What a difference a day makes: Rosemary Gaynor on how books changed her life

As a 19-year-old secretarial student, Rosemary Gaynor couldn’t have imagined her work experience would bring her to the exact right place for her — her local Granard Library, where 41 years later she is senior library assistant. She tells Helen O’Callaghan about the central role this place of books has played in her life.

Rosmeary Gaynor, a librarian in Granard Library, is encouraging people to get lost in a good book this February as part of Ireland Reads, the national campaign led by Libraries Ireland.

I was 19, in secretarial college up at the vocational school. One day in October, Ann Donohue, who was in charge, said: “Rosemary, you’re heading for your work experience to the library downtown.”

The day came, my father dropped me at the door. I remember him saying, ‘Go in there now and do your best and don’t be slacking’.

I was a shy, happy-go-lucky girl. My dream was to be an air hostess but behind it all, I was very much a homebird.

Living out the country, we weren’t big library-goers. I’d taken books out for school projects and used the encyclopaedias. I did like reading. I still do. I love Patricia Scanlan and Freida McFadden.

But when I was a child, my uncle Tommy, who lived a good two-hour drive away, visited every few months — he’d always bring books for me and my brothers, for Christmas or birthdays.

The first time I loved a book was Walter Macken’s Flight of the Doves, where two children ran from an abusive stepfather in England to their grandmother in Ireland. I was 12 and I loved that book — it was something: to think two children could actually take a chance on such a trip.

But going into the library that day, I was nervous, hoping I’d get along. The branch librarian and senior library assistant made me very welcome. They put me cataloguing, fixing books on shelves, learning the categories for adults and children, so I’d be able to help when someone came in the door.

They showed me, trusted me, gave me a chance…

I remember when the boxes of new books would land in — I could spend the day looking at them, touching them, rather than shelving them…

It’s 41 years ago now, I got a job there. What I love… fixing the books in their right places, having everything in order so when people come in, or the phone rings, I’m able to just walk over, pick out that book they want.

Sometimes the place can be a mess, books everywhere and anywhere. That’s alright — we’ve been busy, it’s like home, it looks lived in.

It’s like Christmas getting in new books. The boot of my car is full of them at the moment. If I see someone on TV — Jamie Oliver, Neven Maguire — I put in an order, and next day that book is here, in my hands!

And I know people who’ll be excited about the new cookery book or knitting book or autobiography.

We put new books in the window… maybe there’s a new autobiography of a footballer and I’ll know someone — a woman who goes walking in the evenings, her route takes her past the library, and her husband doesn’t read much but he loves sports autobiographies. Next morning I’ll get a text from her: ‘You’ve a book in the window… will you keep it for me?’ I love that.

I love when children come to play Lego — and teachers taking out blocks of novels for two months for their classrooms. And the woman in her 80s who comes in for a chat and her Mills & Boon, and the 90-year-old who gets his photocopying done.

We’ve had authors in — I’m looking at their books on the shelves and all of a sudden I’m putting the kettle on to make them a cup of tea! Like Donal Ryan, who said it was lovely to be in Granard Library. To hear him say that and he standing in front of me!

And the late and wonderful Manchán Magan. I was to get his book signed for my aunt and I forgot! I got his email address, told him my story — he emailed back, said to call to him, he told me where he lived. And I did on a Monday morning.

He just gave me his time. He told me to sit down and we chatted.

The library can be a sanctuary. I remember one lady bursting into tears. She’d buried her mother the week before. It was her first day out since it happened. She’d meant to go to the supermarket but couldn’t – instead she thought ‘I’ll go to the library’.

We’ve a new chair for breastfeeding. If a woman wants to breastfeed, she can come in, and there it is – her little corner ready for her.

I love it when someone comes in off the street for a chat. If I’ve been off sick, they’ll come in and ask how I am. People waiting for the bus outside the door, if it’s raining or cold, we’d say come in.

I could have ended up in the civil service or worked in a shop. Who knows? From the first day I came here, it all rolled into one.

Ann Donohue, who sent me here, said once: ‘I just knew you were heading to the right place — the library was for you.’

If I met her now, I’d say, ‘Thank you — you got that right, definitely.’

• Ireland Reads — a national campaign inspiring people to get lost in a good book — is led by Libraries Ireland and culminates tomorrow in a nationwide celebration of reading. It encourages readers to explore recommendations from their local library. For more on special events taking place, visit irelandreads.ie
• Granard Booktown Festival, April 17-19, will be launched tomorrow in Granard Library