Dear students and staff,

A very warm welcome to the new academic year, especially to our first-year undergraduates.  Below is an update from the Library which I hope you will find useful:

Library Supports & Services

Every student has access to a dedicated librarian who is available to support you throughout your academic journey at Trinity. If you haven’t already met your Subject Librarian during orientation, you may meet them at a Library class or workshop.

Library staff are here to assist you with your queries, providing skills workshops, virtual consultations, and a range of other services. Ask any member of the helpful Library team at Library counters, drop an email to your Subject Librarian or email library@tcd.ie. 

 

A new live chat service called LibChat is being launched this week for real time online support. Available via the Library website from 10:00-16:00, Monday to Friday, LibChat works hand-in-hand with our existing FAQ page. 

 

The Welcome to the Library page  is an especially helpful resource for new students. 

 

In collaboration with the Students’ Union and Student Learning Development, we have created a space for discussion and awareness raising about Generative AI with and for students.  Find out more about our ‘Demystifying Gen AI’ and ‘Applying Gen AI’ workshops on the Library Training Sessions web page.

 

We also look forward to our new Climate and Nature Book Club for students co-led with Professor Clare Kelly (School of Psychology) where we will discuss selected books on the ecological crisis.

Library Refurbishment Programme

Your invaluable feedback from the Library survey and design thinking workshops informed a range of innovative changes and space refurbishment in the Library including:

 

The launch of Library 360 virtual tours of the Library Complex, the Hamilton Library and the John Stearne Medical Library will improve wayfinding and navigation within Library spaces. 

 

The Assistive Technology Information Centre on the ground floor of the Ussher Library has been refurbished to make it a study space sanctuary for students with sensory needs. With the support of colleagues in the Disability Service and in Estates & Facilities, two new low-distraction study rooms have been created with soft furnishings and improved acoustics. There are also plans to introduce plants and moss walls.

 

In addition, two new enclosed sensory pods have been installed on the lower ground floor of the Library (formerly the Berkeley Library) and more low-distraction cubicles have been constructed on the upper level of the Lecky Library.

 

Old Library Redevelopment Project

The new Research Collections Study Centre in the Atrium of the Ussher Library is now home to a Joint Research Collections Reading Room for Early Printed Books, Special Collections and Manuscripts & Archives). This is another milestone in preparation of the conservation and redevelopment project which saw the conclusion of the Decant of Research Collections from the Old Library last year. 

The Glucksman Map Library Reading Room has also reopened there. 

 

Following Board approval in June, the Preliminary Design Brief has been published for the new tender for an integrated design team for the Old Library Redevelopment Project and the tender evaluation process will progress through the autumn.

A reminder also that Trinity staff and students can continue to visit the Old Library and the new ‘Book of Kells Experience’ in New Square for free through this link (by using Student/Staff ID number in the promo code box). This is a unique time to visit because you will see the ‘bone structure’ of the Long Room and Luke Jerram’s Gaia installation, and the original Book of Kells − all in the Old Library − and also, the immersive ‘Book of Kells experience’. 

 

Virtual Trinity Library

The Library is currently hosting an exhibition in the Long Room, to celebrate the work and legacies of Elizabeth and Susan (Lily) Yeats and founders of Cuala Industries, ‘The Yeats Sisters & Irish Design: Making Identities & Legacies’. In partnership with the Department of History of Art & Architecture and the Department of Foreign Affairs, a touring version of the exhibition will be shown internationally through Ireland’s global network of embassies and consulates introducing new audiences to Irish design heritage.

 

Renaming of the former Berkeley Library

The renaming of the former Berkeley Library will be finalised in the next academic year. This follows the extensive consultative process for its renaming which was led by the Trinity Legacy Review Working Group among staff, students, and the wider public last year.

 

New Research and Innovation Laidlaw Library at Trinity East 

The first ‘digital first and foremost’ Research & Innovation Library is planned as an anchor to the growing campus at Trinity East. Embracing the principle of ‘radical refurbishment’ in the light of the climate crisis, this will be an exciting addition to the whole of the Library system across Trinity’s sites. The procurement for the design team is currently underway, for an anticipated completion in Q4 2027.

 

British Library cyber-attack and access to UK electronic legal deposit material 

The British Library (BL) recently published a further blog giving an update on the process of restoring its services following last October’s major cyber-attack. The BL continues to work with our Library and the four other UK legal deposit libraries to restore access to UK electronic legal deposit materials that were deposited prior to the cyber-attack. We expect this material to be available to the Trinity community in the new academic year, with more specific dates to follow. 

Ebook SOS campaign

Equity of access to information and knowledge is at the heart of the Library’s mission, but there are challenges in achieving this. Academic publishing practices are making ebooks that support learning and assessment, unaffordable, unsustainable, and inaccessible to the Trinity community. Through the work of the Ebook SOS campaign, we are continuing to work nationally and internationally with colleagues across the Library sector to raise awareness as in this RTE piece  about these unsustainable practices.

 

With warmest good wishes for the forthcoming term.

Helen Shenton