It is April 1925.
Lady Gregory, first vice-chairperson of the Galway County Library Committee, records in her diary that Maguire, the Galway Librarian, has been here.
Samuel J. Maguire was the first County Librarian. And they both discussed various difficulties in relation to establishing the County Library Service.
Maguire tells her that he went to see Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, to ask for help but he would give none. And the bishop is quoted as saying:
“I would do nothing to add a half-penny to the rates. And I am against the libraries because the people have too much independence and too much education.”
Let us note that around the same time, 9th July 1925, a short story by Liam O’Flaherty entitled “The Library” appears in the Manchester Guardian.
In the short story, an Inspector of Government Relief Works is working on the idea of establishing a local library in a place called Dromullen. And he is meeting quite an amount of resistance.
He is told that “The idea of a library in Dromullen might be prejudicial to the welfare of the community.”
The Sanitary Officer, the local Doctor, the Hotel keeper are among those opposed to a library.
The Parish Priest is worried about the importation of immoral literature into rural communities.
The Doctor objected because rural libraries were governed by democratically elected committees and democracy was always vulgar.
But the idea and the philosophy for a local public library as set out by Liam O’Flaherty in his story are interesting, and still hold true today.
He suggests taking a room, and installing some chairs and tables, purchasing books and magazines, holding a discussion circle once a week, and inviting lecturers from time to time.
And in spite of all the modern technology and resultant changes in library services, what O’Flaherty sets out here, is what good libraries still do. The idea of the the public library as a community space with a great book collection is perhaps more vital than ever in the age of twitter and social media,
On the 30th September 1925 Lady Gregory is in Galway where she is chairing a meeting of the Carnegie Committee. The Carnegie Foundation ran the library service in Galway before the County Council took it over in 1927. The Chairman was of the committee absent.
Lady Gregory records: I was put in the chair (being vice-chairman) and was rather embarrassed……and then she adds “but Maguire helped me through” again referring to Sam Maguire who was first County Librarian.
During the meeting she made the point that “we ought to give as large a proportion as possible to biographies, and history and travel, books that are costly and difficult to obtain.
The Roman Catholic Canon nodded approval, and all seemed to agree.
And then she adds, contrary to what the Doctor said about democracy in the Liam O'Flaherty story: Lady Gregory said: “I liked the meeting, ten or twelve men not much interested in literature but in a common effort to help a good cause.
In relation to the book stock, I think that Lay Gregory would approve of the kind of books which Liam O’Flaherty proposed for a local library. They included books by Shelley, Dostoevsky, Goethe and Anatole France.
Having referred to Lady Gregory and Liam O’Flaherty, both of whom were concerned about libraries and education and books and literature in 1925, I would like to make reference to another writer who recently passed away who said some very interesting things about this same subject on a radio programme in 2007. I am referring to Edna O’Brien and an interview she gave Eamon Dunphy.
And it is relevant that we are at the back of the Augustinian church, something which I will come to at the end
Edna O'Brien told Eamon Dunphy: She said she was walking down Baggot Street not too long ago and there's a big poster on a hoarding for a big car, a posh car, costing thousands. What does the caption say: enjoy the begrudgery. It is the notion now, Edna O'Brien said says, not only the notion, but the absolute belief that fame, money, and total indulgence is what people should be given. And that's everywhere.
That is why I think, and I will continue to think it, that literature, great literature and real literature, is one of the most thought-provoking, helpful and, in some form, spiritual thing that's there. And it is on the decline, it is being marginalised...day-in and day-out.
Reading a book, or a poem, or seeing a great piece of drama, is a private transaction between two people - the creator and the receiver....well that's gone out the window now, people think you can fling down language on a page, or whatever, and it does sell. If you look at the best-seller list, it is either celebrity or whatever.
Mediocrity is everywhere.
It is hard enough to write. It is purgatoria and inferno to write a book, and to keep writing.
Great books have come out of the purgatoria and the inferno of living.
Well, I wrote to the producer of the Eamon Dunphy programme seeking permission to reproduce these lines, to put them in the library window here or place them on the library website.
The producer did not respond. Instead, I received a direct response from Edna O'Brien.
She said the next time I am in Galway, I will go into the Augustinian Church and I will light a candle for you.
Unlike 1925, there is little or no resistance to public libraries today, they are widely encouraged, but the battle to seek an adequate book fund seems to continue year after year. And let me tell you, it can be quite a struggle some years.
To finish with Edna O'Brien in a Paris Review interview.
"What matters is the imaginative truth, and the perfection and care with which it has been rendered."
See the full 8 minute talk on Youtube here:
https://youtu.be/0mEt3iEodzw?si=ex_OIZa2iQTbX101
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