As much as we love to lend books out to you, we also like to see them come back to us.  We realise that you have had a busy summer, and that maybe some library books may still be on your shelves at home, in your desk, or under the bed!

Therefore we are offering an amnesty – which means that if you return those books to us before September the 20th, then you don’t have to pay a fine on them.  People who return overdue books will be entered into a free draw for one of our classic WIT Library bags.

Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society
Events Programme 2014
Spring Lectures

Friday 28th February
Speaker: Mr Kieran Cronin, Deputy Librarian, WIT Libraries
Topic: The Christ Church Cathedral Collection – A library by the people, for the people of Waterford.

The lecture will be held at 8 pm in the Garden Room, Medieval Museum, The Mall, Waterford.
Tickets can be purchased at the door.
Further information available at http://www.waterford-history.org/

WIT Libraries are delighted to announce improved borrowing rights for all undergraduate library users. As of Monday, all undergraduate library users can now borrow up to 6 long loan items as well as 2 short loan items at any one time.

Here are some interesting facts about the connection between Waterford and St Patrick’s day:

1. Waterford City was the first City to declare St Patrick’s Day a national holiday in 1903. Waterford Corporation declared that St Patrick’s Day should be a general holiday throughout the City and to entirely suspend business that day.
2. Waterford born Franciscan Luke Wadding was responsible for making St Patrick’s Day an official saints days for the first time in the mid-seventeenth century.
3. The St Patrick’s Day tradition of presenting Irish shamrock to the White House started back in 1952 during President Harry Truman’s time in office when the then Irish ambassador John Joseph Hearne dropped a box of shamrock off at the White House. John Joseph Hearne was born in Waterford in 1893 and attended Waterpark College. A plaque marking his birth place is situated at 8 William Street, Waterford.
4. Specially commissioned crystal bowls for the shamrock presentation to President Obama have been designed by both the House of Waterford Crystal in 2012 and master engraver Sean Egan in 2013.