Planning Your Research Visit
Anyone who fulfills the requirements for admissions to Trinity College Library Dublin, including visting readers, is welcome to use the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections (EPB).
The Department is located in the Old Library - see directions and floorplan.
The two main catalogues - the Online Catalogue and the 1872 Catalogue Online (described in Guide to the Catalogues) - are available on the Library website. They are also viewable on PCs in the Early Printed Books Reading Room and elsewhere in the Library.
A reference collection is located on the open shelves within the reading room, identifiable by the shelfmark OL in the Online Catalogue. These works may be used at any time during opening hours without being requested in advance.
The vast majority of Early Printed Books' works are held in closed access stacks and must be requested using green call slips, although it is envisaged that the Automated Stack Request system will be turned on for EPB in the not-too-distant future. Please request items in plenty of time, especially when you are working to a deadline. Everything requested on a green call slip will be delivered to EPB, as will anything with a shelfmark beginning OLS, all Irish Archival material and items published before 1950. Some other collections must also be read in EPB.
Stack requests placed at the EPB Service Counter for material in EPB Stacks should be delivered within an hour and a half. Requests placed at other Service Counters will take longer. More information on Stack Requests including delivery times is available.
Great care must be taken with the material to preserve it for future generations of scholars. To this end, book cradles are provided on each desk to support the spine and boards, and strings of weights are available to keep books open at a chosen page. Acid-free bookmarks are also supplied. Please do not rest anything on open books.
Readers are welcome to bring in a laptop computer or take notes (using a pencil not ink).Trinity College Dublin readers may avail of the College wireless network (Wi-Fi).
There is no self-service photocopier, but a paid copying service is available.
Lockers for bags and hooks for coats are provided. Absolutely no food, drink or mobile telephones are permitted in the reading room.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections.