There’s a saying that goes, “They didn’t know it was impossible, so they did it”. This is the story of how I met an extraordinary group of people, who didn’t know it was impossible to build a library without a reading room, a storage space, or an LMS. So, we did it.
How it started
It was mid-2025 when I received a WhatsApp message from a colleague from my home country (Argentina). It was a link to an article in a local newspaper that read “A group of Rosarinos (i.e. from the city of Rosario in Argentina) created the first library of Argentine literature in Ireland” . The article explained that the founders of the project had come together out of a shared love of literature, but also as a way to recreate spaces they had in Argentina, to gather as a community, and to provide one of the things most migrants leave behind when we move: our books, in our native language. The article introduced some of the people behind the project, the idea that moved it, and had a few photos of the people building the project. But that was all. Saying I was intrigued is an understatement. Where was this library? What were the opening hours? Could I go visit? Was there an OPAC? And above all, were all these people from the photos Argentine librarians living in Ireland like me? I did some research and was able to find an Instagram account that I started to follow. I wanted to reach out, ask if they needed any help, but I worried that I might not have much to contribute. Surely there were other librarians in the group - and most likely better than myself.
A few months passed with no news, and suddenly, a post: Book Club - Saturday October 18th - Charleville Mall Library.
I attended the Book Club with the secret mission of finding out more about this library. To my surprise - or maybe not? - there were over 20 people taking part in the activity. The session included a round of presentations, throughout which I managed to keep my cover intact, without disclosing my secret librarian identity. By the end of the round I had realised none of the organisers or attendees had claimed to be a librarian. Were they also keeping their identity a secret? Or maybe there were no librarians in this library? I began to suspect, maybe this was a different kind of library than the ones I knew before. By the end of the session, the meeting gave way to informal chatter within the attendees. I had so far gathered only very vague information about the library, so I took a more direct method of research and started asking straight: “But where is the library? Where do you keep the books? What books do you have?” That is how I found out the library “Biblioteca María Elena Walsh” does not have a physical location. The books are donations from the community and authors, and they are stored in the houses of the people behind the project. They had an Excel file with around 200 book titles, and they wanted to build a catalogue, but none of them were librarians and they didn’t know how to do it. That was the moment when I let my guard down and revealed my true identity. When I told one of the organisers I was a librarian she was delighted to discover there was a library professional among us. I was immediately invited to join the project.
Building “The System”: the challenges
When I joined the first meeting of the group they were concerned about having a system that would allow them to share the books that were available through the library and lend them to other members of the Argentine/Spanish-speakers community in Ireland. The idea behind it was simple: there were people who hold books, and there were people who wanted to read books, they just needed a way to connect them. Since the library didn’t have a physical space for patrons to browse the shelves, they needed a way to let the community know which books were available. And since the library didn’t have a reading room, they needed their patrons to be able to borrow the books and read them at home. So essentially, an OPAC and a circulation module.
By the time I got to them, some of the members had made enquiries with local librarians known to them. They were told, of course, that they needed an LMS, and were recommended to find out more about Koha. The group was divided between those who wanted to implement a more traditional library management system from the outset, this meant getting Koha installed on a server, catalogue the books properly, and manage all loans in the circulation module. Others felt that might take a moment, and it was better to just circulate the Excel file with the book titles, and have another Excel file to register loans and returns. I myself had mixed feelings. On the one hand, as a librarian, I felt it was my obligation to tell them “how things should be done the right way”, but on the other hand, I was afraid that if we waited to have everything perfect to launch it, we would end up not doing it at all.
Installing Koha presented a few problems: first and foremost, I didn’t have the technical expertise to implement it. Although I had worked with the system before, it had always been as a cataloguer, with a system already installed and parameters set by Interleaf. Hiring someone to do the job would have involved costs that the library, at that time, could not afford. Then, there was the problem of cataloguing the books in MARC format. Since the books were scattered across different homes, it would have been impossible for me to access all 200 volumes to catalogue them with the item in hand. So, this needed to be a collective work, where each “book holder” could enter the data of the books they stored. However, the idea of teaching a group of people with no prior library training how to catalogue a book in MARC format was out of the question. So, I began to wonder, perhaps Koha wasn’t the right solution? Maybe a library that is different to all the libraries I knew before required a different system to the ones I had used in the past.
All the books in the library were donations, so there was no real need for an acquisitions module. All materials were monographs, so no serials module required. All the borrowers would be end users, so no need for an ILL module either. The collection itself was composed mostly by widely renowned books that would almost certainly be available for copy cataloguing in many other catalogues or… platforms? It suddenly felt obvious.
Building “The System”: the solution
We live in an era in which almost all social activities are mediated by digital platforms. There are platforms to travel, platforms to meet people, platforms to share your photos, your videos, your research, and more. There is a platform for almost anything you might want. There had to be a platform to share your collection of books. I did some research and discovered there is actually more than one, but among them was one that seemed to have pretty much what we needed: LibraryThing.
LibraryThing is a lightweight, web-based cataloguing platform that allows users to create and manage bibliographic records online. It can be thought of as something similar to Goodreads, but with a stronger focus on bibliographic metadata and structured cataloguing rather than on sharing opinions and reviews. Once you’ve created your account you can start adding books to ‘Your Library’ by copy cataloguing, importing records, or creating original records. The platform also links to a feature called “TinyCat” that turns your LibraryThing catalogue into a library OPAC and provides a small circulation system for loans. It allows for institutional accounts, which, depending on their size and type can pay as little as €3 per month.
