New County Library

New County Library Tallaght

The new County Library in Tallaght opened on the 23^rd April 2008. One of the largest public libraries in the country, the County Library will, along with the County Arts Centre and the Civic Theatre, create a vibrant cultural quarter in the Town Centre of Tallaght.

The new customer-orientated library is a bright double-height building which will act as a public living room for the community, with spaces to sit, read, reflect and interact with each other. A parent lounge beside the childrens library allows parents to relax and read in close proximity to their children who can play, use computers or relax with thousands of the best books available for young readers. A teen zone, a local studies zone and a large library for adults make up the range of facilities to aid access to leisure, information and educational possibilities for customers.

RFID technology facilitates express lending and returning kiosks on each level of the new building using the latest technologies to allow customers a streamlined experience. The RFID technology will also allow a new level of stock control and auditing across all areas of the over 85,000 items currently available for lending and reference.

Library customers can avail of a large IT suite, with over 100 PCs for people to use free of charge and a range of computer applications and information sources. WiFi with a facility to print from laptops is also available and a large Digital Training Suite provides a range of training courses for all ages on a variety of IT skills including the Adobe Creative suite. Customers of the library can now add credit to their library membership cards in order to streamline payment for printing and photocopying. A conference suite on the lower ground floor has video conferencing facilities and will offer an extensive range of cultural and learning events for local people.

South Dublin Libraries have offered access to digital books through their website for almost a year and a new Download Zone in the County Library allows customers to download their digital audio books to MP3 players via a seamless interface.

To celebrate the opening of the County Library, a selection of five small pocket books were distributed to commuters on the LUAS stops in Tallaght together with a flyer promoting the newly renovated library. A lively lunchtime was provided by the Long John Jump Band with a repertoire of Jazz, Blues and Swing. A programme of childrens events was also held throughout the day, with The Wizard from Oz, Mr Books Reading is Fun show, Jack Flash Juggling Show, face painters and balloon sculptors entertaining hundreds of local children throughout the day.