Kilkenny Council Library Service will benefit from almost €20,000 in grant aid from the Dormant Accounts Fund, a fund designed to support programmes that enhance the development of economically or socially marginalised persons and those with disabilities. 

The announcement was made by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, and Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development and Charities, Joe O’Brien TD this week.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick welcomed this funding which will enhance and develop further the very worthwhile accessible services for all our citizens provided by the Library Services across the City and County.

Following the announcement, County Librarian, Josephine Coyne said: “This is a fantastic boost for us. We are always trying to improve our services and ensure they are accessible for everyone so this additional funding allows us to build further on the strong foundation of literacy and oral language programming that we have already in place“

Kilkenny Library Service are building on the success of previous projects to continue to further develop literacy and accessibility under the following three strands:

Digital: The addition of 18 C-Pens, designed for persons with dyslexia, visual impairment and English language learners. These digital highlighters feature text-to-speech technology which turns any scanned text to audio, and can translate and read text out loud in 40 different languages.

 Literacy: Specific literacy and oral language needs have been highlighted through our Right to Read Network in Kilkenny and this funding allows us to further develop literacy supports, building on our successful OWL (Oral Words Language) project completed in 2021. This multi-strand programme will include workshops and talks on literacy difficulties and will include strategies, tips and guides for parents, teachers, SNAs and families.

Licences: We will pilot a limited number of Touch Type Read Spell (TTRS) Licences. TTRS is a multi-sensory course that teaches touch-typing, reading and spelling.  The combination of sensory elements, seeing the words, typing and hearing the text helps retention.