I presented the idea to the rest of the group and we decided this system would do for the moment, at least until we have figured out whether we needed Koha or not. I recorded a short training video on how to add a book to our library. LibraryThing allows users to copy catalogue from many different institutions, such as the Library of Congress or the British Library. The sources from which you want to allow copy cataloguing can be edited, and we were able to add the Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (the National Library of Argentina). This library produces a lot of MARC records readily available through Z39.50 protocol, and it’s one of the most robust and reliable sources of records for Argentine literature.
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| Figure 1. Adding records through copy cataloguing |
A few books from the library could not be found for copy cataloguing. Especially, donations from self-published authors, that didn’t have a bibliographic record available in other libraries. In those cases, we added the records manually, using a structured, field‑based metadata form rather than MARC records. The interface presents a simplified, metadata‑driven form for manual data entry that is very intuitive and only requires minor explanations for those who have not received library training. Again, the fields for manual entry can be customised to meet the needs of the collection.
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| Figure 2. Part of the template to manually input a record in LibraryThing |
Once the collection has been built, you can either direct your patrons to your LibraryThing account, where they can see a full list of your holdings, including circulation information, for a more browseable experience. Or you can point them to your TinyCat site, for a more search-oriented experience.
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| Figure 3. View of the full collection list, with lending information |
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| Figure 4. View of the search interface of TinyCat |
The “TinyCat” feature also enables a small circulation module which allowed us to create our own Patrons database. As expressed in the Privacy and TOS LibraryThing is assumed to be in the position of data processor, and the institutions in the position of data controller, managing the data of their data subjects. So, it is the institution’s responsibility to ensure GDPR compliance for their data subjects, including collecting consent, managing consent-revocation, enabling access, etc. In our case, we did this by requesting all of our patrons who wanted to be registered in the library to complete a Google Form. The form included consent and adherence to the Maria Elena Walsh Library policies and regulations.
Once the patrons database starts to be built up, books can be checked out, returned, placed on hold, or other custom status. Preferences can be set for lending times, automatic emails to be sent to borrowers at the time of borrowing a book, reminders of coming due dates, and overdue items. The feature includes an option for patrons self-check in/out of books, and a patron interface with username and password access, although these options have not been used by our library yet. The system also facilitates reports to monitor activity by books and patrons. The only downside we have noticed is that the system does not seem to allow for reservation of books that are currently on loan. It appears the books can have only one status, either they are checked out, or reserved, but can’t be both checked out to one patron and reserved to another. Yet, for us, this is a small detail in comparison with the great benefits it offers.
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| Figure 5. General view of the TinyCat admin page |
How it’s going
LibraryThing provided the catalogue and the circulation module, but we still needed a procedure. We created a website, bibliowalsh.org, where users could be pointed to find all the relevant information they needed to borrow books from the library - and to see the other many projects and activities the library is involved in. The website included links to a “how to borrow books” page, the library regulations, the catalogue, and the registration form.
The procedure is simple: anybody over 18 years old can register with the library for free. To do so they must complete the form available on the website and tick that they agree to the library policies and regulations. Library regulations can be found on the website, but are also hyperlinked on the registration form, for full transparency. After registering, the person receives a confirmation email, and can start borrowing books. Loans are for free; each patron can borrow one book at the same time - for now at least. They can keep it for 30 days and renew their loan for another 15 days. There are no fines for late returns, as the library works as a collaborative project and we expect to have the respect from all of our users. After registering, the person can visit our catalogue, choose from the database the book they would like to read, and email us to coordinate a collection time and location. Books can be collected from the library member who is housing the book, or can be brought to one of the library’s activities in town.
The launching of the lending system was marked with an Open Mic Night at the end of April. Since then - less than two months ago - we’ve had over 30 people signed up to register with the library. We have lent 8 books, to 7 different borrowers, and we expect to reach more and more people as word-of-mouth spreads. We have also received more donations, and we are about to reach the 290 books. Seeing these results, I can’t help but wonder: would we be in the same place if we had implemented Koha?
Final reflection
A library without walls poses a challenge to our traditional ideas of what a library is. It is possible that if I had come across this project while it was still just “an idea” I would have dismissed it myself, thinking “it is impossible”. But I think that, in this particular case, the fact that they started without a librarian on the team may actually have been what made the project possible. Simply because there was no one there to tell them this couldn’t be done. By the time I joined the team the project was already ongoing, they needed solutions, not criticism. This put me in a place where I had to rethink my own knowledge about how library services are built. What level of bibliographic quality is good enough? When does accessibility matter more than perfection? Which library tasks can be democratised? What is the role of librarians in community-led projects? My learning from this project is that traditional library systems are not always the best solution for grassroots libraries. Community needs and resources should shape library systems, rather than the other way around. And above all, as in most aspects of life, we need to be flexible - perhaps not an easy task for a librarian.
Looking back, I think the most important lesson is that libraries are built by communities before they are built by systems. Catalogues, circulation modules, and policies are important, but they are only meaningful when they support a genuine community need. In our case, technology did not create the library; it simply helped a community that already existed to share its books more effectively. The real foundation was a group of people determined to create a space for books, language, and community, even without the resources that libraries are traditionally expected to have.
As one of the latest Instagram posts from the Biblioteca María Elena Walsh says: “We are still growing, between books, gatherings, and the will to share. This is only the beginning… Subscribe.”
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| Figure 6. Instagram post from Biblioteca María Elena Walsh |
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