The Old Library Redevelopment Project is an ambitious restoration project that will draw on the best 21st-century design and technology to safeguard the Old Library building and conserve its precious collections for future generations. It includes urgent structural and environmental upgrades, and the redevelopment of facilities in line with the best libraries and museums around the world.
The Old Library Redevelopment Project commenced in 2021. Restoration and construction works are due to start in 2023 and are scheduled to last three years. The newly conserved Old Library will include a beautiful new Research Collections Study Centre on the ground floor. The following stages are key components of the project including the decant of collections which will involve their relocation:
Over the lifetime of the project there will be continuity of access to Research Collections material, of all Library services, and to the expertise of Research Collections staff. We will be communicating with the College community prior to the decant and other enabling works. Disruption will be kept at a minimum. There may be brief periods where certain collections are temporarily inaccessible during the relocation process, and we will alert our readers in advance on this page.
The Joint Research Collections Reading Room is currently housed in the East Pavilion of the Old Library and will remain there until the beginning of the next academic term, 2022/23. It is the joint reading room for Early Printed Books, Special Collections, and Manuscripts & Archives collections. From the start of the 2022/23 academic year, the Research Collections service will move to a new interim Research Collections Study Centre in the basement of the Ussher Library.
All updates and advance notices will be provided for Library readers and the College community on this Library Guide. For more information on the Old Library Redevelopment Project see the Old Library Redevelopment website.
Renovation work is due to commence in April in the Ussher Library Basement to make way for the new interim Research Collections Study Centre as part of the Old Library Redevelopment Project. The Glucksman Map Library reading room will be temporarily inaccessible from April onwards for a number of months. There will be continuity of service with a scan on demand and enquiry service available during this period. Map Library staff will continue to have access to the collections for this purpose. The Map Library reading room will reopen alongside the interim Research Collections Study Centre at the beginning of 2022/23 academic year. All requests for the scan on demand service from April onwards may be submitted to the email: map.library@tcd.ie or telephone +353 1 8962087 or 8961544.
