abevan February 15th, 2010
Organised by Publishing Ireland, the Dublin Book Festival will take place from Saturday 6th to Monday 8th March 2010 in Dublin’s City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin 2.
Click here to download the 2010 Dublin Book Festival Programme (2MB).
Click here to sign up and receive Dublin Book Festival news or to request a programme.
All events are free
abevan February 15th, 2010
Sixteen non-profits led by COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain, released the Public Domain Manifesto, which aims at “reminding citizens and policy-makers of a common wealth that, since it belongs to all, it is often defended by no-one. In a time where we for the first time in history have the tools to enable direct access to most of our shared culture and knowledge it is important that policy makers and citizens strengthen the legal concept that enables free and unrestricted access and reuse”.
Among other provisions, the manifesto points out that active maintenance of the Public Domain must take into account a number of general principles:
• The Public Domain is the rule, copyright protection is the exception
• Copyright protection should last only as long as necessary to achieve a reasonable compromise between protecting and rewarding the author for his intellectual labour and safeguarding the public interest in the dissemination of culture and knowledge
• What is in the Public Domain must remain in the Public Domain
• The lawful user of a digital copy of a Public Domain work should be free to (re-)use, copy and modify such work
• Contracts or technical protection measures that restrict access to and re-use of Public Domain works must not be enforced
In addition to these general principles, the Manifesto presents a set of recommendations aimed at protecting the Public Domain and ensuring that it can continue to function in a meaningful way.
Individuals and organisations are invited to read and, if supported, sign the Manifesto which can be found at http://www.publicdomainmanifesto.org/.
abevan February 12th, 2010
The Chairman and Board of the National Library of Ireland announced today that Fiona Ross has been appointed to serve as Director of the National Library of Ireland.
Commenting on the appointment, the Chairman of the Board of the National Library of Ireland, Gerry Danaher, SC, said: “We are very excited to welcome Fiona Ross as the National Library of Ireland’s new Director. Fiona has excellent leadership skills and has extensive experience in marketing and communications. I have no doubt that her experience, combined with her broadly based academic background, including her honours degree in History and English, will be a considerable asset to the Library in the challenges it faces in a demanding and ever-changing service environment “.
For more information, please see the Library’s press release.
abevan February 10th, 2010
The 2010 Library Late programme at the National Library of Ireland will open this month with a season of interviews exploring the art of writing for both stage and screen. In this three month series, which will run from February to April inclusive, some of Ireland’s leading stage and screen writers will discuss their craft. The differences and similarities between writing for stage and screen will also be explored in this series of one to one interviews with some of Ireland’s greatest talents of this genre including the award-winning film and television writer/director John Carney, who will be the Library’s guest on February 24th. Best known for his award winning 2007 film Once, which won the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Ward for Best Foreign Film and the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Carney also co-wrote and co-directed the RTÉ drama series Bachelors Walk, the most successful drama in Irish television history.
Carney began his career as a bassist for the rock band The Frames and he also directed their music videos. Having wrote and directed two award winning short films he co-wrote and co-directed his first feature film November Afternoon in 1996, which despite it’s limited release was acclaimed as “Film of the Year” by The Irish Times. Other notable film credits include Park which premiered at the 1999 Dublin Film Festival and On the Edge (2001), both co-written and co-directed by Carney. On the Edge starred Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea and was awarded the Silver Hitchcock Award at the 2001 Dinard Festival of British Cinema. The film was released in the USA with the title Catch the Sun.
Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare St, Dublin 2.
Wednesday 24 February at 8.00pm
Admission is free but booking is essential – to reserve up to two places, please ring (01) 6030317.
abevan February 4th, 2010
The next talk in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Library’s Library Voices series takes place on Saturday February 27th with Alexander McCall Smith, bestselling author and creator of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.
Venue: Pavilion Theatre, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire.
Saturday February 27 2010, at 2.30pm
Tickets €8.00 from Pavilion Box Office. Call (01) 2312929.