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Temporary Disruption of the Library’s UK Electronic Legal Deposit Service

Group of electronic device users logging onto their devices

Please be advised there is a temporary disruption of the Library’s UK electronic legal deposit service, due to a technical issue. Content including e-books, e-journals and the web archive are likely to be unavailable for a number of days. The Legal Deposit Libraries are working hard to resolve the situation as soon as possible. We will keep readers updated during this process. If you require urgent access to a title available on UK eLD only, please contact library@tcd.ie for assistance.

Our electronic Legal Deposit collection is a shared endeavour with the other UK Legal Deposit Libraries. Our access to this content is via the British Library. Unfortunately, they are experiencing a major technology outage following a cyber-attack. The outage is affecting their website, online systems and services, and includes electronic Legal Deposit. They anticipate restoring many services in the next few weeks, but some disruption may persist for longer. Please see their blog  https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2023/11/cyber-incident.html

for updates from them.

The Ecological Emergency Book Club – next book and November meeting

Are you a member of staff who would like to know more about the climate emergency but don’t know where to start?

We’ve teamed up with Dr. Clare Kelly in the School of Psychology to bring you a monthly book club to showcase some of the best readings on the climate and biodiversity crisis.

November’s Book Club

Cover of Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything and photo of author

Our second book club takes place on Friday, 10th November in the North Training Room in the Library (former Berkeley Library). This month’s pick is Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything.

Continue reading “The Ecological Emergency Book Club – next book and November meeting”

Manuscripts catalogue records moving to Stella Search

From 6 October 2023 our Manuscripts and Archives catalogue records will be accessible through our main online Library catalogue, Stella Search. With the addition of these records users will now be able to search across the entirety of our collections through one online platform, Stella Search, whilst also being able to narrow their search parameters to specific collections such as our Manuscripts and Archives catalogue records if they wish. This will help enable more integrated searching with our users more in control of what content they wish to retrieve.

As a result of this move users will no longer access our Manuscripts and Archives Online Catalogue (MARLOC) through the current interface which is being discontinued. All the information previously available through MARLOC will now be available through Stella Search so they will continue to be accessible to users.

However, any embedded links from MARLOC or bookmarks that users have directing them to MARLOC will need to be updated at this page will no longer exist on the internet.

We appreciate this may be a significant change for users so we will be producing guidance on how to search our Manuscripts and Archives catalogue records within Stella.

Welcome from the Library of Trinity College Dublin

Librarian & College Archivist, Helen Shenton

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”
               −Albert Einstein

Dear students and staff,

A very warm welcome to all new students and returning students, academics, researchers, and staff. To our first-year undergraduates who have started classes, we especially wish you every success in your new lives. The Welcome to the Library page has everything needed for you to get started. If you have any queries, Library staff are here to assist you with virtual consultations, skills workshops and a range of services. Please email Library@tcd.ie and a Library staff member will get back to you, or contact your Subject Librarian directly. 

Library Supports & Services

We started the new academic year with in-person student orientation programmes. They included tours of the Library complex for undergraduate, postgraduate, Trinity Access Programme (TAP), Visiting, Erasmus and Neurodiverse Plus programmes. A big thank you to our TAP Ambassadors, S2S Mentors and Disability Ambassadors for their assistance throughout. There will also be Library sensory tours during the semester. 

Sometimes it can be challenging for students to recognise what constitutes good academic practice. In collaboration with Trinity Teaching and Learning, Student Learning Development and the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum our Guide to Academic Integrity has been refreshed, providing study and referencing tips to help students avoid common pitfalls. Look out for ‘citing and referencing’ and ‘avoiding plagiarism’ workshops and clinics taking place during Academic Integrity Week. 

Some Library users can also experience challenges with text. For example, those with a visual impairment, dyslexia or a physical disability. Bookshare Ireland provides Trinity readers access to a global database of over 1.2 million e-books which can be transformed into more accessible formats. 

The staff version of ‘CA7000;Research Integrity and Impact in an Open Scholarship Era’, co-ordinated by the Library’s Research Informatics Unit, will be available to Trinity staff via Blackboard on a voluntary, self-registration basis from September 20th.

A new monthly Ecological Emergency Book Club for staff, led by Dr Clare Kelly will start on October 13th, to engage staff in some of the best readings on the climate and biodiversity crisis, helping to educate, inform and build a community of solidarity. 

From October, the Manuscripts and Archives catalogue records will be accessible through the main online Library catalogue, Stella, meaning all users will now be able to search across the entirety of our collections through this one platform.

