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HEROIN IS THE number one drug for emergency department admissions in Europe, new research has shown.
Out of the 10,956 presentations looked at in the study, 24% of those presenting were doing so in connection with heroin or opioid use.
At various facilities across the continent three quarters of those presenting were male, with the majority aged 20 to 39.
The research has been conducted by the EU drugs agency the EMCDDA, with the purpose of painting a clearer picture of what kinds of substances are leaving people in hospital.
It was also found that the use of legal highs and research chemicals grew over the period the two-year study was carried out, rising from 6% of admissions in year one to 8% in year two.
What’s the situation in Ireland?
In Ireland, emergency departments in Drogheda and Dublin were included in the study.
Dublin saw more than 1,000 drug related admissions during the two years that were included in the survey, while Drogheda saw 49.
The geographical availability of drugs played a role in the types of drugs users presented at hospital for.
For example, around a fifth of people presenting in London, Oslo and Barcelona were for psychoactive chemical GHB/GBL, while the same drug accounted for less than 2% of all admissions to facilities in Ireland.
Ireland was also found to have a large proportion of legal high users.
What else did the study find?
Following heroin, cocaine- and cannabis-related presentations were the most common.
Alcohol and prescription medicines were common factors in drug admissions, with benzodiazepines and opioids commonly involved.
Across Europe drug users were also found to cause problems on arrival at emergency departments, with 26% of those presenting showing signs of agitation and aggression.
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Let me say first that I am not a librarian! However I do believe that our library services are hugely valuable – for many they act as something like a community centre and librarians are an absolute mine of information – they provide a supportive environment for students – it would not be the same without the knowledgable and helpful librarians in my opinion – we should think before we give up such a brilliant service as we will never get it back… and also we would be allowing the Government to put more people on the dole…
The E book and kindle have killed the library
No they haven’t! A library does a lot more than loan out books these days…
Is that why visits and items loaned have increased in the years that ebooks have taken off?
libraries are not a thing of the past. some people, including me, still prefer real paper books.
Think this article and poll is slightly misleading, as far as I know the self-service would only take place outside of the library’s normal opening hours an wouldn’t be used during the day to replace staff: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/self-service-libraries-to-allow-night-time-checkouts-1.1640032
Libraries need to modernise and diversify; coffee shops should be integrated into them and dedicated study rooms. Increasing numbers of college students can’t afford to move out of home this lack the private space and proximity to college libraries means there is a need for local study areas. Better broadband is also a must; potential to create a link to 2nd & 3rd level lan should be explored.
The unattended library could only work with sufficient footfall but librarians are still needed for advice and their expertise.
Our local library has had self service borrowing and returning since it opened 5 yrs ago. It’s grand but it’s not designed for the borrower, the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of librarians so reducing the cost, same as lodgement machines in banks, ultimately it’s putting people out of a job. If the librarians are ok with it then that’s fine (excuse the awful pun).
Good idea, DaVe.
Libraries are information centres, and in the age of quick access to all information, they are information curation centres. They are also a focus for learning and culture. The way to increase usage is to increase opening hours (they’ve been consistently reduced in Ireland since the 80s) and to advertise. Tell people what they do and that they’re free.
Aren’t the book worm bridge very aggressive, if you don’t share their views. #letsburnbooks
Shush John.
Books are dead? My local Waterstones should call Rick from The Walking Dead as they must have had a zombie infestation before Christmas.
Lucan library has self-service kiosks that operate during normal opening hours.
Well said, Niamh, thank you. My husband is a librarian who lost his job through the government embargo & there are countless more unemployed librarians like him. Nowadays libraries are totally stretched with librarians not being replaced and some county councils are having to resort to staffing their libraries through the jobbridge scheme. Communities need libraries, they are a gateway for people from every walk of life. Technology is wonderful and these machines work well in Denmark but in tandem with computers we need maintain & increase face to face time with people, librarians/library assistants etc
Nicola and Niamh you are so right! I was a jobbridge intern in a library undergoing a move to self service check outs.
How I wish I had been able to stay on! Librarians struggle SO hard to put on activities and events for the community and to keep themselves relevent, but it is nearly impossible with their chronic understaffing.
Be nice to your remaining librarians people!! They have a tough job and the vast majority of them do it with a smile of their face and a helping hand for anyone who needs it!
In our local library you do check out and return the books yourself! There are staff there though if you need help!
Our library in Gorey has this facility, and it’s absolutely wonderful. Staff still there to facilitate the many who need queries answered, manage the Internet facilities and be otherwise helpful. However the self-serve systems are user-friendly, efficient and certainly help the flow through the library.
I worked in a library for 9 months. For 6 of those months I was dealing with the introduction of RFID machines which allowed users to check in and out their own books. I would imagine it was the same/similar system to which previous commenters have mentioned.
