What’s happening in the Phibsboro Public Library? 

The Phibsboro Public Library has been a community staple for nearly 90 years.  

It is well known and loved by locals for its historical features and cosy interior.  

The library offers a large collection of books to the community and also holds events, talks, and clubs for people of all ages.  

“Every second Tuesday of the month, we do a toddler story time, so we bring out sensory toys and bean bags, and we sing some songs and read stories,” says Terry Parkes, who has been working at the Phibsboro Library since last July. “That’s always really popular, and we get a great turn out.

“We like to work with the schools in the area, so we invite the classes along and give them a talk about the library and tell them how everything works. We try and do it as often as we can.”

Resident historian Elizabeth Kehoe recently gave a talk in the library. She is conducting an oral history on people, particularly women, in the area.  

The area she works in spans from the Phoenix Park to East Wall, she talked about five women from those areas who had a story to tell.  

These women contributed to their communities by setting up women’s groups, helping with the Five Lamps Festival and much more. Their stories are being collected to go into the archives. 

“In autumn, we have the Dublin Festival of History. Last year, Elizabeth gave a couple of talks about local history, and we hope to have the same this year,” Parkes tells The Liberty.

“Our next big event with Elizabeth will be about the Bob Marley concert that took place in Dalymount Park in 1980, as the 45th anniversary of that is coming up. She is currently researching that, so hopefully, it will be happening in July.

“We work with Phizz Fest, and we’re going to have several events over that weekend, which is the 9th and 10th of May. The Phibsboro Tidy Towns are celebrating their 10th anniversary, so we will have some events on for that as well,” Parkes says.  

“Elizabeth Kehoe has also started a book club that focuses on fiction and non-fiction history books – we have had a good turnout so far, and hopefully, we get a few more to come along.

“There is definitely a lot of community interest, we use social media, the library newsletter and the notice board in the Botanic Gardens to advertise the events. We have a limited capacity because of the size of the library but we average about 25 people for the adult events, which is great.”