The new NCBI library at Bessboro Road, Blackrock, Cork, has taken a digital step into the future. As audio cassettes and even CDs have become outdated, these books are being transferred into digital formats, with new recordings going straight to digital.
The library which was initially set up in the mid 1980s, with a grant received from St. Monica’s Trust, is run entirely by volunteers. Jim and Joan Murphy have been synonymous with the NCBI Cork library since that time. They saw how local pupils with vision impairments were struggling to read materials for State exams and purchased tape-recorders and tapes to record books onto cassette tape to help them. They assembled a team of volunteers, who undertook to read text books in their own time in their own homes, resulting in the provision of a comprehensive collection of titles to children attending second level education.
The format has now changed to mp3
The students’ tape library then branched out into a general reading and listening library, where newspapers and publications of local interest were recorded onto audio cassettes. The format has now changed to mp3, making it possible to distribute books, newspapers, local publications and requested items on USB keys.
The new Digital library was officially opened by Billy Kelleher, T.D. for Cork North Central (standing in for Michéal Martin), who praised the work of the volunteers who helped develop the library from its humble origin as a tape library for students with vision impairments to a comprehensive collection.
Speaking at the opening, Billy Kelleher said “My own love of reading and the enjoyment it brings is personally valued by me. The NCBI Cork library has accumulated a store of the best of Irish life in local histories and writings with a local flavour. This collection is the result of nearly three decades of hard work and has now found a new home in these new premises and in the digital age.
Des Kenny, Chief Executive of NCBI told NCBI News: “Our library in Cork was, and still is today, the equivalent to our first editions in print of books of Irish interest. Members of the library would be lost without this access to their local heritage. 95% of the books in the Cork library, a branch of NCBI’s national library and media service, based in Dublin, have been recorded by local people. When you consider that it takes up to 12 hours to read aloud one book, the true extent of this achievement is amazing. Then consider that this has all been done by volunteers and you begin to understand how truly unique this resource is.”
You can contact the new digital library at Unit 9, Nessan House, Besboro Road, Blackrock, Cork, or telephone 021 4511155
email: corkaudio@ncbi.ie