This semester’s Library HITS (Helpful Information for Trinity Students/Staff) started last week. If you are new to Trinity or want to refresh your existing skills, please join the programme which is delivered by the Library and Student Learning & Development.

Renaming of the Berkeley Library

Following extensive consultation and evidence-based submissions under the Trinity Legacy Review Working Group, in April the Board decided to dename the Berkeley Library, the brutalist modernist building in the centre of campus. In line with the Board’s decision to dename and explain,the building is temporarily being referred to simply as the Library’ and there is explanatory material in the foyer.

Over the academic year, there will be a consultative process for renaming the building, which will be an opportunity for people to convey views on what the former Berkeley Library should be called and why. All the evidence, submissions, and minutes of the Trinity Legacy Review Working Group are available here and a short film on the issues to date will be available soon.

Library Refurbishment Programmes

We will reach a major milestone in the preparation for the Old Library Redevelopment Project (OLRP) with the completion of construction of the new Interim Research Collections Study Centre in the Ussher Library Basement this semester.

For the duration of the conservation of the Old Library, Research Collections and staff currently in the Old Library, will be housed in the heart of the contemporary Library complex.

The construction works have caused intermittent noise and disruption over the summer and will continue for a while longer. I would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.

Meanwhile, works to replace the windows in the 1937 Reading Room are scheduled to continue until the end of September. On completion, postgraduates will enjoy a warmer and healthier study environment.

Old Library Redevelopment Project 

The decant of the collections from the Old Library, involving the gargantuan task of transferring 350,000 early printed books (as part of a total 700,000 items) is near completion. Many of you will already have seen the wonderful timelapses of this process. By the end of this month, all the books will be removed from the Old Library, except for the first four bays on either side of the entrance to the Long Room. These will remain in place for visitors while the Old Library remains open until the end of 2025, when the conservation and construction of the building will commence.

Up-to-date information can be found on the Old Library Redevelopment: Update for Readers section of the Library website.

Virtual Trinity Library

Highlights of our astounding Library collections have featured throughout the year in symposia, and physical and online exhibitions thanks to the ambitious Virtual Trinity Library programme and its extensive digitisation of collections made available on Digital Collections.

A highlight this semester will be the Library symposium ‘Many Lives of Medieval Manuscripts’ as part of the Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York taking place on 30th November and 1st December 2023.

The achievements of the international Unlocking the Fagel Collection project were also celebrated with a Library symposium and an exhibition in the Long Room in June.

On the occasion of another Library exhibition in April, marking the 400th anniversary of the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, the First Folio, Trinity alumna and author Anne Enright launched the Trinity Centre for the Book. The new research centre, hosted in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, in collaboration with the Library, will co-ordinate and share research on the cultural and social importance of books of all types.

The Book of Kells will be the topic of the Trinity Centre for the Book Research Seminar in this week’s Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival on 27th September at 4pm. Afterwards, our librarians will describe some of their favourite items across the Library’s vast collections.  

Finally, last Thursday, we celebrated the donation of the Bollmann Collections of fore-edge paintings with an exhibition in the Long Room.

With warmest good wishes,

Helen Shenton

Librarian & College Archivist

Bound to please: Exhibition of fore-edge paintings and bindings go on display in Long Room

Pictured in the main image are Principal Librarian, Early Printed Books & Special Collections, Dr Lydia Ferguson and exhibition curator, donor, Bettina Bollmann.

Intricate scenes painted on book edges depicting landscapes, flowers and buildings are the subject of a new exhibition in the Library of Trinity College Dublin.

Château de Fontainebleau on the fore-edge of M. Menzikof & F. Dolgorouki: Histoire russe v.2 (London, 1805)

The exhibition features highlights from the Library’s Bollmann Collection which includes fore-edge paintings executed over 250 years. They were painted on books printed between 1639 and 1895, with a wide variety of subjects – landscapes, mansions, religious buildings, boats, coats of arms, and flowers. Many of the books in the collection are in decorative bindings and the most beautiful of these will be on view in the exhibition alongside the fore-edge paintings.

Entitled “Bound to please: the Elsbeth and Bettina Bollmann Collection of fore-edge paintings and bindings”, the exhibition in the Long Room of the Old Library will run until the end of November and forms part of the Book Of Kells exhibition.

The unusual art of painting on the flat fore-edges of books goes back many centuries but the more subtle art of creating a hidden picture which is only visible when the leaves of the book are fanned appeared in England in the middle of the 17th century. There are three 17th-century fore-edge paintings in the Bollmann Collection, one of them probably executed in 1652 and the other two dated 1685 and 1688.

