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uTalk is a new and innovative way to learn a language online and is available to members of Dublin City Libraries.

Here is a small selection of stories available for young children to borrow at your local Library.  If you don’t see what you’re looking for, please ask a staff member.  Check this page for regular updates.ColoursTales from Acorn Wood: Colours (Based on the Tales from Acorn Wood books by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler)My First Mr Men ColoursAlphabetABC by Kim SeboldCountingEaster Counting by Barbara Barbieri McGrathHugless Douglas Numbers by David MellingTales from Acorn Wood: Counting (Based on the Tales from Acorn Wood books by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler)ShapesMr Men Shapes by Roger HargreavesLife ExperiencesFeedingHow to Feed Your Cheeky Monkey by Jane ClarkeThis is me, EATING! by Neal LaytonBedtimeWhiffy Wilson, The Wolf Who Wouldn’t Go to Bed by Caryl Hart and Leonie LordBedtime by Nicola Lathey and Tracey BlakeSpot Says Goodnight by Eric HillBig Enough For a Bed by Sesame StreetBath TimeWhiffy Wilson, The Wolf Who Wouldn’t Wash by Caryl Hart and Leonie LordTime for a Bath by Phyllis Gershator and David WalkerPotty TrainingPirate Pete’s Potty: A Ladybird Potty Training Book by Andrea Pinnington and Jo Dixon (for boys)Princess Polly’s Potty: A Ladybird Potty Training Book by Andrea Pinnington and Jo Dixon (for girls)It’s Potty Time by Tracey CorderoyIt Hurts When I Poop! A Story for Children Who are Scared to Use the Potty by Howard J. Bennett and M.S. WeberKnock! Knock! Who’s There? by Nick Pierce and ElissamburaNappy Duck and Potty Piggy by Bernette Ford and Sam WilliamsGetting DressedGeorge by Nicola SmeeFeeling SickBetsy Goes to the Doctor by Helen StephensGet Well Soon, Spot by Eric HillPrincess Polly’s Potty: A Ladybird Potty Training Book by Andrea Pinnington and Jo Dixon (for girls)Teaching MannersPirate Pete and Princess Polly Please and Thank You by Andrea Pinnington and Jo DixonThe Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson and Axel SchefflerSharing is Caring published by Dorling KindersleyGoing to SchoolHugless Douglas Goes to Little School by David MellingWhiffy Wilson, The Wolf Who Wouldn’t Go To School by Caryl Hart and Leonie LordHolidaysMaisy Goes by Plane by Lucy Cousins List compiled by Maria Sheahan (Librarian, Ballymun Library)19th May 2017 See Also: Check out the full list of books read by Ballymun Library Baby Book Club and books read by Ballymun Library Toddler Book Club.Ballymun Library Book Clubs for Babies and Toddlers.

Harry Boland, a tailor, originally from Phibsborough, but living in Clontarf was 30 years of age in 1917. He had been prominent in the GAA as a member of the Dublin hurling team and county chairman and was a member of the IRB and the Irish Volunteers. During Easter Week he fought in the GPO and was sentenced to ten years in prison for his role in the Rising.

Summer comes around, the ground hardens, and the thoughts of many people turn to the playing fields of Clones, Thurles, Castlebar, and other venues throughout the land. All dream of a visit to Croke Park in September. These photos from the Fáilte Ireland Tourism Photographic Collection celebrate the lucky few who played in All-Ireland Finals in the second half of the twentieth century.

Dublin City Library and Archive and The Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association presented a seminar titled 'Messines Peace Park: Its contribution to Irish-British reconciliation' on Friday 19 May at The Council Chamber, City Hall, Dame Street.

