Music PAL…opening doors to a wealth of music resources!

Access to music libraries and archives will become easier with the launch of Music PAL announced today (March 8th 2010) at the Royal Irish Academy by the novelist and radio broadcaster Deirdre Purcell.
Music PAL is the only music resource sharing scheme within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The scheme will facilitate access to a wide range of music resources and services in libraries and archives throughout the island of Ireland.
Everyone with an interest in music will be able to apply for a Music PAL Access Card at the library they use on a regular basis. The Music PAL Access Card will allow them to visit and access the resources of the libraries and archives that are participating in the initiative.
Music PAL includes 10 public, 9 higher education, 3 conservatoire and 5 special libraries throughout Ireland, a total of 27 institutions in all. Many of these hold broad music collections of various sizes, while others (such as for example the Irish Traditional Music Archive and the Contemporary Music Centre) focus on specific musical genres .
Music PAL is an initiative under the Pathways to Learning programme which has been developed by the Committee on Library Co-operation in Ireland (COLICO). Its purpose is to broaden access to materials in all participating libraries by setting up a structure for referring library users to relevant resources held by other institutions in the scheme. The concept arose from the success of a cross–sectoral library provision in the UK (Inspire). COLICO agreed to explore the potential for transferring the programme into an Irish context.
As part of the Pathways to Learning programme a sister scheme, Cork PAL, will be launched simultaneously in Cork also today (March 8th 2010) by Minister for Education and Science, Mr Batt O’Keeffe. Cork PAL, the first regional scheme involving a cluster of libraries in the Cork area, includes eight libraries, facilitating access to academic, local authority and hospital collections.
Read more about Music PAL and Cork PAL on the PAL web site or contact colico@librarycouncil.ie.

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