Celtic Connections: The Cultural Gateway

Library Hi Tech News

ISSN: 0741-9058

Article publication date: 1 June 2001

137

Citation

Boone, M.D. (2001), "Celtic Connections: The Cultural Gateway", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918fac.002

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited


Celtic Connections: The Cultural Gateway

Morell D. Boone

The first week in May was green, sunny and wonderful at the Great Southern Hotel in Killarney, Ireland. The Celtic Library Conference was only the second such conference that brought together the delegates from the library associations of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The inaugural conference was held five years ago in Scotland and the next one is planned for 2006 in Wales. Each association has a separate annual meeting with the exception that the Library Association of Ireland (Cumann Leabharlan na hEireann) invites the Northern Ireland Branch of the Library Association (UK) to their annual meeting. The primary focus of all these meetings is the public libraries of each entity; however, there were representatives from colleges and universities both among the delegates and the speakers.

The 270 delegates, representatives and speakers were treated to an extraordinary array of presentations and activities. The host librarian, Kathleen Browne, Kerry County Librarian, was supported by a talented group of conference and program secretaries led by Tommy O'Connor and Katherine McCloskey.

Since public libraries are under the jurisdiction of county councils many of the delegates were not librarians but county council members who were appointed as delegates to the conference representing their particular local government authority. The mix of people's backgrounds and perspectives made for a delightfully eclectic response to the issues facing library services.

The conference theme, "Celtic Connections: the cultural gateway" was attended to during the two and one half days through eight formal sessions, two receptions, two lunches, two dinners, a formal banquet and an address by Noel Dempsey, TD, Ireland's Minister for the Environment and Local Government. Also, there were many refreshment breaks in the trade exhibition area populated by 19 exhibitors.

The official opening festivities included welcomes from the Kerry County Librarian, the Chair of the Kerry County Council, the Kerry County Council Manager, and the President of the Library Association of Ireland. Most of the welcomes were given both in Irish and English. All spoke to the importance of library relevance and the threat of irrelevance if the onslaught of "modern media" is not recognized and effectively dealt with.

The first session on "Cultural Heritage: The Role of Libraries" was chaired by Robert Craig, Director of the Scottish Library Association and The Scottish Library and Information Council. The two speakers were Norma McDermott, Director of An Chomhairle Leabharlanna/The Library Council, Dublin, and Nevil MacKay, Chief Executive of RESOURCE, The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, UK.

The title of Ms McDermott's address was "Public Libraries and Culture: Issues and Images". There are 32 library authorities in Ireland with a 51 million (Irish pound) budget that has been increasing in the past three years after a long period of low funding. For example, three years ago in the Irish Republic there were a total of 130 computers in public libraries throughout the country. Now the figure is approaching 2,000 and growing. McDermott noted that Ireland's libraries, now under the authority of the Ministry for the Environment and Local Government, are gaining ground in addressing cultural heritage issues, whereas the funding from the European Union for this is decreasing; however, a common problem in Wales, Scotland and especially in Ireland is illiteracy, both in English and the Celtic languages. McDermott outlined the specific contributions that public libraries in Ireland are attempting to address:

  • emphasize local studies;

  • create a sense of place;

  • offer core services;

  • emphasize the importance of Irish literature and language;

  • provide a home for cultural activities;

  • reclaim and maintain a position of importance in the community.

She concluded with her vision for the development of public libraries in which sees cultural heritage at the heart of its service role, much like it is now done in Denmark.

Nevil MacKay, who spoke on "Routes to Culture and Learning: The Public Library in the 21st Century" brought a British perspective to the table. RESOURCE: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries in the UK is the one-year old replacement for the UK's Library and Information Technology Commission. MacKay said that one of his major challenges is dealing with the current trend of "devolution" taking place in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. He noted two major recent information and communication technology advancements being sponsored by RESOURCE. They are The Peoples Network Program ­ a public library focused Web-based service, and an Internet portal which is currently being developed. The emphasis of technology-based RESOURCE programs is providing routes (access points) to culture and learning. MacKay identified six key issues for the future of UK public libraries:

  1. 1.

    sustain the People's Network especially in rural areas;

  2. 2.

    develop public library standards;

  3. 3.

    promote lifelong learning opportunities;

  4. 4.

    establish regional libraries;

  5. 5.

    re-activate interest in providing adequate building facilities; and

  6. 6.