12th May is Nurses Day when around the world people are celebrating nursing, on what was Florence Nightingale’s birthday.  The Royal College of Nurses theme this year is #nursesheroes and one nurse which most definitely is deserving of this title is Rose Mary Savage (1893-1983), whose personal papers was donated to Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive at Dublin City Library and Archives, and have recently been catalogued. Rose Mary Savage, second of three daughters, was born into an English military family in India of the British Raj in 1893. Her childhood was spent between continents, east and west taking in Northern Ireland where her father had connections. After receiving her secondary education in Sussex England she returned to India at seventeen to spend a number of seasons attending balls, festive ceremonies and doing the rounds expected of any young debutante of her age and social class. A keen observer and talented artist, she kept a diary entering comments and sketches of what she saw.By the end of 1914, Rosemary was newly trained in First Aid by Belfast Centre of St. John’s Ambulance,  and keen to contribute to the war effort. She carried out fund raising events in County Antrim in aid of the ‘Comfort Fund’ for the 13th Royal Irish Rifles over which her father had been put in command.Image: RDFA/107/026 – colour copy of poster: ‘In Aid of The Comfort Fund’Her application to be taken to Women’s V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Department, offering her services as a volunteer nurse was accepted on 16 May 1916 (See item: RDFA/107/027) . She served for three months with the Ulster Volunteer Force Hospital in Belfast and was then sent  to Rouen, France, where she would work with Number 12 General Hospital of the British Expeditionary Force until 30 January 1919. Her sketches of day to day life in the hospital camp were used in nurse-mate Olive Dent’s autobiographical work, A VAD in France published by Grant Richards Ltd., 1917.  While stationed at Rouen Hospital Camp she was visited by her father, who was commander of 13th Royal Irish Rifles, after the Battle of the Somme (1916) in which he had fought and survived. Both received recognition for their exceptional contributions during World War 1.Image: RDFA/107/008 "Night Duty" sketch by Rose Mary Savage.After the War, W. H. Savage rejoined the British forces in India for a while before retiring in 1919 and spending his final days writing about his life in the Indian and British armies. (See Item: RDFA/107/003).  Rose Mary also returned to India and married a Lieut. William E. Maxwell of the 3/10 Beluch Regiment in 1924 and the couple had a son and a daughter. They fled India just before the fall of the British Raj 1947and found a permanent home in Bandon, Co. Cork where they lived out the rest of their lives. William died of a heart condition in 1951. Rose Mary remarried in 1960, a Richard Lee. She ran a farm and livery business along with her new husband and lived to the age of ninety. She died in February 1983 and is buried in her local churchyard at Briny, Co. Cork. In St Peter’s Church, Bandon, her name is on a memorial which lists the local Bandon people who participated in the Great War. The Rose Mary Savage Collection contains 28 items including photographs, newspaper cuttings, reception programs, correspondences, group photos of V.A.D. nurses and medical orderlies, a short biography of R.M. by Tom Burke. The collection can be accessed in the Reading Room of Dublin City Library and Archive, and is also available online via the Digital Repository Ireland. 

What’s it like to eat in Dublin? As this image gallery shows, Dublin boasts a rich and varied food history that includes everything from haute cuisine to kosher pickles to a “Wan an’ Wan” by the Liffey. Some of the Dublin eateries in these pictures came in and out of existence within just a few years, making their stories harder to trace. Others evolved into cultural institutions, famous not only for their food but for their contribution to the vibrancy of Dublin life.

Robert Shaw was one of Dublin’s foremost financial experts, with his own bank, Robert Shaw and Son at Foster Place. He was born in 1774. His father, Robert Senior moved to Dublin in the 18th century where he prospered as a merchant and became the Accountant General of the Post Office. In 1785 Robert Senior acquired Terenure House, an estate of 35 acres – a sign of his growing wealth.

Listen to award-winning Irish author Sara Baume as she reads from her second novel a line made by walking, and discusses how she came to write this, and her debut novel, spill, simmer, falter, wither. Recorded at the Central Library on 9 March 2017, as part of the Contemporary Irish Literature Series.'A line made by walking' charts a young artist's search for meaning and healing in rural Ireland.

Booker-nominated novelist Donal Ryan and Patrick Kavanagh Award-winning poet Martin Dyar visited the Central Library on 2 March 2017 for a special evening of collaborative and interactive explorations of their work.