my’ or ‘our’ library or mobile.

The public library service remit in fostering cultural inclusion is twofold. Firstly, they provide direct access to cultural processes, products and services, primarily, and not simply, books. Secondly, in providing users with access to these cultural resources, public library personnel help to equip their users with the tools and confidence to enjoy and participate in culture in its broadest sense, to pursue ‘to dwell in possibility’, as Emily Dickinson would have it, as well as making sense of the world as it is.

In considering the essence of the public library contribution to cultural inclusion, An Chomhairle noted the Project Team’s suggestion that cultural exclusion has three dimensions: the ‘consumption’ of culture; the production of cultural goods, and decision making. We believe that public libraries contribute to cultural inclusion in all three dimensions.

As discussed below (section 2.3), reading is one of the most enduring, popular, habitual, enjoyable and enriching means of enjoying culture. The commonplace nature of reading in a generally literate society might lead us to overlook its importance as a cultural experience. Reading has a value for the individual reader, and also benefits communities, society, and the collective cultural life of the nation through the contributions of ‘well-read’ individuals.

Public libraries also provide access to, and help to create, other forms and expressions of culture, and this aspect of their role is also discussed.

By contributing to cultural development, both personal and collective, public libraries help their clienteles to enrich their lives while enabling people to imagine, to react, to respond and, most importantly, to make choices, using the creative impulse. Public libraries have the potential to be more culturally inclusive in the future through supporting the learning agenda; the elimination of disadvantage, and through celebrating diversity.

A culturally inclusive library service provides, through its staff, stock, buildings and facilities, the necessary conditions to welcome all users. Library services are inclusive when they respond and attend to the sensibilities of their users, when they discern and are thoughtful about their users’ requirements, and alert to developing further engagement as and when appropriate.

In the cultural domains, creating the conditions to open up sympathies, insights and understanding, through the content of libraries; through the talents and skills of the staff; through synergies with cultural players for the benefit of the individual and the community, is at the heart of the public library philosophy.

The submission describes how public libraries contribute to cultural inclusion, addresses the three areas prioritised by the NESF, and makes recommendations for furthering this agenda. An accompanying document provides facts and figures about the public library service in 2006. We have commissioned a map showing the location of each branch library, plotted against the Trutz Haase Relative Deprivation Score 2002, and copies are appended.

This submission does not seek to be comprehensive, given that individual library authorities, as well as the Library Association of Ireland, are also making submissions.

Emily Dickenson, ‘I dwell in possibility’, in H. Johnson (ed.), The Poems of Emily Dickenson (Harvard, 1951).

A full copy of the submission can be downloaded here

IN THIS SECTION: