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Have you ever wanted to learn how to sing or to play an instrument? Do you want unlimited access to the best in video-based art & music instruction? Would you like all this for free?If your answer is yes to all of the above, then we have just the online resource for you!ArtistWorks for Libraries provides Dublin City library members with world-class instruction through self-paced video lessons from Grammy Award–winning music and artistic professionals.From introductory to advanced lessons, ArtistWorks offers everything needed for musical and artistic instruction, as follows:    Beginner to advanced music instruction for the most popular string and band instruments    Instruction from professional musicians    Art and voice classes    Video-based lessons with bookmarking features    On-the-go learning with 24/7 remote access    Browser-enabled access for desktop and mobile devicesArtistWorks features these lessons and many more:    Acoustic Guitar    Ukulele    Harmonica    Electric Bass    Banjo    Piano    Percussion    Mandolin    Rock Guitar    Art    Singing    Flute Register for ArtistWorks at https://www.rbdigital.com/dublincity/ with your Dublin City library card number. 

Dublin supported James II at the Battle of the Boyne, but following his defeat by William III, a protestant ascendancy resumed control of the city and began to forge links with the new and successful monarchy.  This process intensified after the death of Mary II in 1695 left William III as sole monarch. Dublin Corporation added William’s arms to the City Sword  in 1697 and in the following year, the king presented a chain of office to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, carrying the monarch’s bust on a medallion, which is in use to this day.But these expressions of loyalty were not sufficiently public for the City Assembly, which early in 1700 decided to erect a statue of the king, to be placed on a pedestal in the old Corn Market.[1]   From the inception of this project, the Assembly was aware that the statue could become a focus for protest by Jacobite supporters, and decreed that it should “be defended with iron banisters”. [2]  Two Dublin merchants, Henry Glegg and John Moore, who were on business in London, were asked to commission the sculptor Grinling Gibbons to execute an equestrian statue of the king in copper or mixed metal and a contract was signed on 9 April 1700.[3] In fact, the statue was executed in lead.  Gibbons was to be paid £800 sterling in four instalments: £200 on signing the contract, the same again two months later, a further £200 when the statue was shipped off, and the final £200 when the statue had arrived and was in position.[4] The Assembly then decided that the statue should be placed, not in the Corn Market, but in a more prominent location, in College green. It was also agreed that the stones of St. Paul’s gate in the city walls, which had been demolished by alderman George Blackall, should be used to make a pedestal for the statue.[5]  The statue was unveiled on 1 July 1701, which was the 11th anniversary of the Boyne (following the Julian calendar in use at the time). The lord justices, who were guests of honour, were “entertained by publicly running out some wine” – presumably so they could have the fun of watching the populace scramble for a drink.[6]  The event became a yearly one, with a parade around the statue, and volleys of muskets fired in the air. Some security was afforded to the statue when the city    Plumber, Alexander Erwin, was paid £13-0s-9d for “fastening the iron work around the king’s statue”[7] and this afforded adequate protection to the monument for the best part of ten years. This honeymoon period ended in 1710. The City Assembly was informed that on Sunday 25 June “some persons disaffected to the late happy revolution, did offer great indignities to his late majesty, king William of glorious memory, by breaking and defacing some part of his statue erected on College Green”. [8] In fact, his sword and truncheon were broken off. The lord mayor, Sir John Eccles, believing that the attack was fuelled by drink, ordered that a “strict inquiry be made in the several public houses what guests were [there] at unseasonable hours” on the evening of 25 June.[9]  The authorities at Dublin castle offered £100 for information and the city offered a further reward of £50, which was claimed by a local man, Richard Markham.[10] The guilty parties were Trinity students who were expelled from the  college. But attacks on the statue continued. In October 1714 a truncheon, which was in the king’s hand, was broken off and removed and in 1715, the year of the first Jacobite revolt in Scotland, the Corporation decided to build a watch house beside the statue and post a couple of sentinels there.[11]Protestant sentiment continued in Dublin throughout the 18th century. The position of William III’s statue outside the Parliament House, made it a focus of the Volunteer rallies which took place in College Green in the 1770s.  The Lord Mayor’s Coach, which was commissioned by the Corporation and built in Dublin by William Whitton, was carved with unionist symbols, including orange lilies to honour William III.  The Coach was first unveiled on 4 November 1791, when it led a procession to mark the Birthday of William III – a procession which took place each year thereafter.  