Dublin is Awesome #1: Dublin City Libraries

First of all, I want to tell you a short story of how my Dublin is awesome idea started. A couple of months ago I was working on my master’s thesis here in Dublin, and because it is a Croatian thesis for a Croatian university, I was very limited with literature as everything I needed was actually in Croatia. However, I gave it a shot with Dublin City Public Libraries as their online catalog was promising.

Where did the Dublin is awesome idea come from?

When I was posting about my very positive experience on Facebook, I named it “Fact #256 of ‘Dublin is amazing’ series” and realized that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to actually have that kind of blog/Facebook/Twitter posts series. I renamed it a bit and decided it will start from #1, and the reasons will be ranked in no particular order or importance. I also want to hear from other Dublin fans and get every single reason of Dublin’s awesomeness out there, so make sure to leave a comment here, or else mention me on Twitter and use #DublinIsAwesome hashtag!

How I fell in love with Dublin’s libraries…

So back to my first story about Dublin. As I said, I decided to give it a try with Dublin City Public Libraries, and had one positive surprise after another. I registered in ILAC branch in city center, which is when I realized that the admission and membership are free of charge. Someone might laugh at me for being surprised, but I have been a member of a few libraries in a few countries and I have had to pay for each one of them.

Furthermore, Dublin Libraries have so many good things happening. Things like online catalog are something most of us are used to already, but what about language learning, multicultural services, events, mobile library and so much more other good stuff?

Upon my registration, the lovely lady that assisted me explained all of it to me and I literally had to force myself not to ask ‘How is all of it possible (and free)?‘!

…and Ballyfermot

And because I needed more books that were in other branches, I then went to Ballyfermot branch. This was my first ever time in this part of the city. And then I saw the beauty of the inside of Ballyfermot library. I was literally looking at this very wall when I thought to myself that ‘Dublin is awesome’ (also, I fell in love with Ballyfermot that day!).

So if you are in Dublin, I highly encourage you to visit any of Dublin’s public libraries, have a chat with their friendly staff, read all the quotes from their walls, explore how amazingly stocked their bookshelves are and visit their events. Also, they are quite active on Facebook and Twitter, so make sure you check it out. You won’t regret it!