The Library Paradox - Thoughts on Cork City’s Libraries

Recently, I’ve found myself without a job for the first time since 2016 after I had to leave a job of five and a half years for health reasons. Turns out that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing and I ended up getting a lot closer to a full burnout than I ever wanted. Recovery has taken a lot longer than expected, and so I regularly find myself with a lot more time on my hands than I expected. With money being as tight as you’d expect for someone on benefits, I started looking around for a place to get away from my flat that wouldn’t break the already overtaxed bank. Enter Cork’s libraries. I’m a big fan of public libraries in general, I think they’re one of our society’s greatest assets. Having a place where you can simply walk in, sit down and start reading, without any expectation of consumption or spending money is simply incredible.

And that’s just libraries in general. Given that I’m in Cork, Ireland’s second city, home to two major universities and the workplace of George Boole, whose work was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the very device you’re reading this blog post on, not to mention Ireland’s own rich literary history, the library system here in Cork has to be the jewel in the city’s crown, right?

Right?

Yeah, about that…

Ever since I started frequenting libraries again, I’ve used two libraries in particular. One is the local library here in Ballincollig, the suburb I live in, whilst the other is Cork city’s central library on Grand Parade. 

Ballincollig Library isn’t much to look at from the outside.

Starting with my local library, I have to say I expected something more from a library for a town of 18,000 residents. Ballincollig Library is hidden away in a former shopping centre that in itself is tucked away behind a row of takeaways, hairdressers and medical practices that line the town’s Main Street. And while the library sits in the only real two-story part of said former shopping centre, it only occupies the ground floor of that building, and not even all of that. Now, to be fair, it’s been a while since I started working on this post, and my take on Ballincollig Library has changed quite a bid over that time. It is effectively just a single hall filled with bookshelves, with reading tables and a handful of desks strewn all over the space in a rather haphazard way, but despite this, the space feels rather cozy. The selection of books in the library is limited but that is to be expected, given that it’s a suburban branch library.

The interior of Ballincollig library is okay, I guess. It does feel disjointed and in need of investment though.

The WiFi in the library is lightning fast, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, there’s only a very limited number of desks available to take advantage of it.

However, there’s no denying that the library, and indeed that entire building is beginning to show its age. I wasn’t able to find an opening date for the current library building, but judging from the architecture, I’d guess it must have been in the late 1980s or early 1990s. A lot of the internal fittings and bookshelves date from that time and look like they haven’t been updated since. Again, this make sense, given that Ballincollig was recently transferred from County Cork to Cork City and their respective library systems, and there was no real incentive for Cork County Libraries to invest anything in the years leading up to the handover. Having said that, there’s a self-service terminal for checking out books that was added recently and the WiFi in the library is blazing fast! All in all, it’s not a bad library, even though it does need some TLC!

With the suburbs out of the way, let’s move on to the city centre. Surely, the central library in Ireland’s second city has got to be a landmark structure, a point of pride for a city that was the stomping ground of musical and scientific greats, right? Well, Cork’s Central Library certainly occupies a central spot, sitting on Grand Parade, where it’s been since 1930, the original Carnegie Library on Anglesea Street having been torched by pro-British forces during the 1920 “Burning of Cork”. The library in its current form opened in 1970s after a large-scale modernisation project, which also gave it its current façade. To be blunt, I’m not a fan. I’m generally quite fond of both modernism and brutalism, as well as more extravagant architectural styles, but when it comes to this bureaucratic modernism, “this ain’t it, chief!” Once inside, it becomes pretty clear that it’s literally just a new façade, that also houses the reference section up on the 1st floor. Much of the library, particularly the reading hall, seems to be a part of the original 1930 structure.

I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t the prettiest photo of Cork’s main library. Then again, I don’t think it’s actually possible to get a pretty photo of it.

The original 1930s building does look considerably better in my eyes. These days, it houses the children’s section,

I’ll be honest with you, for a city with the size and importance of Cork, the library is actually shockingly small. Again, many of the internal fittings look like they date back to the last refurbishment of the library back in 1970 and while the structure as such looks like it was recently repainted and refreshed and actually looks pretty good, the carpets and bookshelves just seem tired, as do many of the reading chairs. One thing that is surprising is just how few workspaces are available. There are a total of six worktables, each with four chairs, throughout the entire library, as well as a number of reading chairs in a different area. Unlike the Ballincollig branch, the central library also has a dozen or so computers for public use, squared away in a stuffy and poorly lit corner of the building. In common with Ballincollig library though, WiFi is surprisingly fast, probably the best public WiFi I’ve ever used! I wonder if I should try and give Geforce Now a spin in there?

Much of the library is a single story structure that could be uncharitably described as a warehouse for books. I think that this is unfair, as I quite like the look of the place. It’s just that it’s way too small!

Once again, the number of available workspaces in the library is far too low, even if the WiFi itself is, once again, phenomenal!

Again, my original notes about the central library were a lot more negative, but in the months since I started working on this blog post, my opinion has shifted considerably. Yes, the library’s size and fit out is frankly embarrassing for the main library in a city with the size and importance of Cork. The number of workspaces available is nowhere near sufficient, given the popularity of the library, and the computer corner is a joke if I’m honest. But the 1930 reading hall is actually quite the nice space once you look at it, and the WiFi is excellent, provided you can find a space to work. 

One consistent plus across both of the branches I regularly visit is the opening hours. The central library on Grand Parade is open Monday to Saturday from 10 AM to 5.30 PM, whilst the Ballincollig Branch and most of the other Branch libraries are open from Tuesday to Saturday with the same opening hours. At first glance, this might not seem too great, especially not if you’re working, as it means that those who have a regular Monday to Friday 9 to 5 job will only really be able to visit a library on Saturday. However, I’m from a country where you’d be lucky to have your local library open in the morning three days per week and in the evening two days, with no weekend opening hours and a full day only every two weeks after the 12th of never, provided that isn’t on a Saturday or Sunday. And that’s for main libraries in cities like Frankfurt! Having a library that’s open as consistently as the ones I’ve visited here in Cork is a convenience that not many people appreciate.

When I started writing the notes for this blog post, I was fully ready to absolutely excoriate Cork City Libraries for what I believed to be a piss-poor product. However, in the months since, I’ve mellowed somewhat. Whilst both the Central library and the Ballincollig branch can definitely do with some TLC, Cork city has slowly been investing in new libraries in the suburbs over the years. Knocknaheeny on the city’s north side got a brand new state-of-the-art library in 2015, I was able to see its progress every time I took the bus home from Apple. Bishopstown got a new library in 2006 and Blackpool in 2010. There are currently plans afoot to replace the central library on Grand Parade with a new facility, although these plans seem to be progressing with characteristic slowness. There has been some talk about taking over the old Beamish Counting House, which was converted into a state-of-the-art vacant office development as part of the stalled Events Centre project, which I would absolutely approve of. Cork needs a library that is fit for a city of its size and that building would not only be ideal, it would also restore a public element to that project that was stripped away after the whole complex had gained planning permission.