Multicultural Books at Dublin City Libraries

31 May 2011

At a recent event we held in the Dublin City Central Library we were impressed with the multicultural collections they stock and multicultural services they offer.

Dublin City Public Libraries hold an good range of children's picture books in a variety of languages and in dual language format.

If you need a children's book title about a particular culture or in a particular language, you can use the advanced search on the library catalogue. To search for a book on a particular culture or language, first select 'keyword' from the dropdown menu, then enter the culture or language into the accompanying text box. In Advanced Options remember to limit your search to 'Junior only'. You can also limit your search by media e.g. Picture Book.

For example you can search for dual language children's books using the keywords 'parallel text'. This search can be limited further by language using the 'Language' drop down menu, e.g. dual language books in French, dual language books in Spanish.

Don't live in Dublin City?  Your local public library may be able to help. Alternatively library books can be borrowed on inter-library loan from borrowbooks.ie. Here, you can search the online catalogues and websites of Irish public libraries, and request books, CDs, DVDs etc. via inter-library loan.