17 May 2020
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Senator Tim Lombard began his political career as a Cork County Cllr and is now a Senator.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard is applauding the investment from the Department of Rural and Community Development which has enabled the provision of 5,000 additional eBooks and eAudiobooks.
Speaking of this allocation, the Cork Senator said: “I commend my colleague, Minister Michael Ring, for making this funding available. Necessary Covid-19 restrictions have seen a huge increase in demand for access to online eBooks and eAudiobooks.”
Senator Lombard continued: “Library services are hugely beneficial to our local communities and there has been a surge in online use in recent weeks – following the closure of the public libraries, over 7,300 people registered for the Borrowbox service which provides eBooks and Audiobooks to library members and downloads have significantly increased.
“To ensure that online library stocks could meet the increase in demand, Minister Ring approved €200,000 to provide an additional 5,000 eBooks and eAudiobooks to the online collection.
“Public libraries have also adapted to Covid-19 restrictions and removed the requirement for people to have to go to their library to join – this can now be done fully online, and people can have immediate access to the online services.
“It is great to see such initiatives during challenging times, to ensure our communities can continue to benefit from public amenities as much as possible during this period.”