News & Events

Trinity College Dublin is renaming the Library (former Berkeley Library) after the acclaimed Irish poet Eavan Boland. This decision was made by the University Board today [9 October 2024] after a period of research, analysis and public consultation overseen by the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group (TLRWG).

The Eavan Boland Library will be the first building on Trinity’s campus to be named after a woman.

Eavan Boland was one of the foremost women in Irish literature, publishing many collections of poetry, a memoir Object Lessons (1995), as well as teaching and lecturing in Ireland and in the US.

It had been decided in April 2023 that the continued use of George Berkeley’s name on its main Library was inconsistent with the University’s core values of human dignity, freedom, inclusivity, and equality. Since then, its largest Library has been known simply as ‘The Library’.

In September 2024, after a process of deliberation including consideration of the 855 public submissions, the TLRWG identified several options for the renaming of the Library, with their preferred recommendation being The Eavan Boland Library.

A paper by TLRWG member Catriona Crowe noted that Boland’s “great achievement was to move women from the object (muse, dream, symbol) of poetry to the subject who was writing the poem”. Her name, she wrote, “would bring a magnificent poetic, scholarly and feminist reputation to a building dedicated to the humanities”.

Provost Dr Linda Doyle said:

It is a fitting recognition of Eavan Boland’s poetic genius that our main Library, used by so many students and staff, will now carry her name.

Eavan’s poetry is well known across the generations, and her outstanding artistic contribution to highlighting the role of women in Irish society is widely appreciated. 

I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated in the process that has led us to today’s decision. It was marked by broad consultation and very thoughtful conversations.

Professor Eoin O Sullivan, Senior Dean and Chair of the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group, said:

We arrived at this point because of the hard work and conviction of many people in Trinity’s community, not least the students who not only called for a change in the Library’s name, but who worked with us to achieve that change. 

We are grateful for the 855 submissions from within Trinity and outside which animated our deliberations and reflections on the matter.

Librarian and College Archivist at Trinity College Dublin, Helen Shenton said:

Libraries are both fundamental constants in the university and simultaneously constantly in flux. Technological advances, societal changes and cultural evolutions shape the Library for each generation. As a 21st century Library, the name change to this unique library building prioritises the current generation of students’ experience of a welcoming and supportive Library space.

Under its new name, it will provide an inclusive and inspirational space for generations of students to come, bolstered now by Eavan Boland’s scholarly and feminist reputation.

At a debate on the new name in February 2024 hosted by the University Historical Society with the support of the TLRWG, five guest speakers and five students spoke in favour of ten names selected by the society based on popular suggestions received. The names included Eavan Boland, Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Paul Koralek (the architect of the Library building), Oscar Wilde and Wolfe Tone. Trinity History student Méabh Scahill called Boland “a seminal poet in the Irish literary tradition, whose work carved out a space for women within that tradition.”

About Eavan Boland

Born in Dublin in 1944, Boland spent some early years in London and New York, returning to Ireland to attend secondary school in Killiney and later university at Trinity College Dublin. She died in 2020.

Her many awards include a Lannan Foundation Award in Poetry and an American Ireland Fund Literary Award. She taught at Trinity, University College Dublin, Bowdoin College, and at Stanford University since 1996, where she was the Bella Mabury and Eloise Mabury Knapp Professor in the Humanities and Melvin and Bill Lane Professor of English and director of the creative writing programme. 

About the Library − de-naming and renaming

Opened in 1967, Trinity’s largest library was named in 1978 after George Berkeley. Until then it was known as the ‘New Library.’ 

Berkeley published some of his most important philosophical works while at Trinity in the 1700s. He bought slaves – named Philip, Anthony, Edward, and Agnes Berkeley – to work on his Rhode Island estate in 1730-31 and sought to advance ideology in support of slavery.

In August 2022, the Trinity College Dublin Students Union announced that it would be referring to the Library as the ‘X’ Library in all future communications, until Trinity provided a renaming plan. 

About the TLRWG

The Trinity Legacies Review Working Group was established by the Provost in October 2022. 

Its first act was to commission an evidence-based review on Bishop George Berkeley. In 2022 it opened a public call for submissions on the matter.

