You are here: Home Page > Membership > Call for Participation

Call for Member Participation

[from the Annual Report 2000]

from Pat McMahon, President of the Library Association of Ireland, February 2001:

The Library Association of Ireland is the professional body in Ireland for those engaged in librarianship and information management.

Established in 1928, its first stated objective was to promote the welfare of libraries in Ireland.

Over a period of 70 years the Association has won national respect and recognition. It has worked closely with various government departments on questions of concern to libraries and it is a nominating body for elections to Seanad Eireann.

Today the Association strives to be a vibrant, vital, professional voice for those engaged in Librarianship and Information management.

The Library Association of Ireland needs new people to become involved in the affairs of the Association. There are many calls from members of this Association to respond or to take a position on many important issues facing the library service today. Our Association needs more people coming forward who will be active in addressing the demands whuch are coming from the membership.

It is easy to call for action to be taken, and, as President, I have heard many such calls in the past two years, but not enough people are coming forward who are willing and able to make things happen.

I am asking every member of the Association to give serious consideration to this matter. We need a strong group of officers, and a strong executive board, to deal with important issues such as the Information Society, reading and literacy, and the wider role of all libraries in today's society.

We need people to become involved in assisting with our publications, meetings, continuing education programmes and conferences.

The strength of every Association lies in its members, and to give strength to the Library Association of Ireland we need the help and co-operation of every librarian, not, let us stress, for what they may receive from the Association, but for what they can give.

The Library Association of Ireland must speak for all librarians and for all libraries. To quote from an editorial in An leabharlann in 1953,

"sectional interests, futile and cross-purpose debates serve us ill, and tend to obscure the greater national and cultural interests of our Association. Our appeal, therefore, should be for greater unity among ourselves so that we may present the broad issues of our problems clearly and unequivocally".

Pat McMahon
President
Library Association of Ireland
February 2001.