Equally, there was a Catholic reaction, and in 1798 the sword was removed and an attempt was made to saw off the kingly  head.   In 1805, supporters of Catholic Emancipation covered the horse with a mixture of tar and grease, while in 1837 the figure was blown completely off the horse. [12] It is said  that Surgeon-General Sir Richard Crampton, who was a tremendous snob, was at a dinner party in St. Stephen’s Green when a distraught man came to the door looking for him and saying: ‘You must come quickly Sir – a most distinguished gentleman has fallen off his horse in College Green!’   Whereupon Sir Richard rushed off – to find king William’s statue prone on the ground![13] On this occasion the statue was repaired by John Smyth, whose father was the more famous sculptor Edward Smyth.(Plinth of King William's Statue)The statue of William III continued to excite controversy well into the 19th century.  In 1842, city architect Hugh Byrne recommended that the cut stone base and iron railing around the statue were so defective that they should be removed and replaced and the finance committee was instructed to do so. [14]  In spite of these precautions, the statue continued to suffer physical attacks necessitating repairs, which were conscientiously carried out: in 1843 alone, such repairs cost the City Council more than £73.[15]    But after the Home Rule Party seized control of Dublin City Council in 1880, this careful attention was not applied to the city’s statues and in 1888 they were reported as being dirty, with William III’s statue also being dangerous. [16]   A report about the statue in the following year, found that it was indeed dangerous, with the horse in particular having sustained several cracks with a likelihood of it falling into the street and causing injury.  The City Engineer recommended that the statue should be repaired – at a modest cost of £35 – and that a new site should be found for it at Foster Place, away from traffic.[17] It was also suggested that a plaque should be added recording that the monument had been restored by the Corporation of Dublin during the Mayoralty of the Right Hon. Thomas Sexton.  However, although the repairs were carried out, the statue remained in College Green.  Even though the City Council members were largely nationalist, there was no suggestion that the statue should be removed altogether and a proposal from John Erskine of Belfast, offering to purchase it, met with the abrupt rejoinder ‘The Statue is not for sale’. [18][1] Anc. Rec. Dublin, VI, p. 232.[2] Ibid.[3] Surviving works by Gibbons in Ireland include a monument in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin to Narcissus Marsh, archbishop of Armagh, and two in Kinsale, Co. Cork to the Southwell family.  See Edward McParland, ‘A monument by Grinling Gibbons’ in Irish Arts Review (Yearbook, 1994), pp 108-9.[4] Anc. Rec. Dublin, VI, p. 235.[5] Ibid., VI, pp 237, 239.[6] Anc. Rec. Dublin., VI, 248-9.  The lord justices were Henry Moore, 3rd earl of Drogheda; Narcissus Marsh, archbishop of Dublin; and Hugh Montgomery, 2nd earl of Mountalexander.  T.W. Moody, F.X. Martin, F.J. Byrne, A New History of Ireland, IX, (Oxford, 1984), p. 491.[7] Anc. Rec. Dublin, VI, 256. [8] Ibid. VI, pp 416-7.[9] Ibid., VI, pp 416-7.[10] DCA, MR/36: Dublin City Treasurer’s Account Book, 1651-1717, fol. 622b. Markham was paid £50 ‘for discovering the Persons that did Deface the Statue of King William’ but their names are not given.[11] Anc. Rec. Dublin VI, pp 540-1.  This pattern of attacks on the statue of William III lasted throughout its history. It was finally blown up by the old I.R.A. on 11 November 1928, the 10th anniversary of Armistice Day. Dublin City Council disposed of the shattered pedestal in 1929, as it was judged to be a hazard to traffic.[12] Cliona Cussen, ‘Public Sculpture: a cautionary tale, or Ni Neart go baint da cheile’ in Sculptors Society of Ireland, vol. 10, no. 4, 1989.[13] Frederick O’Dwyer, Lost Dublin, (Dublin, 1981), p. 27.[14] City Council manuscript minutes, vol. 11, pp 185-6.[15] Ibid., vol. 12, p. 146.[16] Dublin City Council minutes, 1888, item 180[17] Dublin Corporation Reports, 1889, vol. 3, pp 61-2.[18] Dublin City Council minutes, 1889, items 257, 281 

In an online world that is connected 24/7 we have never had access to so much information; so much so that people sometimes feel overwhelmed. We are constantly subjected to conflicting messages from pundits, advertisers, politicians and talking heads and many ideas in public and political discourse are greatly contested, such as global warming or the safety of vaccines. Additionally, much public debate has arisen concerning the veracity of many information sources often accompanied by claims of ‘fake news’.For the month of November Rathmines library will be hosting a book display featuring many titles on the topic of critical thinking which will aid readers in discerning just how reliable many of the claims with which we are constantly bombarded really are. So if you would like to pick up new techniques to cut through the polemic and cunningly crafted narratives why not nip in and peruse our selection of materials to help you THINK! Can't get into Rathmines, no problem just reserve any of these reads from our catalogue and pick them up at your local library.

