Work is nearing completion on the new state of the art library in Cahir.
Having been located in the Market House on The Square for a number of decades it will be moving to the Granary Building on Church Street in the coming weeks.
However, Tipperary’s County Librarian Damien Dullaghan says libraries are about much more than books these days.
“Our core value is still books, and it always will be along with reading and literacy. But we are now more a community hub – we are a hub for meetings, gatherings, a safe space, a place of rest, a place of activity – whatever you want.
“So, we’re very much an anchor in the community and that is the role that we have to take on and that’s the role we want to take on. I think this new library is an example of a new type of modern library which encompasses all of these things.
The new library in Cahir promises to be a major centre of activity in the town when it opens in the next few weeks.
The 3-storey Granary building has undergone a major overhaul to provide a state-of-the-art library with both the children’s and adults books housed on the ground floor.
The first floor will have a sensory room, study & computer area and an event/exhibition area.
The top floor will be home to a study room, meeting room, makers space and podcast room.
Library manager Jackie Kennedy says joining the library service is far from complicated.
“Absolutely not. So, the first thing to do is just pop into us – it’s a simple process to get set up. It does not matter if you have never set foot inside a library before or if it’s been a long time since you’ve used the library – everybody is welcome and we want as many people as possible to come in and join up.
“That’s something I’d definitely like people to be comfortable with – please come up to us, we’d be more than happy to join you up and it’s absolutely free.”
A new car park has been developed on the site of the former Galtee Hotel while works on Castle Street and The Square will tie the whole project together.
Damien Dullaghan says the regeneration of the town centre will open up the heart of Cahir to visitors and locals alike.
“It really will transform the top of the town because where Cahir Castle is there’s a lot of work gone into it but this part of the town needed some investment and it’s getting it now.
“I think the car parking will be really helpful and the regeneration of the Square I think will be massive as well, I think that’s going to make a huge difference.
“When Councils put in this kind of investment into the town centres it brings footfall, it brings regeneration, it brings commerce because what happens is people come, they use the space, they might buy a coffee, they might go to the hotel, they’ll visit the library. And we see that all the time – we bring footfall. That’s our job as a library is to bring footfall to town centres.”
You can hear more on this Tipp FM Investigates – Building Tipperary feature on Tipp Today after 11 this morning.
