€10,000 revamp for County Cork school library

THERE was fierce excitement recently in Coláiste Muire, a secondary school in Cobh, when their library was revamped using funding from the Department of Education.

Their school library is one of the first in Cork and possibly the country to open its doors to students after investing almost €10,000 in more than 2,000 new books.

Coláiste Muire had a library prior to their now modern one, which contained books kindly donated by local people over the years. However, students fell out of the habit of borrowing books in the late 1990s, so a team of teachers and Transition Year students set about choosing new titles, recycling older books, restocking the shelves with their brand new books, and sourcing a digitised lending system.

This was all made possible by receiving the school library book grant in 2022.

The Department of Education allocated €20 million to existing libraries in primary and post-primary schools in an attempt to help improve literacy resources within schools throughout the country.

This was a one-off grant which provided €21 per pupil in each school in Ireland. By doing this, it was hoped to nurture a love of reading among a new generation.

Minister for Education, Norma Foley, said that books “enable our students to go on magical journeys, experience new ideas and open their minds to infinite possibilities”.

According to a recent study published in the journal JAMA Paediatrics, the more screen time toddlers have, the less verbal ability they have. The researchers also highlighted that screen time was linked to higher rates of obesity, depression and hyperactivity in children.

Principal of Coláiste Muire, Fergus O’Brien, said that he wanted to encourage students to stay away from their screens, and their library would help to do this.

In a recent interview, he discussed phone addiction and its effect on students. “Children are born digital natives and currently get an iPad at around the age of two or three to entertain them,” he said.

Since the introduction of smartphones and social media, Mr O’Brien has noticed a decrease in students’ attention span. He believes this comes from watching 30-second reels on line, which increases dopamine levels and provides instant gratification.

He also referred to primary school principals noticing an increase in eye problems in junior school pupils, possibly from too much screen time.

Added to this, the country has just come through a very difficult period of time during the Covid pandemic, when many people very dependent on screens for work, education and entertainment.

The pupils at Coláiste Muire are not allowed phones in school. However, Mr O’Brien admitted that, even though he was very aware of phone addiction, he didn’t believe it was possible for parents to ban them all together, as phones are teenagers’ social diaries.

He stated that there should be a negotiated quarantine of screens in order to supplement it with reading and face-to-face conversations.

It was also very important for parents to lead by example and put away their own phones to read.

The principal said that “students would be more likely to read if the school facilitated putting books into their hands and our library will do this”.

Reading is known to reduce stress, provide mental stimulation, and improve vocabulary and memory. Once a student is good at reading, it will help them with all their subjects and aid access to the curriculum more easily.

Developing and fostering a love of reading enables each individual student to develop their own unique skills and knowledge.

The library in Coláiste Muire now has a variety of books, from young adult fiction to factual books, to cater for all different interests and all types of readers.

Ms Ellen O’Neill, one of the teachers leading the project, hopes to encourage students into the library by creating an inviting space.

In order to help with this, the school invested in getting a mural painted by local artist Caitlin O’Gorman. A nautical theme was chosen because of Cobh being a coastal town. It depicts an iceberg, which symbolises that people have a lot going on deep under the surface, a compass rose to represent that we need to find direction in life, and characters from many novels.

The scene is punctuated by inspirational sayings such as from Dr Zeus - “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go”.

When asked where he would like to see the school library this time next year, Mr OBrien said: “We have a core group of good readers. The uptake on borrowing books so far has been slow and steady, but by this time next year, I would be very happy if we had even half of our 700 pupils borrowing regularly from the library”.

In a time when screens dominate teenagers’ worlds, the revamp of school libraries is an important move forward and one certainly that Coláiste Muire in Cobh is very happy with.

They would particularly like to thank their Transition Year students, Isaac Devlin, Mia O’Neill, Philip Roe, Rossa Ryan Bovey, Alan Creevy, and Elsie Taft, who selflessly gave up their lunch times throughout the year to make this project happen.