The art of fore-edge painting was taken up by the firm of Edwards of Halifax in the late 18th century and is often associated with that family. Founded by William Edwards in Halifax, Yorkshire, William was joined in his business by his sons, two of whom opened their own premises in London.

Apart from fore-edge paintings, the Edwards are known for their Etruscan-style bindings, described as such because motifs typical of Etruscan vases were used to decorate them, and for illustrated vellum bindings, on which a drawing on the cover is covered with a thin layer of transparent vellum to protect it. Both of these designs by the Edwards family are represented by several books in the Bollmann Collection. These stunning bindings are among those forming part of this exhibition.

Most fore-edge paintings are not dated and some of them were added to books many years after the books were published. Double fore-edge paintings and triple edge paintings, which are not commonly found, are believed to date from the early 20th century. Books with these paintings are among the highlights of this exhibition.

Helen Shenton, Librarian and College Archivist, commented:

“The Bollmann Collection of fore-edge paintings and bindings is the largest collection of fine bindings acquired by the Library of Trinity College Dublin since the early 19th century. Most of the volumes are decorated with fore-edge paintings and many of them are in fine bindings, making this the most important collection of bindings to be acquired by the Library in over 200 years, since the Quin Collection was received in 1805.

We are most grateful to Bettina Bollmann for making this donation of exquisite fore-edge paintings and bindings to the Library’s precious Research Collections. We are delighted to showcase highlights in this physical exhibition as well as an online exhibition and videos.”

The books on display in the Trinity exhibition form part of a collection of 52 books which was donated to the Library in 2022 by Bettina Bollmann, who had joined her mother Elsbeth over several decades in assembling the collection.

Most of the volumes are decorated with fore-edge paintings and many of them are in fine bindings, making this the most important collection of bindings to be acquired by the Library in over 200 years, since the Quin Collection was received in 1805.

Pictured in the main image are Principal Librarian, Early Printed Books & Special Collections, Dr Lydia Ferguson  and exhibition curator, donor, Bettina Bollmann.

Read more here:

Introducing the Ecological Emergency Book Club

Image of grass field with mountain and blue sky in the background.

Are you a member of staff who would like to know more about the climate emergency but don’t know where to start?

We’ve teamed up with Dr. Clare Kelly in The School of Psychology to bring you a monthly book club to showcase some of the best readings on the climate and biodiversity crisis.

The Book Club is open to all staff (professional, research, academic) and takes place in the North Training Room in The Library (former Berkeley Library), the second Friday of every month (12:00-14:00).

These are moderated events, where Trinity staff can ask questions and engage in discussions about the book with the Trinity staff community. There is no need to register and all staff are welcome.

October’s Book Club

Our first book club takes place on Friday, 13th October in the North training room in the Library (former Berkeley Library).

This month’s pick is:
Generation Dread : Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis by Britt Wray.

Check the availability of Generation Dread in The Library

Feel free to join the conversation over on Yammer


Intermittent noise in the Ussher Library, 9-18 August

Due to ongoing construction works, there will be periods of noise during weekday office hours from Wednesday 9 to Friday 18 August in the Ussher Library – we apologise for any disruption caused. Due to the nature of the works these are likely to be quite loud and constant this week; next week should be more intermittent.

Students wishing to use reading rooms with less distraction may wish to temporarily move to the Lecky Library, former Berkeley Library, or indeed the Hamilton Library at the East End of College.

Library Vacancies – Student Shelvers 2023/2024

Student Shelvers (Term Time), 2023/2024

Applications for student shelvers are now being accepted for the coming academic year 2023/24.

Each year the Library employs a number of student shelvers who work 10-12 hours per week at the Libraries on Campus and in the Trinity Centre at St James’s Hospital. The primary role of student shelvers is to sort books and return them to the shelves each morning before the Library opens.

A full job description and short-listing criteria are available on the application website. Please ensure you read these in detail before completing the form on the website.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 12 noon on Monday 7th August 2023.

Please Note: Interviews for these positions are likely to take place at the end of September 2023. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by e-mail of their interview time at least one week in advance of the interview date.

If you have any questions please contact Maria Kelly, Reading Room Maintenance Executive: kellyM10@tcd.ie 

School of Education authors publish new book on Universal Design for Learning in Academia

Authors pictured are Mary Quirke, Patricia McCarthy and Gaston (Trusty bi-lingual Asst.) and Conor McGuckin.

