The Curious Case of the Mayo Librarian by Pat Walsh Read Free Book Online Page B

county book repository and generally to advise and help towards development of the scheme by promotion of lectures and such other duties as may from time to time be assigned by the committee.
    5. Essential qualifications: – (a) Good general education, (b) Training in or experience of library work. A diploma in library training and practical experience in office organisation are desirable qualifications.
    6. A substantial preference will be given to qualified candidates with a competent knowledge of Irish. If no qualified candidate with a competent knowledge of Irish be available the successful candidate will be required to comply with the terms of the Local Offices and Employments (Gaeltacht) Order, 1928.
    7. Preference will be given to those who have had experience in the organisation and management of public libraries.
    8. The person appointed will be required to enter into a fidelity guarantee bond of £200 as security for the proper discharge of the duties of the post.
    9. In the event of a female officer being appointed resignation on marriage will be compulsory. 7
    The ninth condition is the infamous ‘marriage bar’ which survived in Ireland up to the 1970s. It goes without saying that this ultra discriminatory policy would be illegal modern Ireland.
‘Women who love it more than marriage’
    Librarianship was one profession in which it was socially acceptable for women to show an interest. In the 1935 report on public library provision in the Irish Free State, of the twenty-four county librarians listed, half were female. In an interview with Maura Laverty in 1930, headlined ‘Taking Charge of a Library – Women Who Love it More than Marriage’, Roísín Walsh, Dublin city’s librarian, explained, ‘Almost without exception the women who dedicate themselves to library work grow to love it so much that they can rarely forsake it – even for the attraction of married life. Seriously though, I have yet to meet the woman librarian who does not find her work utterly fascinating and engrossing.’ 8 In the same article Maura Laverty made the claim that Roísín Walsh, city librarian-elect of Dublin, was the first woman in Europe to attain such a position.
    There were ways around the marriage bar. In 1936 Kathleen White resigned from her post as county librarian of Leitrim in order to get married and was replaced by Vera Carey. Four years later Vera Carey herself was about to be married and submitted her resignation as required. Her brother happened to be a solicitor and like all good solicitors he found a loophole in the legislation. While she was required to resign upon marrying there was no impediment to her being re-employed. Having discovered that there was no bar on it Vera McCarthy, as she was by then known, promptly re-applied for her old job and was re-appointed. 9
    There was a good deal of conflict at this turn of events in Leitrim. ‘At national level, there was the embarrassment that a loophole in the legislation had been discovered and a flurry of activity to stop this happening again.’ At a local level there was yet another heated debate as there was support for an alternative, local candidate. 10 Libraries and controversy seemed to go hand-in-hand when it came to Leitrim in the 1920s and 1930s.
    The headings under which the interview board assigned their marks were as follows:
    â€“ General Education
    â€“ Professional Qualifications
    â€“ Practical Library Experience
    â€“ Special Experience
    â€“ Personality
    â€“ Irish
    Irish was marked separately to the other categories, with either a pass or a fail grade being assigned. The category ‘Special Experience’ covered such areas as familiarity with the county library service, knowledge of rural Ireland and also of office organisation.
    The following is a comparison of the marks received by Miss Dunbar Harrison and Miss Burke:
Miss Dunbar Harrison
Miss Burke
General Education