Due to the coronavirus, all public events have been canceled for an uncertain period of time. In numerous countries, cultural life has come to a halt and long-terms effects are inconceivable. Wherever possible, organisers get creative to adapt their formats to the virtual world.
One of them is Libraries Ireland. “Spring into Storytime” is an annual libraries’ event of families reading together and through the collaboration of the Irish public libraries, a range of Irish publishers and writers, this event is now adapted as online storytelling for young people during the current closure of libraries and schools. For the crisis, publishers and the Irish Writers Union have waived their license fees for the reading of selected books and the streaming of videos online. This means local libraries’ social media channels are hosting storytime sessions for young people and these will remain online while the libraries remain closed.