JSTOR is a comprehensive online resource that spans a variety of topics. Access to The Ireland Collection – JSTOR can be accessed at Dublin City Public Libraries free of charge. The Ireland Collection is an interdisciplinary collection of journals and other materials. The Collection contains titles and resources across the arts, humanities, and sciences in disciplines such as music, art, history, literature, archaeology, mathematics, and biology. Materials span from the 1780s to the present.Find out more about this and other research materials available at Dublin City Public Libraries. Whether you want to satisfy your curiosities, increase your content knowledge or for personal research the information is at your fingertips. For example you can find a copy of every Dublin Historical Record article ever written since 1834. Students can access further information to assist their studies. Researchers who may not have access to journal databases will find a wealth of information available."JSTOR (short for Journal Storage) is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitised back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665. Membership in JSTOR is held by 7,000 institutions in 159 countries. JSTOR was originally funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, but is now an independent, self-sustaining not-for-profit organization with offices in New York City and Ann Arbor, Michigan. In January 2009, it was announced that JSTOR would merge with Ithaka, a non-profit organization founded in 2003 and "dedicated to helping the academic community take full advantage of rapidly advancing information and networking technologies." (Wikipedia)JSTOR is an example of information storage and access that is required to protect the masses of information available. It was a solution for libraries to deal with the growing level of print journals that were in circulation.  In the 2003 copy of JSTOR News (Issue 2 No. 7) Michael P. Spinella of JSTOR writes “Though there is not yet a complete tally at the time of this writing, it is believed that many thousands of artefacts, works of art, ancient manuscripts, and historic letters housed by the Iraqi National Museum and National Library have been destroyed or stolen. These works encompass some 2000 years of history and culture. We should take a moment to contemplate the enormity of these losses. Beyond this, we must act to guard against such tragedies in the future. The situation underscores the urgency of preserving history in as many places and forms as possible. Digitization cannot replicate the experience of an original work; nevertheless, digital copies are preferable to the calamity of total loss. In my first few months at JSTOR, I have encountered many people who share an awareness of the need to protect intellectual and cultural histories. JSTOR staff members demonstrate this commitment through their work to ensure the continued accessibility of the literature entrusted to us.”

You can find out how to do and be lots of things in the library.Actors, gardeners, jugglers, farmers, knitters, bakers, candlestick makers, secretaries or being idle. Staying single or looking for partners?From the practical to the mundane, finding jobs to healing pain. Would you like to speak Irish or Chimpanzee? How to be good, how to be positive, how to be beautiful, how to be mean, how to be rich...... Random things like being a superhero 101 Things To Do To Become a Superhero . . . or an evil genius by Helen Szirtes and Richard HorneOr mowing the lawnHow to mow the lawn, the lost art of being a man by Sam MartinOr be a womanHow to be a woman by Caitlin MoranOr give those dreaded presentationsPublic speaking, everything you need to know by Jacey Lamerton   Really there's no excuses you can be anything you want to be really!! 

Walk away the Winter blues!Have you overindulged over the festive season. Do you feel lethargic and tired? Are you afraid to step up on the scales. Has Operation Transformation (TV Programme) frightened you into keeping fit? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, fear not! Dublin Public Libraries can help!Dublin City Public Libraries have a very comprehensive collection of maps and guides with interesting walks, hikes, and trails contained within: encouraged yet to venture out in the fresh air, and explore and enjoy the countryside?Suss out any of our 21 library service points spread across the city and checkout these walks. Included are: Best Walks in Ireland by David Marshall (2006)Glasnevin Cemetery: A historic Walk (1997)Leisure Walks Near Dublin by Joss Lynam (2004)Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin by Brian J Showers (2006)Lonely Planet Hill Walking in Ireland (2010)Secret Dublin. 25 original walks exploring the hidden city by Pat Liddy (2001)Walks Around Medieval Dublin by Dublin City Council (2004)A Walk Across Ireland from Coast to Coast including the Royal Canal Way by John Mulligan (2006)Also, there are a number of very useful websites available with downloadable maps attached. Look up:Coillte OutdoorsDiscover Ireland Route PlannerDublin Mountains WayHeritage Ireland MapsDublin Discovery Trails: Self-guided walking tours of DublinNational Parks and Wildlife ServiceIrish Trails - DublinCommit to be fit in 2012. Beir bua!