We found the system to be by and large a failure. The software has not yet reached a point where it is capable of replacing a staff member, although I’m sure in the next ten years it will have reached this level of efficiency.
What is really needed to keep libraries up and running, is to increase the funds allocated to them, and for the government to lift the public sector recruitment ban so that some of these horribly understaffed places can run the events communities have grown so used to.
Self check in/out machines cannot run arts and crafts afternoons, active retirement groups, storytimes, book clubs, pop-up coffee mornings, or mother & baby groups. However a satisfactorily paid, enthusiastic, and competent librarian can do all these things and more!
I’ve no doubt that this type of system can work well *with* staff in order to take pressure off the circulation desk at busy times. But it really is no substitute for an employee.
the whole idea in Denmark and other countries where this is in place is to make libraries available outside of the working hours of staff i.e evenings and extended weekend hours. it won’t reduce the number of hours staff are available but increase the hours that people can use the library for things that don’t require staff like borrowing and returning books and using the internet. staff will still be available during the day for the more complex queries to do with archives and research and literacy support. most libraries open on an evening or maybe two but now they could open every evening. pilot it and see what happens but not just in Dublin try some country libraries too.
I’d love to see it happen but Irish people just don’t have the same level of respect.
I saw public book exchanges in Germany during the summer, basically a covered book shelf where anyone can leave and pickup books for free, such a thing would be wrecked within hours over here :(
I think we are quick to be cynical when it comes to something like this. If I recall, people thought the Dublin Bike Scheme wouldn’t last five minutes without being set alight and tossed in the river (…I may be exaggerating). Do libraries really attract the kind of people who would engage in destructive behaviour already; or do you think people of an anti-social nature would go out of their way to join a library just to damage books?
Books are like kryptonite to social deviants! I think they’d be safe enough.
I think it should be trialed to see how it would work but I do have some doubts about this.
While I am thrilled that the Dublin Bike scheme has been such a success we’re not strictly comparing like with like. One of the things about Dublin Bike is that you can trace a bike back to the card that released it and therefore the person who released the bike will be charged for damage or loss. Also the bikes are in full public view so it’s not as easy to vandalise them.
Neither of those factors could really apply to libraries or books. There would be a higher level of trust required that people won’t engage in anti-social behaviour inside the library and that they will check out books that they are taking.
Some libraries already have self-service posts in them. Tallaght library, to name one.
Bet there’s very few books in the Tallaght library!
Yes, there is. A huge selection. It’s one of the most modern, largest libraries in the country.
The main Tallaght library is a very large library. With amazing facilities with everthing from book,DVD, free internet access/computer access, painting Loan,children section with live entertainment for them. If they dont have what you need/want they try to get it for you. The other Libraries in tallaght are non to shabby either. And all are extremely well used.
Fingal County Council have implemented self service stations in some of their libraries too, Blanchardstown for example, which is Ireland’s largest public library. It’s working very well and frees up staff to do other work like running education programmes, adult literacy training and baby book clubs. They do amazing work in there. (I’m not a librarian either!)
you do know the real aim of this is to fire and not replace staff and it makes the library unacessible to older people and younger who are so put off by another machine they won’t bother ..these machines cause in the end job losses and loss of library MEMBERS
A library needs librarians, they have a huge wealth of knowledge of the books and the people they care for. This proposal demonstrates how out of touch this government is with what actually happens on the ground in communities.
Libraries act not only as a place for books, they are a sanctuary for a lot of people who not only love books but love people, they help reduce people’s feelings of isolation and help people feel part of life.
The point is missed, Denmark has a very good social care system where vulnerable people are actually cared for and valued. They don’t need libraries to buffer the social care system.
Until this is sorted out leave libraries alone to continue their valuable work.
That’s Bs ,most libraries are way over staffed and most of them are in the canteen all day doing f##k all,the usual public service wasters.It will never happen not when the government are running the show,too much of a good idea for them to use.
You must work as a librarian, executioner, if you can see into the canteens and know what they’re doing all day.
I worked in Dublin Libraries for 7 years. We had 30 mins or 45 mins for lunch, and were allowed a tea break in the mornings and afternoons. Everyone there hated idle time. We wanted to be busy and were happiest when there was a crowd in. We ran writers groups, kids art groups, chess clubs, did storytelling etc. We filled in firms for people, helped with literacy, helped with school and university course projects. For some people we were the only people they spoke to all day. For some we were a babysitting service, or social workers. We were very busy, and books were a small part of that.
Sue this is not a proposal by government, it’s a poll on The Journal. Nowhere is govt even mentioned in the article.
Ooops!!! In fact I did mean to correct that bit but forgot as I got caught up doing other things! So apologies to the overpaid unaccountable politicians! :-)
hear hear!!
This is another cost saving initiative.
