An Leabharlann
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, over the past year or so I’ve been trying to catch up on my reading. My stack of books I’ve bought but never read is now down to half-a-dozen or so.
With sabbatical drawing to a close, the next major life even appearing on the horizon is retirement. Since that will involve a considerable reduction in income, and consequently money to buy books, and my house already has quite a lot of books in it, I thought I’d join the local public library so that when I’ve cleared the backlog of bought books, I’ll read books from the library instead.
With that in mind, I just joined the public library on Main Street, Maynooth, which is only about 15 minutes’ walk from my house. It’s a small branch library but is part of a larger network across County Kildare, with an extensive online catalogue from which one can acquire books on request. All this is free of charge.
Once I got my card, I had a quick look around the Maynooth branch. It has a good collection of classic literature (including poetry) as well as Irish and world history, which will keep me occupied for quite a while. The normal loan period is 3 weeks, which provides an incentive to read the book reasonably quickly.
I borrowed books in large quantities from public libraries when I was a child. I’m actually looking forward to getting into the library habit again.
In the Dark 
July 15, 2024 at 7:22 pm
Sounds mad to me! I have no Intention of retiring anytime soon! instead I plan to continue to teach but try to reduce my admin responsibilities, plus maybe take more hols and less research …starting right now ????? cormac
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July 15, 2024 at 8:32 pm
The timing of my retirement will not be entirely be my choice.
July 16, 2024 at 10:50 am
Not necessarily true. Even if Maynooth made you agree to a retirement date when you joined, that might be illegal under EU law. See
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/mandatory-retirement-ages-across-europe
There are exceptions if the organisation can demonstrate there is a legitimate aim such as intergenerational fairness. Personally I think this should apply in universities – the only way you can appoint new (young) lecturers in many cases is by the savings you make on people retiring. However I think that at least one university in the UK lost that argument for their mandatory age retirement.
As well as joining a library you might invest in a Kindle – Kindle books tend to be a lot cheaper than hardcopy.
July 16, 2024 at 12:07 pm
I am heading towards retirement a little more speedily than you, Peter! I joined the local library when I moved here almost five years ago and have been a regular user of it since then. Sadly the original building is long since demolished https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/schools/sportspartnership/23026190.remembering-history-kidderminster-college-pictures/ but its modern replacement is more than fit for purpose.
There is a regular film club – I have lent them some of my Ealing DVDs – as well an Ancestry workshops, knit and natter sessions, volunteer fairs and other community events, also lots of opportunities for children, in particular, to get involved. My own childhood memories are of regular trips to Yardley Wood library (in the Midlands), lots of lovely wooden catalogue drawers! and even being allowed to stamp my own books as a child (my love of libraries started very early and provided good training for when I became school librarian in secondary school – wish I’d kept the badge!) Hope to start properly researching the history of my house and continuing family history research at the library when retirement arrives.
July 16, 2024 at 1:45 pm
I was surprised to find the DVD collection in Maynooth is quite good. There are quite a few classic documentaries which I shall probably watch.