‘Pages and Pages’ Library

The idea of a school library was first mooted by Michael Waters at a staff meeting, one of the first teachers in the school in the early 1970s. At the time, in the mid 1990’s, there was only one public library in Galway and that was the city branch. Mr. Water’s aim was to foster a love of reading among our pupils, especially those who didn’t have easy access to reading materials at home.
 
Whilst space at the time was at a premium, our caretaker Sean Farrell kindly agreed to give up his little storeroom located next door to the staffroom and Carmel Connolly was instrumental in getting our school library up and running. The storeroom was about 3 square metres and the Pages and Pages library was born. The year was 1998. A competition was run for the children to come up with a name and logo for the library. Beth Fox, a student in 6th class at the time, came up with the name and designed the logo as we still know it today; an array of books with the Scoil Chaitríona crest on the spines. President Michael D Higgins, who was Mayor of Galway at the time, launched the library for us at a ribbon cutting ceremony.
 
At the time we pooled much of our class libraries and got great help from the School’s Library Service, who provided us with a range of books. We fundraised through an annual sponsored reading drive called the ‘Bookblitz’ and AnneMarie Griffin has always helped with new book additions through the annual Book Fair. Due to the hard work and dedication of the teaching staff, the numbers of books within our school library has exploded. 
 
The library has continued to grow and expand since it’s inception and opening in 1998 and has always played an important role in the school. It is a wonderful space where children can read for pleasure; whether it is unearthing some amazing science facts to allowing their imagination run free with a Roald Dahl book. Within our school library, the choice and possibility is endless. There is no doubt that our ‘Pages and Pages’ library has fostered a love of reading amongst the pupils’ of Scoil Chaitríona, very much achieving the vision of Mr. Waters back in the mid 1990s.