Pointless exercise.
These libraries are a vital conduit to those without resources to an education.
A librarian is essential to the service.
They can guide children and adults who have difficulties.
They are a contact point to the public.
Denis, they’re not suggesting that libraries will become unmanned. The idea is that the general public will be able to do the simple, repetitive, time-consuming and unskilled task of checking books in and out for themselves. These automated stations also look after the charging and payment of fines which is easier, more secure and less embarrassing! Library staff as a result are more available to develop and run educational programmes and provide they public with help and knowledgeable guidance. In my experience of a library which already uses this technology, it’s a very good thing.
I see. Well not a bad idea for the adult library. I am familiar with this from college.
However this would be the thin end of a wedge to downgrade services.
I believe that the current system can be improved and I encourage my own family to use it.
But I am wary of any reduction of services.
There will be no reduction in service. In fact this will enable an increase in services. Can I respectfully suggest that you call your local authority head librarian and ask them what they think of this. I’m pretty sure they’ll tell you that this is a good thing.
Goodness me Clodagh of course this will lead to staff being cut and not replaced this is its primary objective just as the self service till at tesco means staff will be made redundant, libraries are in the thrall to budgets so how can they justify same numbers of stafff when a machine does their job(which it doesn’t) of course the stafff will be cut!!At the moment they are not being replaced and most positions are part time and staff being moved constantly..
There are self-checkout lines in the Tesco. This is because you get a tax credit for purchasing a robot that takes away a job from a real worker and their family. You also don’t have to pay a robot, once purchased.
So it will be for the librarians. Slowly, they will be replaced by machines, and the burden of service will fall on you.
Perhaps the library card will be replaced by the direct-debit laser card. Oh, you don’t have a laser card? Sorry. No library for you, my friend. Keep a book overtime? Direct debit will deduct the penalty from your account.
Unfortunately, machines do not go out and spend their non-existent wages. What would have gone back into the community goes instead into the pockets of the wealthy corporate overlords or into the state treasury which is then handed over to the corporate overlords, as I am sure you are well aware.
No. Keep people working. Fight back against the rise of the machines, for they will ultimately ruin you.
I would really really miss the librarians in my local library. They are so helpful and friendly and always there to give you a good recommendation or chat. Also to read stories to the younger kids. Our library would be a lot less interesting without the librarians.
As long as it was used simply to lengthen the time that a library is available to the public, then I would be all for it. As the article suggests (but with no links), it has been successful in Denmark, but Denmark is a country with a better history of social equality. I would fear that this is an excuse to simply reduce public services and people working in those services.
You can already do that in Clondalkin Library
the Journal should have posted the proper details of the initiative and how it works in Denmark. It is not getting rid of librarians and it isn’t just self-service kiosks
It is worth testing if only to challenge the assumptions we have about ourselves i.e. people assumed Dublin bike wouldn’t work.
Scandinavian countries have a strong tradition of civic responsibility. We don’t. Can’t even manage to have available public toilets! A very bad idea.
So true
There would not be an increase in theft or vandalism, members of a library would have to have an account similar to an ESB account or any other service and would have to scan the books when borrowing and returning, it works very well in my college library which is also open to the public. Of course there should always be at least one member of staff present to help with inquiries, or perhaps some people may have difficulty with the technology involved, however the scanning system would also be able to answer most queries regarding locations of books, info on authors etc. It wouldn’t be the case where any eejit could just walk in and take whatever they want. If you damage books you would be fined or prosecuted, makes perfect sense. We have a lot to learn from Scandinavian countries with regard to education and public services, I was with a Swedish girl for eight years and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things, we really should be embarrassed and ashamed by the way our country is run.
Could libraries evolve into centres for online courses and be resourced appropriately with technology, and staff to support? They could then continue in their traditional role, but also cater for people in rural areas to access third level qualifications. Maybe become mini outreach campuses for ITs, and develop a whole new role for themselves. The infrastructure is in place
They already do, Noirin, most have done for at least the last 15+ years!
I know they provide computer access, but its usually limited to just a few and academic libraries have to be accessed by subscription I think? What I was envisaging was full library access online for a whole range of academic studies, but maybe I’m out of touch
As a nation there is too many immature people with lack of repsect and morals for this to work.
How about opening libraries on weekends and bank holidays?
Benchmarking only applies to wages but not conditions! Silly me.
Eric De Red, your plea should be addressed to the European Central Bank. The reason library hours are shortened is to divert funds to the ECB to repay the bailout, which was needed because the state treasury was handed over to Wall Street banksters. Austerity, I think they call it. Robbery is what it is.