In 2023 it reached a consensus that the Library be de-named and re-named. 

The Board considered and approved a memorandum by the Provost on this matter in April 2023. 

Trinity will continue to hold George Berkeley’s philosophical works in the Library collections and continue to teach and to research his works. The broad guidance that the TLRWG gave regarding submissions for a new name included that names had to have a direct connection to Trinity and that names of living persons would not be considered.

In total, 855 submissions were received on renaming the Library. For more on the process, see here.

Last updated 22:30, Saturday 5 October 2024

Following essential electrical works carried out by Estates and Facilities on Saturday, the Library’s 24/7 study facilities, Kinsella Hall in the Library Complex and the 1937 Postgraduate Reading Room, have now reopened as of this evening, Saturday 5 October.

The Hamilton Library will also continue to remain open on a 24/7 basis overnight and during Sunday 6 October.

Normal hours for all libraries will resume from Monday 7 October.

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

Students’ invaluable feedback from the Library survey and design workshops has informed a range of innovative service changes and space refurbishments in the Library this year. 

The new 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 virtual tours provide a very intuitive visual impression of the reading rooms with useful information about reading room spaces, services and collections. They also allow readers to explore various routes in and around Library buildings, with a special emphasis on accessible options.

We are also launching a new live chat service this week called LibChat, for real time online support from Library staff. The service will be available via the Library website from 10:00-16:00, Monday to Friday, and will work hand-in-hand with our existing FAQ page.

The Assistive Technology Information Centre (ATIC) on the ground floor of the Ussher Library has been refurbished to create 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 are available with soft furnishings and improved acoustics. There are also plans to introduce plants and moss walls throughout the space.

Two new enclosed sensory pods (see image at top of page) have also been installed on the lower ground floor of the Library (formerly the Berkeley Library) and additional low-distraction cubicles have been constructed on the upper level of the Lecky Library.

Please try them out and let us know what you think!

Love reading? And talking about reading? Want to learn more about the climate & nature emergency but unsure where to start? A new student book club may be for you!

This October, the Library and Clare Kelly (School of Psychology) are launching the Climate and Nature Book Club - open to all students (undergraduate and postgraduate). Our plan is to read and discuss a selection of the best books on the ecological crisis to foster engagement and build a community of solidarity. We’ll meet twice per term and read both non-fiction and fiction. 

The first meeting will take place on Wednesday 9th October at 12:00-14:00 in the North Training Room in The Library (former Berkeley Library). The October pick is Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis by Britt Wray.

There are copies of the book available in the Library. 

We look forward to seeing you then!

Following the recent re-location of Research Collections to the Interim Research Collections Study Centre in the basement of the Ussher Library we are delighted to extend our opening hours during term-time. We now offer late opening on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The new opening hours during term are:

Monday 10am – 4pm

Tuesday 10am – 8pm

Wednesday 10am – 8pm

Thursday 10am – 4pm

Friday 10am – 4pm

Saturday 10am – 1pm

PLEASE NOTE there will be two exceptions to the above in the following two weeks. The Reading Room will close at 4pm on Wednesday, September 11th and Tuesday September, 17th September. With the exclusion of these dates, the above new opening hours will apply for the rest of the academic year

The remarkable contribution of the Yeats sisters to Irish craft culture is being celebrated in a new exhibition in the Old Library from this week.

In partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs, a touring version of the exhibition will also be shown internationally through Ireland’s global network of Embassies and Consulates, introducing new audiences to Irish design heritage and the lasting legacies of Elizabeth and Lily Yeats and other Cuala artists, while also celebrating local female-led creative and craft enterprises.

Elizabeth and Susan (Lily) Yeats were nationally and internationally recognised as leading figures in the Arts and Crafts movement in the early 20th century, but their contribution has perhaps been overshadowed by those of their brothers, painter Jack Yeats and WB Yeats, the poet and Noble Laureate. 

Elizabeth and Lily founded two successful craft business in Dublin, Dun Emer Industries (1902-1908) and Cuala Industries (1908-1940), which specialised in fine publishing, including books and artist designed prints under the directorship of Elizabeth, and embroidery under Lily. Their work was in demand from Irish and international customers. Both businesses almost exclusively employed and trained young women.  

