The Letterkenny Library and Arts Centre is located on St. Oliver Plunkett Road in the

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

town. It is the central library in the county and is an integral part of Donegal County Council's arts provision. It is the first arts centre operated by a local authority in Ireland.

History

The Centre opened in 1995 on the site of the demolished Literary Institute. The Literary Institute was built in 1876. It was donated to the town by Doctor Crerand from Illistrin and opened by the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

, Lord O'Hagan. It was once a seminary used to train priests before

St Eunan's College St Eunan's College ( ; ), known locally as The College to distinguish it from the cathedral and GAA club, is a voluntary Roman Catholic all-male, English-medium secondary day school (and former boarding school) in County Donegal, Ireland. It ...

was built. It was also a school and a social club. It lay derelict for a number of years before demolition to make way for the new library.

Facilities

Following renovations in May 1999, the premises in the Central Library building became a dedicated exhibition space, with occasional live performances. The Centre specialises broadly in visual arts, community arts,

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and represents a busy programme of

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

s, performances and workshops in the Centre and other buildings. The Library is special in the fact that it has one of only two clock towers located in the town; the other being located a few metres away.

Building layout

As one enters the building, a door on the left reveals a set of stairs leading down to the arts centre in the basement. The arts centre is where regular exhibitions are heard and it has also been used to host youth drama workshops in the past. The library itself is divided between the ground and upstairs floors of the building. On the ground floor a vast array of adult books may be found as well as a children's section where silence is not so strictly enforced. A stairway overlooks the counter where computers are used to keep track of which books are being borrowed and by whom. Borrowed books may be returned by slipping them into a secure box outside the building should the borrower be in a bit of a hurry. Computers are also located on the ground floor which are easy to use for inquisitive locals and homesick tourists alike. Library-walk-lk

Upstairs is a study area regularly used by students and other townspeople who wish to avail of its comfortable tables and chairs, relaxed airy quiet atmosphere, and thousands of reference books, maps, dictionaries and encyclopedias. This is also where the local archives are held, as well as a special area designated for adults only, who may wish to mull over the daily newspaper or a specialist magazine: ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' or ''

TIME Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' are among those on offer. The building is monitored closely by CCTV.

References

External links

Donegal County Library Service Official Website

{{Authority control 1995 establishments in Ireland Arts centres in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Letterkenny Culture in Letterkenny Libraries established in 1995 Libraries in the Republic of Ireland