Age friendly Dublin Libraries
Published on 17th April 2023
Dublin City Libraries are Age friendly!
Improvements include a dedicated age friendly section, proper visible signage throughout the library, designated easy to rise seating areas, and increased font size on book receipts. Most branches provide reading glasses for visitors. Have a look at our NEW Large Print Fiction and Large Print Nonfiction.
Also Coolock Library and Walkinstown Library provide trolleys so that you're free to browse the shelves at your leisure and add to your TBR pile!
We would like to thank the North Central Area Office for the funding of two new Age Friendly car parking spaces outside Raheny Library, the first to be piloted in Dublin City Council.
Other age friendly initiatives include a collaboration with Age Action to provide computer classes. Digital Literacy Courses being available in selected branches. Daytime groups cover art, crochet, patchwork, knitting, and a morning book club. The morning book club generally runs the last Wednesday of every month at 11am in Coolock Library. This month it will be Wednesday the 29th of March and the choice is the One Dublin One Book pick, The Coroner's Daughter by Andrew Hughes. More on book clubs in our libraries.
The following branches are running Digital Literacy/Know Your Mobile courses. Due to high demand all these courses are FULLY BOOKED.
Contact your local library to register your interest for future / or if you would like your library to provide these courses in the future:
- Ballyfermot
- Cabra
- Coolock
- Terenure – Know Your Mobile
- Dolphin’s Barn
- Rathmines
- Raheny
ACORN Tablets
ACORN tablets are available for use in Coolock Library. For more information on this scheme, contact Coolock Library. Read about the Acorn tablet.
Acorn tablets provide access to most common digital tasks, such as taking photos or contacting your family. The main strength of the tablet is the simple layout and plenty of guidance for those less familiar with technology. There are four main menu options: talk, photos, calendar and explore, with an Acorn button in the centre. Tap that and you get an overview of your day – what time it is, what the weather forecast is, notifications to deal with. See image below.
Our new height-adjustable tables have arrived at Cabra Library! Height-adjustable tables and standing tables are proven to help relieve back issues and improve posture, and also help with blood circulation and improve physical and mental health.
You can also access local content – news or public events, for example, and add them to your calendar for the future – from that main screen.
Talk brings you to shortcuts for your contacts, messages, emails and calls, with the latter only possible between the tablet and other Acorn users – family, friends with the companion app who you have added to your list of contact. It covers voice and video calls, and you can call or message Acorn’s support team for help from this section too. The chat interface allows users to add photographs too.
The Photos section has two tabs: Camera and My Album. The instructions on the camera are clear; two buttons urge you to tap to record video, or tap to capture photo. The zoom is clearly marked too, so there’s no need to try to interpret symbols.
As the description suggests, calendar is where all your appointments are located, along with local events you have added, and explore covers everything else, from the internet to apps.
The tablet, as you’d expect, can be connected via wifi. But Acorn also offers its own mobile data service, via an integrated SIM card, which may be useful for those who haven’t quite made the jump to always-on internet in their home, either by choice or because the services aren’t available.
Hublet tablet lending device
Our new Hublets allow you to borrow a tablet and use it in the library. No longer are eBooks, magazines, videos, or self-help apps limited to those that have their own electronic devices.
The self service Hublets are available at Pembroke and Raheny Library. Read more in the blog HERE.
C-Pen
We are delighted to make C-Pens available for lending from five of our branch libraries, as part of our assistive technology services. The C-Pen is a reader pen which scans and then reads text aloud to assist with independent reading. Reader pens are designed to promote active independent reading, understanding, and learning. People with dyslexia, aphasia or other reading difficulties, those learning languages or those with vision problems may find these pens to be of use for home, study or work.
The Magic Table
Do you work with people with dementia or with learning disabilities?
The Magic Table (or ‘Tovertafel’ in Dutch) is an award-winning innovation from the Netherlands, and it uses specially designed technology to help people with mid-to-late stage dementia and also adults with learning disabilities.
It consists of a series of colourful and fun interactive light games projected onto the surface of a table which respond to hand and arm movements, and which stimulate physical and cognitive activity as well as encouraging social interaction. You can see these games in action in the following video clips:
The Magic Table is now available in two locations in Dublin City Libraries, as follows:
Bookings can be made for individuals or for groups of up to 6 people at a time. Carers/assistants/family members, etc. should attend with the individuals or groups.
BorrowBox
On Borrowbox there is a wide range of eBooks and eAudiobooks available at the click of a button. Read our blog Downloading Borrowbox eBooks to a Computer and eReader if you need more guidance.
Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN.
Watch our how to video on Borrowbox. Members of other library authorities will need to log in using a different link.
Have a look on our website for a full list of our online resources. In the meantime read the Online resources menu blog. If you have any queries or if you registered online and can’t access any of these resources, you can also contact us at [email protected].
Computer Literacy
Computer Literacy Basics Training. This course slowly and patiently opens up the world of modern technology and teaches us the basics of computer use. The course is called Computer Literacy Basics Training (PC) and it’s found in our Infobase Learning Cloud (formerly Hoonuit).
Language
You can even Learn a new language with online resources
Lifelong Learning
Building skills is a constant in an ever-changing world. The new normal will be tech-driven. Read our blog: Lifelong Learning: skill up.
Magazines
In Libby, you'll have access to over 3,000 digital magazines with a rolling three years of back issues (where available). There are no magazine checkout limits, so you'll be able to borrow as many as you like. Introducing Libby for magazines blog.
Music
You can listen to music for FREE. Oxford Music Online contains 1,000s of authoritative, peer-reviewed articles with rich supporting materials including bibliographies, media, and links to related resources.
Medici TV is the world's leading classical music channel featuring hundreds of concerts, operas, and ballets is now available for FREE with your Dublin City Libraries card.
Choose from an extensive selection of concerts, operas, ballets, documentaries and master classes:
- 3,500+ musical works
- 2,700+ films
- 150+ live events each year
Medici TV has a user-friendly interface and powerful search engine, you can access thousands of classical music programmes from Baroque to Contemporary music. It also provides access synopsis, casts and performer biographies.
Discover recordings from the 1940s to present day. Watch and learn on any device, whenever and wherever you want.
Read our articles: Music in Dublin City Libraries and Music reference resources
Lifelong Learning
Building skills is a constant in an ever-changing world. The new normal will be tech-driven. Read our blog: Lifelong Learning: skill up.
Library in the Community
Library in the Community aims to ensure that books are easily accessible to everyone. One way they do that is by placing a small taster collection of Dublin City Libraries books in community locations. Locals are encouraged to browse the books, find one that they like, bring it home and then return it when they're finished so that someone else can enjoy it.
One of our book collections is in the reception area of the Séan O'Casey Community Centre. A couple of the books in the collection are published by Clarity Books, a company that makes books especially for people who find reading challenging. These challenges can range from dyslexic readers to those who suffer from eye strain and tiredness. Clarity books are printed in a large text size, using a specific font, ink colour and paper stock colour – all of which have been proven to promote easier reading.
The Library Locker is brought to you by the Library in the Community; they also manage deliveries to housebound borrowers and organise book collections and presentations about library resources for groups and organisations. More in the blog HERE.
If you know of a location or organisation that would like to house a book collection please get in touch with us: [email protected]
