Dublin City Libraries will be closed from Saturday 4 May to Monday 6 May 2024 (inclusive). Our online services will continue as usual. We will reopen on Tuesday, 7 May.
You've read the book, now you want to see the film. What to do? Well why not check the library catalogue online, you may well come up trumps! Dublin City Libraries has a huge range of films and television series on DVD for you to choose from, PLUS you can can borrow several at any one time if your appetite so allows.
From the oldest cave paintings found in Chauvet, France, via Egyptian hieroglyphs to ancient Rome’s 'Acta Diurna' government announcements carved in metal or stone and hung in public places, to 2nd and 3rd century A.D. Chinese ‘Tipao’ or 'news sheets' and on to 8th Century A.D. Chinese ‘Kaiyuan Za Bo' handwritten on silk and read aloud by government officials, until Johannes Gutenberg perfected ‘movable type' printing in the 15th century and instigated the ‘Printing Revolution', the need to document and reflect the world around us has long been an aspiration of all human societies. According to Wikipedia “A newspaper is a periodical publication containing news regarding current events, informative articles, diverse features, editorials, and advertising." As such, newspapers are a rich historical source and a particularly useful aid to getting a feel for the ‘Zeitgeist' (literally ‘the Spirit of the Age‘) and consequently a very worthy addition to any library.Although published from the end of the 17th century it is from the middle of the 18th century that Irish newspapers became more widespread and consequently more useful as historical research tools. The rise of coffee houses with their stocks of newspapers and newsletters containing information from around the world led to much business and debate being conducted there. Advertisements, and Births, Deaths and Marriage notices all began to appear more regularly at least in relation to the upper echelons of Irish society.Amongst the most important Dublin papers of this period are the Dublin Evening Post, Faulkner’s Dublin Journal and The Freeman’s Journal (merged with The Irish Independent in 1924). In 19th-century Ireland The Freeman’s Journal and The Nation were regularly read aloud by priests and local teachers at house gatherings of the largely illiterate population.Details of Dublin and Irish Collection newspaper holdings in hardcopy, microfilm and online.
Hot on the heels of one international prize I posted about yesterday comes another, this one being the MAN Booker International Prize, which is awarded every two years for a body of work written in English by a non-UK author or widely available in English translations. Last night American writer Lydia Davis (left) became the latest winner, being selected from a shortlist of 10. Lydia Davis is best known as a short story writer and translator, having in fact written just the one novel. But she is not unique in that regard; Canadian Alice Munro, who won the award in 2009, is also a short story writer. Davis's stories typically run for between three and four pages, but some are as brief as a paragraph or less.Right: The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (check catalogue)As winner of the MAN Booker International Prize, Davis collects a cheque for £60,000; given that the winner can also choose a translator to receive a further £15,000, I wonder can she collect that also as the translator of works by Proust and Flaubert amongst others?Quoting from the Award announcement, "Her work has the brevity and precision of poetry. Sir Christopher Ricks, chairman of the judges, said her "writings fling their lithe arms wide to embrace many a kind. Just how to categorise them? They have been called stories but could equally be miniatures, anecdotes, essays, jokes, parables, fables, texts, aphorisms or even apophthegms, prayers or simply observations.""Davis, the fifth recipient of the prize, has produced some nine collections of stories, and is currently professor of creative writing at the University at Albany in New York state.Previous winners were American Philip Roth (2011), Canadian short story writer Alice Munro (2009), Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (2007) and Albanian writer Ismail Kadare (2005). What the Press have to say:Man Booker International Prize 2013: Lydia Davis wins (UK Telegraph)World's most concise short story writer Lydia Davis wins Booker International Prize 2013 (UK Independent)Lydia Davis wins Man Booker International Prize (Los Angeles Times)
Following the completion of improvement works, Dublin City Public Libraries announced the re-opening of Ballyfermot Library on Monday, 29th April, with new and improved services.View slideshow: Improvements include:Redecoration Provision of Self-Service KiosksPublic Toilets Increased study space Automatic doors Improved activity spaces Improved ramped access Hot/cold beverage service Call in and see what we have to offer! (Location Details)
The Gloucester Diamond got its name from the diamond-shaped intersection at Gloucester Place and Sean Macdermott Street. Colloquially, ‘The Diamond’ refers not just to Gloucester Place, but the entire area surrounding it. It is recorded in Thomas Campbell’s map of 1811 which predates the first Ordnance Survey maps of the area (1829-41).The photographs in this gallery were taken between 1968 and 1987 and therefore depict the later redevelopments.
View Strumpet City Image GalleryStrumpet City is one of the great Dublin novels. Focusing on the 1913 Lock-Out, its panoramic scope extends from the docks and slums of inner-city Dublin to the bourgeois domiciles of Kingstown. These images from the Dublin City Council Photographic Collection show the city as it was over fifty years later. Although the harrowing conditions Plunkett wrote about had largely vanished, the ‘glorified kip of a city’ he described remained recognisable throughout the twentieth century.Further ResourcesDublin City Public Libraries has a wide range of sources on the literary history of Dublin, some of which are available online and some through the Dublin City Public Libraries network.The Reading Room, Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street holds a wealth of material on the history of Dublin, including books, pamphlets, journals, street directories, and almanacs.The following online resources can be accessed free of charge at your local library (access links via our NetVibes portal). Ask library staff for information and assistance.Libraries and Archives Digital Repository: Digital records relating to Dublin, including photographs, postcards, letters, maps and ephemeral material. Highlights of the collection include the Fáilte Ireland Photographic Collection, Wide Street Commission Map Collection (1757-1851), the Irish Theatre Archive and the Birth of the Republic Collection, which comprises material from the period of the foundation of the Irish state.Irish Times Digital Archive: This online archive service gives access to contemporary editions of the Irish Times from the mid-nineteenth century until the present.Irish Newspaper Archive: This online archive service gives access to contemporary editions of the Irish Independent and a range of other newspapers.The Ireland-JSTOR Collection: This online archive of academic articles can also be accessed free of charge at your local library.For further reading, consult the Library Catalogue.View Strumpet City Image Gallery
The 16th Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture - transcript
The following is a transcript of the sixteenth Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture "Dublin after Dark: Glimpses of Life in an Early Modern City", given by Maighréad Ní Mhurchadha, Local Historian, on Wednesday 23rd January 2013.
"Dublin after Dark: Glimpses of Life in an Early Modern City", by Maighréad Ní Mhurchadha, Local HistorianOn 23 January 2013 sixteenth annual Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture was held at Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street.
The Freedom of the City of Dublin is the highest civic honour bestowed by Dublin City Council. It honours the contribution made by people to Dublin or important visitors to the city.
On 28th January 1813, Jane Austen’s second novel was published. Pride and Prejudice, for which Austen received a single down-payment of £110, was originally called First Impressions, and had been started when the author was only twenty-one. It was to become one of the best-loved books ever published.