Annual Report 2010 Publisher full - Offaly County Council

Technology:
An upgrade of ICT infrastructure was completed in 2010 to futureproof
our ICT services and provide enhanced service delivery. Wifi
access and self-service Internet access was introduced in Tullamore,
Edenderry, Birr and Clara Libraries. This service is free to laptop &
smartphone users and has increased use of our library services by
students and e-workers.
A free text service was introduced to alert members of events, requests
and overdue items. A digital training room and Local Studies
centre was opened in Tullamore Library in January 2010 and is available
to researchers and members of the public during opening hours
– 38 hours per week.
Funding of €17,250 was received from the DoEHLG under the 2010
Public Libraries Access and Services Improvements Support
grant. The funding enabled the library service to enhance
technological services with the provision of self-issue services in
Edenderry & Clara Libraries and laptops for loan for FÁS e-learning
across the library network.
Book and media resources:
The book and media budget was maintained at 10% of overall
budget. Priority was given to improving the non-book digital material
by 25% (DVD, mp3, CD etc). A Teen Zone space was created in all
libraries containing recommended reading, including graphic novels,
board games, and books-into-film.
Quality Service
Work commenced on improving access to library services via
www.offaly.ie. The aim is to provide a web presence where users not
only search for information but also collaborate and share ideas.
Social media communication, Web 2.0 (Twitter http://twitter.com/
OffalyLibraries and Face book http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Offaly-Libraries/) was introduced to promote and contact library
members in relation to events, news stories and receive feedback.
There were 30,000 website hits during 2010. A web portal to improve
access to e-government and library services was developed
and this interface is now available on all 82 public access PCs.
The e-learning programme FÁS e-learning in the library
(commenced in 2009) continued to be very popular with waiting lists
for entry to the programme in all libraries. By the end of 2010, 379
people had signed up for the programme either completing a
workshop in the library or self-learning via the Internet.
Children’s and School Services
The library continued to work with schools, Arts Office, Heritage Office
and local and national authors and artists to promote services for
children and young people. The following initiatives were undertaken:
◊ Clara Library was involved in a very successful community
reading initiative in February and March 2010. The initiative
“One book one Clara: a community reading together” was
funded locally and involved all members of the community
young and old.
Page 12 | Offaly County Council Annual Report 2010