    Take the "lottery" method of funding from Ireland and import to the UK.

The second session was in the form of a "Presidential Forum: Issues affecting Libraries and the Profession in 2001". It was chaired by Bob McKee, Chief Executive, The Library Association, UK. The speakers were: Bernard Naylor, President, The Library Association; Andrew Green, President, Welsh Library Association; Madeleine Coyle, Chair, Library Association, Northern Ireland Branch; Stuart James, President, Scottish Library Association; and Pat McMahon, President, Cumann Leabharlann na hEireann.

A few of the common issues presented and discussed by this group of association presidents were:

  • not all of the areas in each "country" have a consistent "power" supply to support the increasing use of electronic technologies;

  • illiteracy is a serious problem, especially in the rural areas;

  • devolution presents major challenges to inter-area and inter-agency coordination;

  • need for cross-sectional cooperation between public and university libraries;

  • life long learning is a responsibility of public libraries as well as universities;

  • global (merged) media corporations are eliminating independent publishers;

  • global (merged) media corporations are restricting authors' creativity; and

  • there are both liberating media (books and music) and non-liberating media (TV and advertising).

The third session on "Access to Cultural Resources" was chaired by Siobhan O'Rafferty, Librarian, Royal Irish Academy. The speakers were Bruce Royan, Director, Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (SCRAN), and Deirdre Wildy, Project Officer for Northern Ireland Publications Resource (NIPR). The chair and the two speakers focused on the appropriate use of electronic technologies to advance the cause of access to cultural resources.

O'Rafferty talked about data base access to special collections as a critical need for providing cultural research resources. Royan presented a detailed account of one such technology-based project called SCRAN. It provides a library of interactive CD-ROMs and an online database holding over 600,000 text records and 100,000 multimedia records. For more specific information about this valuable access network for Scottish cultural resources refer to <www.scran.ac.uk>. Royan gave some of the major successes seen in this five-year project:

  1. 1.

    Cross-domain collaboration.

  2. 2.

    Asset capture:

    • text;

    • images;

    • virtual reality;

    • audio;

    • multimedia;

    • movies;

  3. 3.

    Sustainable service.

  4. 4.

    Licensing model.

  5. 5.

    Rights management system:

    • access with security;

    • watermark and fingerprint.

  6. 6.

    Delivering by August 2001:

    • one million finding aids;

    • 120,000 links to multimedia items;

    • SCRAN as a portal.

The second speaker, Wildy, presented information on the six-month-old Northern Ireland Publications Resource (NIPR), that was established as a repository of material, and an online electronic data base that will make information about Northern Ireland publications available all over the world. Since Northern Ireland does not have a National Library and no single institution responsible for collecting all material published in the Province, this new initiative is critical to accessing cultural resources. Using funding from the British Library, the Library and Information Services Council for Northern Ireland established NIPR. Material published in Northern Ireland is now systematically collected and catalogued, with information about it made available on a dedicated Web site <www.nibooks.org>. The scheme depends on voluntary donation of material by local publishers. Two copies of every item published in Northern Ireland are requested for the repository in Belfast to ensure that one copy is preserved for posterity and another is available for inter library loan within Northern Ireland.

The fourth session was one of two parallel sessions: 21st Century Public Libraries, and Irish and Celtic Spirituality. I chose the latter. The speaker was Monsignor Padraig O Fiannachta. The Monsignor is a translator, scholar and man of letters. His crowning achievement was An Biobla Naofa (1981), the Maynooth Irish Bible, of which he was editor and chief translator. He served for many years in Wales where he became an accomplished Welsh speaker. He conducted his "fireside chat" in three languages ­ Irish, Welsh and English. He opened with a prayer both in Irish and Welsh and noted that St Patrick was a Welshman, as were many early missionaries to Ireland. This session was one of feeling and sensing the power of a supreme being ­ I cannot intellectualize it or really report on it ­ you had to be there.

