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Last Wednesday (26th August) saw the formal launch of a new website hosting a range of databases totalling over 5 million records. The databases are useful for genealogy, local history and social history. Many of the databases were previously available and searchable separately on dublinheritage.ie, but the new site - databases.dublincity.ie - allows for integrated and enhanced searching while also giving access to an even greater number of databases.Speakers at the launch included the noted genealogist John Grenham, who carried out much of the work in the delivery of the site, Dublin City Archivist Dr. Mary Clark, Senior Archivist  Ellen Murphy, Deputy City Librarian Brendan Teeling, the Director of the National Archives John McDonough, and City Councillor Vincent Jackson.View the following photo slideshow of the launch. About databases.dublincity.iedatabases.dublincity.ie brings together a number of databases produced by the Libraries and Archive Service. Most of the original records from which the databases are created are held by Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.The databases featured and included in the combined search are:Community Memory - a database of plaques and public memorials throughout the City.Dublin Directory 1647-1708 - a database of Dubliners compiled from a variety of sources.Ancient freemen of Dublin (1461 to 1491, and 1564 to 1774) - a database of all those on the who were entered into the Freedom of the City by the City Assembly.Dublin City Electoral Lists 1908 to 1915 - a database of all those registered to vote in municipal elections.Dublin City Electoral Lists 1938 to 1964 - a database of all those registered to vote in local elections. The Dublin City Electoral Lists 1937-64 have been taken down from this site.  For more information, please e-mail [email protected] Graveyards Directory - a database with details of all graveyards in the Dublin area.Cemetery Burial Registers (Clontarf, Drimnagh, and Finglas) - a database of those buried in three now closed cemeteries which are under the control of Dublin City Council.Two other databases included on the site - The Monica Roberts Collection and the most recent addition, the Index to Dublin City Council Minutes 1881-1987, are not included in the combined search and need to be searched separately.The Database of Baptisms for Dublin Parishes, the Database of Marriages for Dublin Parishes, and the Database of Burials for Dublin Parishes, compiled by Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive and previously available on dublinheritage.ie, have been incorporated into the Irish Genealogy website and form a significant portion of the total records available on that website.More databases will be added as they are completed.

Dublin Bay has been awarded a Biosphere designation by UNESCO in recognition of its unique ecological and cultural status. The Biosphere designation previously related to the Bull Island only but the awarding of Biosphere status to all of Dublin Bay means the designation now extends to an area of approximately 300km2. Read the full announcement...#LoveDublinBayTo mark the occasion, we take the opportunity to reproduce here the following from askaboutireland.com © Dublin City Public Libraries.Dublin Bay & Bull IslandDublin Bay is recognised as an internationally important area for wintering waterfowl, as there are over 20,000 waders at Bull Island on a regular basis. The intertidal mudflats provide plenty of food for birds, while the salt marshes and beaches of Bull Island are an ideal for high tide roosts.The Irish Wetland Birds Survey, which covers the period 2003/04-2007/08, shows that Bull Island maintains an internationally important population of Brent Goose, Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit. The survey also indicates that there are 20 species inhabiting the area that have national importance.South Bull Island hosts 70% of the Dublin Bay populations of Shoveler, Golden Plover, Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit, while Ringed Plover and Sanderling occur mainly along the sandy beaches of North Bull Island . Other birds of national importance that inhabit Bull Island include:Cormorant, Grey Heron, Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Red-breasted Merganse, Oystercatcher, Tinged Plover, Grey Plover, Dulin, Curlew, Redshank, Greenshank, Turnstone and Great Crested Grebe.The mean total of waterfowl recorded for each winter in the period 2003/04 – 2007/08 was 25,000.Bull Island is protected under the EU Habitats Directive, EU Birds Directive, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. It is also recognised as part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, together with South Dublin Bay and the Tolka Estuary.Bull Island is managed by the Parks and Landscape Services Division of Dublin City Council.Flora of Bull IslandBull Island, Dublin is a place of both national and international importance because of the diversity of its flora and fauna. In 1981, it was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the first in Ireland.The Parks and Landscape Services Division of Dublin City Council manages North Bull Island and its Interpretative Centre on a daily basis.Bull Island is home to approximately half of the number of wildflower species recorded in County Dublin. This also represents approximately 30% of species recorded within Ireland. Some examples of wildflowers found on Bull Island include Wild Orchids, Vetch Wildflower, Forget-Me-Not, Lady’s Bedstraw and Wild Thyme.In 1999, Dorothy Forde, a regular walker on Bull island made available her research on the wildflowers of the island to Dublin City Council who, in turn, published her book: The Wild Flowers of North Bull Island. She has kindly given permission for her research on the flowers of the grassland dunes (one of five sections of her book) to be replicated on askaboutireland.com.The flora of Bull Island represent approximately half of the number of species recorded from all of County Dublin and approximately 30% of the flora of Ireland.The island is the only Irish example of an undisturbed sequence of habitats, including: beach, fore dunes, mature dune ridges and slacks, grassland, saltmarsh and mudflats. This is partly attributable to preservation, but mainly due to the island's youth as Bull Island began to form as a mere sandspit as recently as 1800. It is now over 5 km in length.For more about The Wildflowers of Bull Island, visit askaboutireland.com. 

