Local Faces: Geraldine O’Meara

SINCE her mother would take her to the local library in Tullamore on the weekends as a child, Geraldine O’Meara knew that being a librarian was her calling.

Now the senior executive librarian at the new state-of-the-art Castletymon Library in Tallaght, Geraldine says she cannot wait to meet members of the community and welcome them all to the new facility.

“I have been brought to the library as far back as I can remember,” says Geraldine.

“My mam used to bring me – even though she was working full time and had her own business she always made time to come down in the evenings and I got my first library job there at 19 and I had a complete passion and love for it from the start.”

From her first experience working in the library in Tullamore, Geraldine says she knew she had a passion and love for it and went on to study to become a librarian.

Geraldine O’Meara

“Unfortunately, I graduated during the recession, so it was quite a hard time to get a job because they weren’t recruiting so I actually ended up being an intern for nine months at Tullamore library when they were opening their new library and now here I am ten years later opening my own new library – it’s brilliant.

“Every day is different. I just love meeting people and you never know who you are going to meet or who is going to come through the door.

“You get to promote culture and heritage and you get paid for dressing up like a princess and doing story times for children,” Geraldine jokes.

Speaking about the qualities a librarian needs to possess, Geraldine says there can be quite a misconception and stereotyping when it comes to the role of a librarian.

“People think we just sit there and read and we are very quiet and it’s not like that at all. You need to be a people person and have good listening and communication skills,” she explained.

“A good sense of fun and a sense of light-heartedness always helps as well, because you are dealing with people and sometimes people come in telling you their life story and you are trying to find books for them and to help them.”

After a stint in London working in libraries for three years, Geraldine returned to Ireland where she worked in Naas Library in Kildare library and South Dublin Library in Tallaght.

“Working in the library in Tallaght was brilliant – it is a big branch, very busy and would be used a lot for technology such as wi-fi, computers and printing. We had a huge number of events before Covid – we used to have three events a day sometimes.

“Everyday was different and it was a load of fun and a little bit chaotic – organised chaos,” Geraldine explains.

Geraldine sas she gets to meet nice peope and talk about books all day

After taking some time out during covid-19 restrictions to have her now 16-month-old baby boy, Geraldine has recently taken up the position of senior executive librarian at the new Castletymon Library, which opened its doors to the public on September 1.

“It’s so exciting opening a new library. It has been brilliant being there from the start getting all the books in and the staff. We got to do it all together as a team from the start and we were talking to people going by to see what it was that they wanted from the library.”

The opening of the library has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the local community.

“A lot of people would come into the library in Tallaght when I worked there and asked when Castletymon would be opening – they are very loyal followers. We have also had a lot of new people joining which is great and the next generation of readers are coming in.

“It is a vibrant, busy place and it is full of fun and learning and it is a great positive place to work and I would recommend it to everyone to come in.”

With the planned lifting of restrictions during the coming months, the library hopes to introduce in person activities such as coffee mornings, arts and crafts, story times, homework clubs and computer courses when government guidelines allow them to do so.

“At the minute it is only outdoor – we have a small little garden, and we can hold small events with people spaced out. It is dependent on the weather and coming into winter it won’t be easy to hold those so hopefully in October we can have indoor events going on.

“We have had a huge amount of people come in – parents with their children and elderly people as well as teenagers who are the hardest group to get in looking for wi-fi and study spaces.

“It is just a lovely job – you get to meet nice people and talk about books all day – what is there not to love about it.”