The library service in Sligo town celebrates one hundred years and looks to the future.
Sligo became one of the first towns in Ireland to offer a book borrowing service from its town hall in 1880. One hundred years later, the library is now located in what was once a Protestant church.
It has strong literary and artistic traditions.
The library has a strong connection with artistic and literary greats from the Sligo area, the most famous of which is the Yeats family. The library is home to paintings by Jack B Yeats and other Sligo artists. The current Sligo County Librarian is John McTiernan who has also published a book on famous Sligo personalities. The very first Sligo librarian Robert Noble Denison (RND) Wilson was a poet and friend of WB Yeats.
Another former librarian Jack Lambert was father Eugene Lambert founder of the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Dublin.
Writer Frank O'Connor was also a member of the Sligo library staff for a time.
The library has recently opened a children’s books section which is proving to be very popular and bodes well for the future of the library into the next century.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 18 December 1980. The reporter is Tommie Gorman.
