The Library Team at Cabra Dominican College have been busy supporting staff and students during COVID-19. Here's what they have been up to.

Towards the end of term when we had fewer and fewer students, we remained open. We continued to encourage reading and allowed unlimited borrowing. We suspended all overdue notifications and changed the due back date to late May. Teachers were encourage to use our spaces for their classes as we have large open areas which are perfect for physical distancing. It goes without saying that it felt very strange to see so few students in the library.

The Library Team at the Cabra Dominican College Library Hub

We thanked our students for responding so positively, we had a record number of items being borrowed and it was wonderful to see many of them reading in our “quiet” library spaces. Students relished the opportunity for quiet reading time, this is not always possible in our normally very busy Library Hub.

During the next few weeks the librarians will work swiftly to process, cover and catalogue new books for further borrowing. We will prepare parcels that students can collect should they wish to. Our ACCESSIT library portal allows students to browse the catalogue and place items on reserve. They also have access to numerous databases for conducting and continuing their research and satisfying their curiosity. We have been able to add new databases and have taken advantage of the free trials on offer for eBooks and audio books. We want to give students access to the best resources and we want them to know that we are there for them.

If you would like to let us know what your school library is doing during COVID-19, you can let us know here.