On display in Trinity’s Old Library are photographs and other archival material giving a flavour of the working lives of the Cuala women as well as examples of the prints and needlecraft produced by the business. Digital screens in the Long Room showcase further material from Trinity’s Cuala collections. Entitled ‘The Yeats Sisters & Irish Design: Making, Identities & Legacies’, the exhibition forms part of the Book of Kells visitor experience and runs until 26 September. See hereherehere to book tickets. 

“Over the last number of years, the Cuala Press Project has worked to raise the profile of the Yeats sisters and the artists they collaborated with,” explains Dr Angela Griffith from Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities and co-curator of the exhibition. 

This exhibition illustrates how the Cuala Industries constructed a distinctive and sophisticated form of Irish cultural identity for national and international audiences. The quality of art and design production at Cuala demonstrates their engagement with, and promotion of, national and international Arts and Crafts theories and practices. Cuala set a standard that all others followed in Ireland. Their work also provides important insight into the social status of working women in the first half of the twentieth century, the contribution of women to industry, and the agency of women in art and design production both in Ireland and internationally.

"The international touring version of this exhibition will honour and celebrate the global footprint of the Yeats sisters’ design heritage,” comments Dr Angela Byrne, co-curator of the exhibition.

As Irish women of the Yeats sisters’ generation emigrated in their droves, the constant flow of people between Ireland and the wider world nurtured and inspired cultural expression. Dun Emer textiles were displayed at the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis and at Irish fairs in New York. They are part of the creative legacy of Ireland’s struggle for independence and the process of finding our place in the world.

Trinity is home to a range of fascinating material related to Cuala Press including beautiful handprinted and hand coloured artist-designed prints, records from the Cuala’s business archive, a complete set of published works, as well as the printing press, type and some hundreds of printer's blocks. A selection of this  material is available to the public as a digital collection, The Cuala Press Collection, as part of the Virtual Trinity Library.  

An ongoing project to catalogue, conserve, digitise and increase public awareness of the collection is supported by the Schooner Foundation.  

Laura Shanahan, Head of Research Collections, the Library of Trinity College Dublin, added:  

The Library is proud to be able to share the work of these incredible women in this exhibition, as a result of the research and conservation-archival partnership between the Library and the department of History of Art and Architecture in Trinity Collection Dublin. The material displayed in this exhibition demonstrates the skill and foresight of these women entrepreneurs, and we expect their story to captivate visitors who will long remember Cuala Industries, the Yeats sisters, and their impact and influence in Ireland and beyond.

About the Cuala Press Project

Trinity’s Cuala Press Research Project is a collaboration between the Library of Trinity College Dublin and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. It is funded by the Schooner Foundation. The Project focuses on the work of Elizabeth C. Yeats and the artists that contributed designs to this exceptional female-run private press. The designers involved are among some of the most important 20th century Irish artists, not least among them was Jack Yeats, Elizabeth’s youngest sibling, and women such as Beatrice Elvery and Dorothy Blackham. As a result of Schooner’s philanthropic investment, for the first time Cuala materials have been made available as a digital collection, The Cuala Press Collection, as part of Virtual Trinity Library. The aim of the project is to catalogue, conserve, research and digitize the collections, providing access to researchers, scholars of all ages and the wider public.  

The Cuala Press Print Collection comprises hand-printed and hand-coloured original artist-led designs. The Cuala Press Business Archives comprises approximately 81 boxes of material relating to the company business such as minute books of directors' meetings, cash books and letters. This collection also includes original preparatory drawings for prints, sample books, and designs for embroidery. Personal material such as photograph albums and scrapbooks also provide an invaluable insight to the working lives of the women of Cuala. Example are included in this exhibition.  

Image: Detail from Mary Cottenham Yeats, The Rainbow, Dublin: Cuala Press, 1910s, hand coloured photoengraving  - IE TCD MS 11574/20/1.