The Routledge publication of “Adopting a UDL Attitude within Academia” was celebrated with authors, Mary Quirke, Conor McGuckin and Patricia McCarthy, together with Gaston (Patricia’s guide dog), Library staff and colleagues this week (July 12th) in the foyer of the Library.  The book is an interesting project whilst also an exciting contribution to the discourse on inclusion on campus.  The authors themselves are an interesting team in that Mary is completing her PhD, with Dr McGuckin and Dr McCarthy who are colleagues in the School of Education.

Authors, Mary Quirke, Patricia McCarthy and Gaston (Trusty bi-lingual Asst.) and Conor McGuckin joined by colleagues from the  School of Education, Library and wider College community: Michael Shevlin, Siobhan Dunne, Derina Johnson, Emer Murphy, Aoife Lynam, Emily Barnes, Marita Kerin, Carmel O’Sullivan, Conn McCluskey, Sarah Coughlan, Rebecca Cullen, Barbara Ringwood and Carol-Ann O’Sioráin.

While the book bridges the gap between the theory and practice of UDL (Universal Design for Learning), a design framework for inclusion, it very clearly sets out the “thinking” needed in our increasingly diverse learning environments.

The book is not just intended for those leading classrooms and this is very evident from the variety of contributors across the publication.  Our very own subject librarian, is one of many international contributors.  Geraldine Fitzgerald shares her experience of developing inclusive practice in Chapter 8 and how in her role as subject librarian for Education, she regarded UDL as a useful personal learning concept. Geraldine has successfully applied UDL with colleagues resulting in positive inclusive change across the Library and has continued to collaborate on projects relating to improving the library’s sensory environment and improving accessibility to resources.

This book encompasses all the values of inclusion.  It pushes the boundaries and engages all on campus.  The inclusion of subject librarian, Geraldine, was integral as when we first think about information in a campus setting, our thoughts are never too far away from what we need to read.  Whilst the librarians and their expertise are important to the discussion of inclusion, these colleagues do not stand alone as the gatekeepers.  Each and every one of us has a role to play. 

That is the essence of the book − it shares the attitude necessary for inclusion, where inclusion is everyone’s business.

The book will have a broad appeal and is essential reading for anyone looking to understand and implement UDL across their learning environment.

There is a book launch planned Sept 7th 2023, so do put the date in your diary! Further details to follow.

Submitted by Author Mary Quirke

Unlocking the Fagel Collection – Trinity’s Old Library celebrates its Dutch treasures 

Botanical catalogues, lavish celestial atlases and unique pamphlets from the early modern period are among 30,000 titles being conserved and digitally catalogued in an ambitious collaboration to register the entirety of the 18th-century Fagel Collection, which fills a mile of shelving space in the Old Library of Trinity College Dublin. 

50% of the collection has now been catalogued opening up this unique heritage library to 21st-century research. The achievements of the international Unlocking the Fagel Collection Project (2020-2023) was celebrated yesterday evening [Wed, June 21st] with the opening of an exhibition in the Library of Trinity College Dublin by Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ireland, Adriaan Palm and a conference in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. KB Board of Director – responsible for Sustainable Access and Heritage, Geertrui Verbraak and the Librarian & College Archivist, Helen Shenton joined the Ambassador with opening words.

The project is a collaboration between the Library of Trinity College Dublin and the KB National Library of the Netherlands. It is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was launched following the State Visit of the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Ireland in 2019.

 
 
Head of Research Collections, Laura Shanahan, Dutch Ambassador, Adriaan Palm, KB Board of Director, Geertrui Verbraak, Fagel Collection Project Manager, Ann-Marie Hansen and KB Coordinator of Collection Knowledge, Maarten Heerlien.

All 30,000 books, pamphlets, and maps in the collection are being digitally recorded in the Trinity Library catalogue. It is a flagship project of the Virtual Trinity Library programme, which is opening up the unique and distinct collections of the College through conservation, cataloguing, digitisation, research and public engagement. Additionally, the Dutch titles are being recorded in the Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands (STCN), the Dutch national bibliography.

The Fagel Collection is one of the jewels in the Library’s collections and is regarded as one of the most important private libraries in early modern Europe. The collection was amassed by five generations of the Fagel family – many of whom held high public office in the Netherlands. It was purchased as a whole for Trinity College Dublin in 1802 and is officially recorded as one of the treasures of the College. 

