Moville Library
By Gerard Duddy Moville Librarian

The first Donegal County Council Branch Library to be established in Moville was in October 1951. Fr. Dan McLaughlin PP. (formally of Malin, Inishowen) 'offered' St. Eugene's Hall to the Council as a possible building for the library to be housed. It is believed this offer was 'kept open' until the Council got its own library premises! St. Eugene's Hall, built in 1879 is a large building located at the corner of Montgomery Terrace and St. James Street overlooking Lough Foyle.

In October 1951, local resident, Eileen McGeehan (formally of St. James Street) became the first Branch Librarian for Moville, and she remained there until she was located to the County Library headquarters in Lifford on the 6th May 1960. Eileen's move to Lifford lasted nearly four years. During this period the County Librarian was Paddy White.

During those days it was normal practice when a post or vacancy became available that another family member would have 'the opportunity' to fill it. This was the case with the relocation of Eileen to Lifford. Eileen's sister, Rose, (currently resident in the townland of Ballybrack, Moville) became the next branch librarian for Moville, and served from May 1960 until April 1994, completing thirty-four years of service. For the record, during this period of service the library was only closed once in its work schedule!

The opening hours over the years consisted of six hours per week with a combination of opening days being Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The readership was around 100 + readers, coming from the greater Moville Parish and included areas stretching from Stroove, Quigley's Point to more inland locations such as the townland of Ballymagarathy. The membership/readership of the library was made up mostly of adults, particularly housewives with a small percentage of children borrowers. Few farmers used the library. Occupational groups such as professionals and 'artisans' dominated the readership. According to Rose, the male members would have reading orientation towards cowboy crime and mystery stories while women generally would read more romantic fiction. But it was the housewives who read the most frequent. The library stock consisted of some 2,.000 books. As typical with all branch libraries of this period, crime, westerns, romance and adult fiction filled the shelves. As for the library's issuing or discharging system.' this was a manual one, based on a variation of the tired and tested Browne or Book Issue Card (BIC) system. Compared to the use of information technology this system/procedure was cumbersome and labour intensive, particularly as libraries became busier! The greatest fear of the Librarian was the possibility that the tightly packed rows of issuing trays that housed all the membership cards/reader's tickets would spill and fall onto the floor.

As mentioned early, the building that the library was housed in for over fifty years was St. Eugene's Hall. During this period many other community groups ranging from the G.A.A. to the I.C.A. shared this room. This meant that after library hours all library stock had to be put away and secured within large purposely build cabinets. Members of the Circuit Court staff and Donegal County Council Tax/Revenue officer also used the room. In later years, like so many other libraries housed in old buildings, the actual room had become cold and musty and in need of extensive refurbishment. During Eileen and Rose's occupation of the room an old paraffin heater would have been used and occasionally the Stanley Range would have been lit.

After Rose retired in 1994, the library was closed for a short period of several months. By the end of 1994, Carmel Barron was employed as the 3rd Branch Librarian. Carmel served Moville readers until 1999 when she was relocated to the new Buncrana Community Library, which was formally opened in 2000. Currently, Carmel is a Senior Library Assistant in the recently opened Carndonagh Community Library. In September 2000, Gerard Duddy was appointed as Branch Librarian and remains in post to this day.

Telephone No. 074 9385110
Email: movillelib@donegalcoco.ie

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