Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not necessarily agree with everything Mr. Shovlin said there. The point I was making was that from the point of view of the consumer who wants to find out something from the past, I would put the emphasis on inclusivity. Most of the publications the library has in its 138-year history would be out of print and would not be available generically anywhere. Unless they are digitalised on the library's own collection or available or linked, they are hard to access. The library should be making as much as possible available to the public at all times.

I do not want to go into the issues about Google wanting something the library does not want to give it. I would say that the library wants to give everything to anybody who wants to look at it in digital form.

To put the question a different way, notwithstanding what we have just been saying, does Mr. Shovlin see the availability of digitalisation of the library's records and books on its own website or whatever as an objective task to be done urgently?