A new website allowing for the cross-searching of a number of databases produced by Dublin City Public Libraries & Archive can now be accessed online.databases.dublincity.ie replaces dublinheritage.ie as the point of access to a variety of databases, which heretofore could only be searched individually. In addition to those databases which were available on dublinheritage.ie have been added the Cemetery Burial Registers and the Dublin Directory 1647-1708. [First posted 29th April 2015]Access databases.dublincity.ieMost of the original records from which the databases are created are held in the Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.Much of the work in the delivery of the website, including database production, search interface, initial research and the preparation and editing of material, has been carried out by John Grenham, Genealogist.More databases will be added as they are completed.Featured DatabasesThe databases featured and included in the combined search are:- Community Memory - a database of plaques and public memorials throughout the City.- Dublin Directory 1647-1708 - a database of Dubliners compiled from a variety of sources.- Ancient Freemen of Dublin (1461 to 1491, and 1564 to 1774) - a database of all those who were entered into the Freedom of the City by the City Assembly.- Dublin City Electoral Lists 1908 to 1915 - a database of all those registered to vote in municipal elections.- Dublin City Electoral Lists 1938 to 1964 - a database of all those registered to vote in local elections. The Dublin City Electoral Lists 1937-64 have been taken down from databases.dublincity.ie. For more information, please e-mail [email protected] Dublin Graveyards Directory - a database with details of all graveyards in the Dublin area.- Cemetery Burial Registers (Clontarf, Drimnagh, and Finglas) - a database of those buried in three now closed cemeteries which are under the control of Dublin City Council. The Monica Roberts Collection is not included in the combined search and needs to be searched separately. This collection contains 453 letters from 56 soldiers to Monica Roberts during World War One.Also...The Parish Registers, containing baptism, marriage and burial records for Dublin Parishes and originally available on dublinheritage.ie, have been incorporated into the Irish Genealogy website and form a significant portion of the total records available on that website. These records were compiled by the Dublin Heritage Group for Dublin City Public Libraries. The records can also be accessed in the Reading Room, Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin.Visit databases.dublincity.ie.Other Content from dublinheritage.ieAside from the databases, dublinheritage.ie also contained other content of interest, and you can rest assured this content has not been lost as a result of recent developments. Note the following (with updated links):The Dublin Diary - lists stories that made the news in Dublin over the years during the current month.Publications -  a list of publications produced by Dublin City Council / Public Libraries, many of which can be purchased.History Groups & Societies -  formerly titled 'Local & Family History Associations'.Historic Collections- Wide Street Commission Map Collection- Ballymun Concrete Newssee also eResources.The digital media content has been moved to our blog site, itself scheduled to move to our main website in the near future. Updates on this development will be posted on dublincitypubliclibraries.ie. 

Today sees the launch of a wonderful new website on the bridges spanning the River Liffey from Lucan to the sea. Bridges of Dublin is a Dublin City Council project and was developed as a comprehensive digital archive of information about the bridges which span the Liffey in Dublin county. The project was led by the specialist web unit within Culture, Recreation and Amenity assisted by the Roads and Traffic Department.23 bridges are features on the website, from Lucan in the west to East-Link in the Docklands. You can view bridges by use or by location, and there is in depth information on each bridge's history, name, design and engineering, as well as a wealth of historical photos. The site also has a comprehensive bridge building section covering types, materials, famous Irish and World bridges, designers, disasters and proposed bridges. And so much more!

Dublin Digital Day Event, Grafton Street, Friday, 8th March.Create a digital memory, using your old photographs, on Digital Dublin Day, Friday 8th March. Do you have some old photographs of Dublin or Dubliners lying around at home? Perhaps a snapshot of friends meeting under Clery's Clock? Or photographs that show Dublin shops, pubs or other buildings in the background?Or perhaps you have photographs of friends or family doing jobs that no longer even exist? You might not think these photographs are important or of interest to anyone else - but Dublin has changed so much over the years that even photos taken ten or twenty years ago can show parts of Dublin that look very different to what we see today. We have found people love looking at photographs of Dublin as they remember it in their own youth - no matter if that was in the more recent 1990s or 1980s or as far back as the 1950s or 1940s or even earlier!We would love you to bring your photographs in to Grafton Street, in the centre of Dublin on Friday next, 8th March, Digital Dublin Day. Library staff will be on hand in our Library Learning Bus to scan your photographs and upload them to the internet to share with the wider world.We will be parked at the top of Grafton Street, at the corner of Stephen's Green, between 10am and 4pm. Look out for the Big Blue Bus!There is no charge for this event, which is part of a citywide series of events to mark Digital Dublin Day. Digital Dublin Day is a day of fun, designed to demonstrate to Dubliners the impact and potential of modern digital technologies and to encourage innovation and creativity in the ways we all harness technology in the city. So - join us in creating more digital memories, for ourselves and for the future!