The fifth major session's theme was "Language, Literacy and Reading" chaired by Liam Ronayne, Donegal County Librarian. The three speakers were Rhona Arthur, Acting Director of the Scottish Library Association, Philip Davies, Head of the Welsh Book Council Department, and Micheal O Muircheartaigh, Sports broadcaster with RTE and Chairman of Guaranteed Irish.

Ms Arthur described the Scottish Writers' Project as one that has established the "First Virtual Writer" ­ a Web site, and also the "CD-ROM Game" with a space exploration theme. The materials are provided to public libraries and schools for a 50 pound fee. The material is both in Gaelic (Scottish) and English. Information about the products of this project is available from <www.slainte.org.uk/scotwrit/scwrhome.htm>. Her presentation reviewed the author's selection criteria, the nominating process, access vehicles, and the impact the project's products have had on building a sense of cultural heritage.

Davies gave an off-line demonstration of the "books of Wales on the Web" www.gwales.com, the new inquiry and ordering service for booksellers, educational agencies, libraries and individuals throughout the world. Its database holds information on over 14,000 Welsh and Welsh-interest books, with 1,000 titles being added annually. You can search gwales by ISBN, title, author, publisher, publication date, category or general description, in Welsh or in English.

The last speaker, Micheal O Muircheartaign gave the most unusual presentation of the conference. Before he began, head-sets for an English translation were passed out to the audience. O Muircheartaign gave his entire talk ­ "The Place of the Irish Language in the Library Service" in Irish. His major points were:

  • every library employee should have two languages (Irish and English);

  • books should be written in Irish ­ 120 books published each year;

  • Irish speaking areas should get special library services;

  • translations (side-by-side) should be available;

  • publishers should be appointed to get up-to-date translations of best sellers;

  • in addition to books there should be cassettes, tapes and CDs;

  • Irish writers should be used to record tapes and make personal appearances;

  • Internet cafes should be in libraries with chats in Irish;

  • funding needs to be made available to accomplish these goals; and

  • schools have a-day-a-week in Irish ­ why not in libraries?

Session six was on collection development, and session eight was on Scottish and Irish relations (the two I missed to have an Irish chat); however, session seven (sandwiched in between the two) was a visit to the Killarney Library for an address by Noel Dempsey, TD, Ireland's Minister for the Environment and Local Government. Mr Dempsey is a living example of what it means to libraries to have someone at the top in national government who was determined to turn the public library picture around in Ireland. He has done so ­ and as he put it, "Public libraries in Ireland are on the rise due to the highly coordinated effort among the national government, the local governments and the library community." For the past three years the national government has made library development a top priority for all the citizens of Ireland. Mr. Dempsey cited example after example of how, if national and local government authorities support and demand good community libraries, the people's support and use will follow. By the way, for each year that he has been head of his Ministry he has participated in the annual Library Association of Ireland conference ­ he is committed, and it shows.

Not that it was all business ­ there were many opportunities for networking and just plain fun ­ plenty of Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and English "chats". During one of these times I overheard the heads of the five library associations agreeing that it would be a good idea for them to meet annually as a group between the five-year Celtic Library Conferences.

In conclusion, I wanted to participate in this unique conference for two reasons:

  1. 1.

    I came from Ireland when I was a child ­ I have Irish roots; and

  2. 2.

    I thought that the content would be of value to me and the readers of LHTN.

I was not disappointed on either count. What did I learn? There seemed to be much agreement between the speakers from Ireland, Wales and Scotland on five major points:

  1. 1.

    illiteracy is still a major problem in these countries;

  2. 2.

    devolution has both advantages and challenges;

  3. 3.

    public libraries need to emphasize cultural heritage;

  4. 4.

    bilingual language and materials are important; and

  5. 5.

    public access to the Internet and computing is an inherent responsibility of public libraries.

I am not sure that I will be an active professional by the time 2006 rolls around, but I wish the Irish, Welsh and Scottish well during their third conference in Wales.

Morell D. Boone, PhD (morell.boone@emich.edu) is Professor, Inter-disciplinary Technology at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA.

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