Galway bookseller Des Kenny, a bibliophile of international repute, is a fortunate man: he has carved a challenging career from both tradition and technology.

He sources Irish literature for universities and libraries worldwide, writes and records a monthly book review, Desi’s Diary, on www.kennys.ie, gives literary talks, organises readings and signings, and promotes literature as Gaeilge.

“I’m one of the few people who love putting the key in the door on a Monday morning,” says Kenny, who will be 59 in March.

There’s also his ground-breaking book club, started in the hard-pressed early 1980s when an overseas customer complained of being unable to get Irish books.

Young Kenny had to choose suitable books for his feisty father, the late Des Snr, who critiqued him until he improved. Now customers in 45 countries and every US state – albeit in smaller numbers since 9/11 – get Kenny’s personally selected book club parcels.

So what would he choose for US President Barack Obama? He picks one listed in his own book, Kenny’s Choice: 101 Irish Books You Must Read, by Irish-American academic Richard White. Remembering Ahanagran recounts White’s mother’s lonely journey from Kerry to Chicago aged 16 - a searing attempt to extricate hard fact from hazy anecdote and explore the pain of emigration.

The six Kenny children had the earliest possible introduction to the magic of literature: their late parents, Des Snr and Maura, started Ireland’s best-known independent bookshop in a rented room in Galway in 1940.

“We didn’t live above the shop,” Kenny explains, “but the bookshop lived with us. Books were everywhere: on the stairs, under the stairs, in the bedrooms and bathroom. If you stood around long enough in our house, you could be shelved!”

In summer 1973, after a BA in the-then University College, Galway, and three years at the Sorbonne, Paris, Kenny followed his heart and joined his esteemed mother full time in the landmark High Street bookshop.

He has needed a clear head to help keep traditional bookselling alive in a world of cappuccino-machine bookshop chains and cut-price supermarket chicklit. For instance, Kenny’s was only the second bookshop in the world to have a website, a facility geared up when the business went solely online in January 2006.

“The bookshop was haemorrhaging money,” he explains. “But while buying books online can be easier, it doesn’t give the customer the tactile experience, the sense of adventure and discovery, or the dialogue between customer and bookseller.”

However, Kenny’s relocated bookbinding service and antiquarian room attracted loyal customers asking for the bookshop, and it reopened in July 2008.

Kenny and his family are aware that the economic downturn could hit them hard. But they’ve weathered tough times – and inherited far more than the family firm.

“Our parents gave us a strong work ethic and a deep sense of social responsibility,” he explains. “We also inherited an innate optimism, which is extremely valuable in times of recession.” A rich legacy indeed!