The Library is glad to report that the window restoration project in the 1937 Reading Room is reaching its final stages. New windows have been fitted throughout the building and various upgrades have been made to the roof and drainage system.

One of the few remaining jobs to be completed is the installation of new blinds in the main reading room space. This requires the construction of scaffolds, which means the main reading room space will need to close for three days from the 12th - 14th June 2024. During this period, Kinsella Hall will be available on a 24/7 basis as an alternative space for evening, weekend and overnight study. And the Library's main reading rooms will remain accessible as normal on the summer opening schedule. Normal service (i.e. 24-hour opening) is expected to resume in the 1937 Reading Room on Saturday 15th June.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing patience as we complete the final stages of this challenging and complex project.

Illustrator Annie West has donated a series of original drawings from her book ‘Yeats in Love’ and touring exhibitions. Annie West's irreverent art brings to life W.B. Yeats’s pursuit of the Irish republican revolutionary, Maud Gonne and includes other well-known figures such as the poet’s sisters Lolly and Lily Yeats and literary figures such as James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. The book was published by New Island books in 2014.

The ‘Yeats in Love: the Annie West Archive’ was donated in April 2024 by Annie West to the Library of Trinity College Dublin in memory of her mother Daphne Siggins, who graduated with a BA in 1953 and worked in the College from 1979-1996. 

The archive consists of 24 pen & ink drawings from the book; 10 drawings from its exhibition; as well as material associated with the development of the graphic book, including research, general notes, sketches, scribbles, and original drafts.

Head of Research Collections, Laura Shanahan said: 

The Library of Trinity College Dublin seeks to continuously build on its unique contemporary collections. Annie West’s donation of these beautiful illustrations reflect her creative imagination, innovation and flair, bringing Yeats’ life and poetry along with a roll call of historical and literary figures to new audiences. It is important that the contemporary female voice has a strong presence in our collections and donations such as these are important in achieving that.

Sligo based illustrator, Annie West said:

I am absolutely thrilled and honoured that my work is being kept safe in the Library of Trinity College Dublin. I am hugely grateful to be invited, this is the closest thing to a Lifetime Achievement Award for Illustrators. The thought that my great grandchildren and their own children in the future can go and look at the illustrations in Trinity Library Special Collections is simply wonderful.

The Provost and Bursar joined the Librarian and Library staff for a tour of the new Interim Research Collections Study Centre in the basement of the Ussher Library  ahead of its opening to readers.

It is the new home to a Joint Research Collections Reading Room for Early Printed Books, Special Collections and Manuscripts & Archives for the duration of the Old Library Redevelopment Project (OLRP). The collections include the Library's oldest and most precious books, maps, manuscripts, and archives, with collections dating from 13th-century BC to the present day. The Glucksman Map Library Reading Room will also reopen alongside the temporary new Study Centre.

As part of the Old Library Redevelopment Project, the Old Library has now been emptied of its collections amounting to over 700,000 items, including 350,000 book volumes.

Librarian & College Archivist, Helen Shenton said:

Significant thought, planning and care has gone into safely moving collections on this scale. The dedication, flexibility and ingenuity of Library staff involved in this effort have been especially remarkable.

The Provost and Bursar were shown around the new space where Research Collections items were on display including those drawn from the Fagel Collection, Medieval Manuscripts Collection and Brendan Kennelly archive as well as maps of her own native Cork.

Provost, Linda Doyle said: 

The decant of material, led by the Library team, and the transfer and opening of the Interim Research Collections Study Centre has been a massive operation, with more than 50 Library staff assisted by up to 40 project assistants. This new Study Centre will be a very helpful support for researchers working with our fantastic collections. It marks a key stage in the Old Library Redevelopment Project.

Bursar & Director of Strategic Innovation, Professor Eleanor Denny thanked all staff involved, including Library, Estates and Facilities and IT Services as well as the design team.

Readers will continue to have access to all library material via this new Interim Research Collections Study Centre during the lifetime of the Old Library Redevelopment Project. They are supervised reading rooms, and reader spaces are reserved for those consulting Research Collections material. The Interim Research Collections Study Centre opened this week to readers. For all details click on the Library website’s opening hours and planning your visit guide.