In an era when printed material was the foremost basis of power and information, the Fagel collection, assembled contemporaneously by five generations of bibliophiles, is a treasure trove of material detailing global politics, trade, law, exploration and knowledge management in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The exhibition, entitled “Unlocking the Fagel Collection”, forms part of the Book of Kells visitor experience, and comprises 20 items chosen to give a flavour of the wonderful range and diversity of printed material contained within the vast collection. Highlights of the exhibition include a beautifully illustrated and hand-coloured botanical reference book; poetry and song publications wrapped in decorated papers; and unique volumes of rare pamphlets and ephemeral publications. 

Librarian & College Archivist, Helen Shenton, noted that:

“This project is a flagship and exemplar in the ambitious Virtual Trinity Library programme. With the support of the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands, we are well on the way to virtually reconstructing and reuniting this pan-European Library with sister collections in the Netherlands and in the wider region. Now over two centuries since arriving in Dublin, this historically significant collection is being made available for 21st-century research.”

Head of Research Collections, Laura Shanahan, commented:

“On its arrival to Trinity the Fagel Collection increased the Library’s holdings by 40%, and vastly expanded its subject content beyond largely theological material to all areas of scholarly interest. The Fagel collection also touches on every corner of the globe, opening up the realm of understanding beyond Ireland and Western Europe to the whole world. The collection’s importance for research now, and for understanding the political and social movements of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, simply cannot be overstated. We are so proud that finally this collection is beginning to realise its full potential.”

A three-day conference  organised by the Library will hear research updates from some of the 30 scholars who are currently working on the Fagel Collection. The event which is free and open to the public is hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Institute, the research partner of the Fagel project. Topics include how astronomy and the astral sciences are represented in the collection; document illuminated publications in the Fagel library, and present research on the Fagel family as international propaganda masters.

Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Eve Patten said:

“Trinity’s Fagel Collection opens up lines of enquiry into everything from the cultures of empire to climate change. We are delighted to host a conference that will bring so many international experts closer to this unique resource.”

Unlocking the Fagel Collection Project Manager, Ann-Marie Hansen, added:

“With half of this unique collection now digitally catalogued and fully discoverable ­the monumental efforts to ‘unlock’ the Fagel Collection are already delivering rich research impact. We have recorded over two-thousand editions that had never before been described. Additionally, we now know that 15% of the titles in the collection are the only known surviving copies of those publications.

“The Fagel Collection is attracting the attention of researchers locally and internationally and new scholarship is changing what we know, not only about the Fagel Collection, but also about what was printed in the 18th century. And we haven’t finished yet! The next stage is to complete the cataloguing, engage with digitisation and continuing to explore the full potential of the Fagel Collection for further research.”

Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ireland, Adriaan Palm, who will launch the exhibition this evening, said:

“The partnership between Trinity, the National Library of the Netherlands, and the Dutch and Irish governments signals a Europe-wide dedication to the preservation of and access to our shared cultural heritage. The ‘Unlocking the Fagel Collection project’ is one of the finest examples of research and public engagement projects today, and we are very glad to be able to celebrate this major milestone in providing complete access to the pan-European collection.”

Note to editors:

Video content detailing the history, scope and research potential of the Fagel Collection can be viewed and embedded from the Trinity Website: https://www.tcd.ie/library/fagel/fagel-videos/

More about the Fagel Project:

The Library of Trinity is collaborating with the KB National Library of the Netherlands, to register all publications in the Fagel Collection in the catalogue of the Library of Trinity College and in the Short-Title Catalogue, Netherlands, the Dutch pre-1800 national bibliography. The project is also working in conjunction with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute to facilitate researchers to engage in the collection. The project ‘Unlocking the Fagel Collection’ is made possible by the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fagel Collection will form a key component of the Library’s Virtual Trinity Library, which allows digital access to the unique and distinct collections of the Library. The Library has long term aims to digitally reunite the Fagel collection with related library, archive, museum and private collections around the world, using the latest enhanced technologies.

More about the Fagel Collection:

The Fagel collection at the Library of Trinity College Dublin is one of the most important and largest still extant Dutch private libraries from the eighteenth century. The library was assembled as a working library by several generations of the Fagel family, of whom successive members held high offices in the Dutch Republic throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The collection of books, pamphlets and maps was purchased as a whole for Trinity College Dublin in 1802. The material ranges in date from 1478 to 1799 with the greater volume of material published in the 18th century and relates to all parts of the world, but with a particular emphasis on Europe and areas outside Europe where the Dutch had trading or colonial interests. Many items in the library are private printings, in that they were not made available to the public at large, and are consequently very rare.