In 1998 St. Mary’s College Library opened its current facility having previously utilised a mobile Library system as many of our past pupils may recall.
In 1997 The Past Presidents of the PPU raised funds and helped the school set about establishing the Library as a bright welcoming and well resourced room and from a small mobile Library it has grown into a favourite place with students and staff alike. The parents of the students in the school in the following years joined with me and attended many fund raising evenings to stock the Library with up to date resources and furnishings. We were in fact one of the first schools in Ireland to have a digital catalogue.
Now in 2021 we have a catalogue of over ten thousand books and resources and a circulation of between ten and twelve thousand books per year. Both Junior and Senior school students use the Library for classes every week. We run end of term Quizzes and Spelling Bee Competitions and have a Reader of the Month from each class every month. We then go on to take part in The Inter School Quizzes Competition with other Senior Schools from Leinster and St. Mary’s hosted the Quiz for all schools in 2014 after winning it ourselves in 2013.
Students of all reading abilities are catered for and book suggestions are always welcome, I find most students are only too happy to ask for their favourite authors new release and we are only too happy to oblige as long as its age appropriate.
We take great pride in the fact that so many of our students have enjoyed many happy school days in the Library and we are committed to keeping it a current and modern resource within our school.
Suggested Reading