The Old Library Redevelopment Project is an ambitious restoration project that will draw on 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 at the end of 2025. The newly conserved Old Library will include a 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:
The Joint Research Collections Reading Room is currently housed in the East Pavilion of the Old Library and will remain there until the end of 2023. It is the joint reading room for Early Printed Books, Special Collections, and Manuscripts & Archives Collections. In January 2024, 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.
Collections currently experiencing restricted access:
We will endeavour to assist readers in any way we can to avoid disruption to research and learning during this period but thank you for your forbearance as we complete this complex task.
Please see our ‘planning your research visit’ page for more information or contact Research Collections by email: epbooks@tcd.ie (for printed material queries) or mscripts@tcd.ie (for manuscript and archive queries).
Renovation is now underway (as of February 2023) 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 basement level is now closed to readers and the Glucksman Map Library reading room will be temporarily (physically) inaccessible from 20 February 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 for the 2023/24 academic term. All requests for the scan on demand service may be submitted to the email: map.library@tcd.ie or telephone +353 1 8962087 or 8961544.