Beware folks, this could be a slippery slope. In the UK many County Councils are trying to divest themselves of responsibility for running public libraries saying they are too-little utilised, cost too much etc. Their preferred alternatives are to hand them over to businesses or community volunteer groups to run them. Of course, they are offering some financial support but nothing remotely in line with the real cost of employing professional staff. Libraries run by unpaid volunteers is a strong, and worrying, possibility for the near future.
Knowing that the Irish government have a tendency to mimic the UK mob, (in some areas), don’t be surprised if this idea “evolves”.
A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous/Peaceful** New Year to you all.
** choose the one that suits you best………or go for both !
Dublin City Libraries already have a self-service system or at least they did when I was last there about 6 months ago. As for public book exchanges -it seems to work fine in some cafes here in Dublin.
The naysayers are in the majority but wrong. It was the same for the Dublin bikes scheme – a majority said the bikes would be vandalised and certain elements would make it unworkable but it was an unbridled success. Stop being disparaging and encourage innovative schemes like these.
It surely comes as no surprise that this regime are afflicted with a massive privatisation fetish. They want to get rid of every public service replacing with an inferior for profit equivalent that will purely focus on money. And on top of that they also seem to be a crowd of philistines.
There are systems like this already placed within universities such as DCU. To enter the library, you must scan your student card into the turnstile. You also need your student card to check out the book. Each book has a security tag on it, should anyone attempt to leave the library without checking out the book which results in alarms going off. The speed of the revolving door is enough to slow anyone down to be caught if they were trying to make a quick escape! There are also self help computers in place to help search for the location of books. It is a great system and I don’t know why other libraries have followed suit.
These systems can really streamline the process, especially around busy times in libraries. But there will always be a need for a librarian in the library. So, I think it should be given a trial run in select libraries. If the trial is unsuccessful, you can always go back to previous methods.
This initiative would fail. As a nation, we lack the idea of civic pride. And since it’s ‘only books’, we attach no value to them.
Hello. I am a someone who has a very very keen interest in local library’s. In kildare there are 16 library’s and a mobile one. The trouble I see is the embargo of staff and the absolutely ridiculous closure of library’s on Saturdays. Are we in Athy the only community with Saturday library closures?. I think that the library service does a lot, and lending books is certainly there main bread and butter but in kildare we are now going to have free library membership, for everyone in the county , this is great but the times the library is actually open are not conducive to doing face to face business.
If we were given a choice in Athy to have face to face service with not friendly opening hours as we do or loads of open hours and machines. I think we would all choose the machines
As a Security Guard always on the look out for work (have boots; will travel! Or relocate! Fully Licenced with extra, relevant qualifications & experience but enough about me for now!), I’m all for this!
Never miss an opportunity for work and given that library cards are given out to all and sundry & that if it’s cold people will look for warmth and shelter these places could double up as just that, then security will be required so yes, all in favour say I! So, “I”!
In the Internet Cafés in Dublin there’s an All Night rate of €10 or something nominal like that. Plenty homeless come in & crash for the night til services like Merchants Quay, Br. Kevins on Bow St. etc. reopen.
Who’s to say it won’t happen in Ilac Centre Library etc.?
As an idea in isolation it’s a good one alright, Libraries have to be innovative in light of legal and indeed illegal downloading of books, kindles etc. so bring on self-service I say as it also increases opening hours and increases public access.
I could never understand why the library in Waterford city doesn’t open until 10am.
Is this the same all over?
8.30 am or at the latest 9am surely would be better for foot fall?
does this library also open some weekends and some evenings? an hour every morning over the week might allow extra opening hours in the evening and weekend instead. staff are limited and cannot be replaced for sick leave, maternity leave or retirement so the hours have to be planned around the staffing levels and busy periods.
We could close down all our libraries because you can buy any book you want on Amazon or EBay.
If we closed down all the Libraries we could probably afford to scrap the VAT on books making them 23% cheaper.
19% actually…….
:-) you’re right. Very good. 19%
I am discovering a huge number of books free on line but we need help/training in finding them. Google/Microsoft are increasing the number available.
Unfortunately there seems to be a lot less books in the libraries these days along with their supermarket style revamps. Feels like you’re in a tesco’s rather than a library. Mainly cheap popular fiction you can get anywhere rather than Art books or more worthy literature- which all seems to have been banished to the basements. The online catalog in Dublin is mainly full of missing books still listed I notice. Hard to know what they are at in the long term.
If we turn our back on libraries we are to become one giant business park instead of a country. But yes, libraries have to move with times and start lending e-books from a library “cloud”, we should have a look how other countries do it. And then we’ll have our own 24/7/365 ebook lending. Can’t wait.
Nelly, South Dublin Libraries do this already. I’m sure many more do too, around the country.
What’s a library? I haven’t read a book in years!!!
Curious that they can push for this idea of a swipe card to access a library 24/7 but not for the homeless to access a shelter the same way. Maybe homeless librarians are the future…
have your say