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 What is your name?
Orna Roche.
Where are you from?
I’m originally from Thurles, Co. Tipperary, but I have lived in Dublin most of my life.
Where do you work?
The library of the Irish Film Archive, which is part of the Irish Film Institute. The library has one of the largest collections of film publications in Ireland, covering both Irish and international cinema. Most of our readers are studying or working in film, but we also get students from other disciplines such as literature, sociology, and history. The library is open to the general public as well.
What do you spend most of your day doing?
Being a solo librarian my duties include everything from acquisitions and cataloguing to re-shelving and fixing the photocopier. When the library is open my main priority is helping readers with queries. Being able to switch quickly between tasks is vital – one minute you are helping a reader find a book or work the photocopier and the next you have to switch back into cataloguing mode. As well as the library I am also responsible for the Archive’s Paper Collection, which includes primary source material on Irish productions such as scripts, productions notes, photographs, and posters. We have a non-purchase acquisition policy in the Archive, so part of our work involves persuading potential donors of the importance of preserving film related material in a national archive. We recently received a major donation from Neil Jordan which we are currently cataloguing – it is an invaluable resource for researchers tracing the development of his films. Our agreement with the Irish Film Board is another important source of acquisitions - productions that receive Film Board funding have to deposit visual and publicity material into our Paper Collection. Cataloguing, digitizing, and providing access to this material forms a large part of my workload. I am also responsible for a reproduction service providing images from Irish films to researchers, authors, programme makers or festivals.
Did you always want to be a librarian, and if not what did you do before you became one?
After completing an Arts degree I chose to do a Masters in Film Studies, purely because of my love of film rather than with a specific career path in mind. After graduating I worked in video production for several years before deciding to take a change in career. I looked at the aspects of my previous jobs I had most enjoyed – research, fact checking, organizing and classifying information, working with databases – and decided to investigate librarianship. A graduate trainee position with FÁS library helped to confirm my decision. Taking into consideration my love of books, and a tendency to classify items in my wardrobe, it seems like the obvious career choice in hindsight.
How many people do you work with?
I am the only librarian, but there are seven other people in the Archive who I work closely with on a daily basis. Overall the IFI has over 50 staff and there is a lot of interaction between the different departments. I often assist my colleagues in the IFI cinemas or education departments with information on films they are screening.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The visual aspect of the material I work with really appeals to me. Cataloguing the photographs, posters, and working with digital images is very enjoyable, although it can be very frustrating when you have no information on the people photographed. Sometimes I have no choice but to watch the film in question to fully identify people – not such a terrible hardship really. The fact that I am contributing in a small way to the preservation of Irish film heritage is also very satisfying.
What do you avoid doing most?
Getting caught up in the web of copyright surrounding films. Before I can release an image to someone who wants to use it I must have written permission from the copyright holder. It is the user’s responsibility to get this permission. I can give them whatever contact details we have but I cannot get too involved in tracing the rights holders – this would be a full time job in itself.
How do you unwind after a hard day at the office?
After a couple of close calls with trucks I gave up cycling around town so I’ve switched to spinning classes to counteract sitting behind a desk for most of the day. I’m lucky enough to live next to the Phoenix Park and a cycle or walk through the park helps recharge my batteries. Working in the IFI, everyone assumes I go to the cinema every night but since I started working here I’ve seen fewer movies then ever before!
Are you a ‘typical’ librarian and if so, how, or does this question make you mad!
I think a librarian’s idea of a ‘typical’ librarian differs radically from that of the general public. When I told my family and friends I was going to do the MLIS I got a few strange reactions. Some were shocked to discover that you actually have to study to become a librarian, others told me I didn’t look like a librarian. I think they pictured the stereotype of a severe lady wearing a cardie and glasses, her hair in a bun, shushing at readers. I do tend to peer over the top of my glasses in what my husband calls my ‘librarian look’ but I’ve have never shushed anyone – outside of the cinema at least. The librarians I know tend to be a fairly eclectic bunch but I suppose we do share certain traits such as organisational ability, a high level of curiosity, and perhaps a slight tendency to obsessive compulsion. I think people outside the profession would be very surprised at how techy we are. Hopefully Ann Seidl’s documentary “The Hollywood Librarian” will go some way in dispelling some of the myths about librarians.
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