Following her retirement as a librarian with Castletownbere Library, Dorothy Brophy is looking forward to having more time to read for herself.
Originally from Dublin, Dorothy trained as a school teacher, relocating to the Beara Peninsula, her mother’s homeplace, where she reared her family.
After initially spending some time working in hospitality and community development, she began work as a librarian in Castletownbere Library, the most westerly library in Cork, serving the entire Beara Peninsula, and where she remained for 28 years.
Family and friends gathered to wish Dorothy a happy retirement – front, from left: Maisie Leitão, Dorothy Brophy, Matthew Leitão, Hanna O’Sullivan and Mary Lynch. Back: Joanne O’Shea, Sandra O’Shea, Deirdre Harrington, Aaron Hennessy, Andrea Lotty, Maria Lynch, Noreen O’Shea, Mark O ‘Sullivan, Maeve Creedon, Bruno Leitão and Deloras Murphy. (Photo: Anne Marie Cronin)
It has always been a varied role says Dorothy, and one she has thoroughly enjoyed.
‘Castletownbere is a very busy library, and because it’s located in a major fishing port you never know who will come through the door. I recently had a man from the Philippines who was applying for Irish citizenship and needed to upload his passport online. Another day, three men from Peru came in, one needed to send his fingerprints back home and needed assistance, I realised I had still had a stamp and ink pad from when we used to stamp books, so I was able to do it for him.’
Dorothy says it was always a pleasure to source reading material for customers to match their needs at any given time.
‘I think of many people who were unwell or dealing with grief who needed something engaging but light in content to distract them from their sadness or difficulty. There were also students who needed material for academic projects.’
The library is a focal point in the town for locals, but also for visitors seeking local information, and families tracing ancestors said Dorothy.
‘The library is more than just books, it’s an information point, a tourist centre, and an advice point. People come in looking for local information, to print or scan documents, and genealogy is also very popular. During the pandemic, although the library building was closed to the public I was still working, but it gave me time to deal with lots of genealogy queries.’
The library also played a key role in supporting the community during lockdown, explains Dorothy.
‘We had a system where we could deliver boxes of books to people around the peninsula, while observing all Covid protocols, and the local link buses were a huge help with this.’
While she has no definite plans for retirement, Dorothy says will have plenty to keep her busy.
‘I’m working on a genealogy project with the Allihies Copper Mine Museum, my garden is screaming for attention, and I’m looking forward to having more time to read.’
