Ninth Level Ireland

“Standing almost 65m in length and built in 1732, the Long Room of Trinity’s Old Library is one of the most famous and impressive libraries in the world, visited by millions of tourists each year. With its great barrel-vaulted ceiling and upper gallery bookcases stacked with 200,000 of the library’s oldest books (including a free copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland), the Long Room is a feast for the senses …” (more)

[Rachel O’Leary, University Times, 27 November]

“The news that college intends to recruit a team of students as ‘desk monitors’ in the library during exam time has been met with a mixed reaction across campus. It has become increasingly clear that the practice of ‘desk hogging’ is a significant problem in the library …” (more)

[Hugh Whelan, Trinity News, 6 November]

“Staff at Trinity College Dublin said the university isn’t ‘exactly going to right the wrongs of history’ by commissioning busts of female scholars for its library, emails released under Freedom of Information show. Earlier this month, the university asked staff and students to nominate the first female scholar to be memorialised in a bust for the Long Room, the main chamber of the Old Library, the Irish Times reported …” (more)

[TheJournal.ie, 6 November]

“Trinity’s libraries are to employ a team of postgraduate students for the upcoming revision and assessment periods to monitor study spaces and prevent ‘desk hogging’. The monitors will leave notes on desks that appear to be unoccupied but have possessions such as books and laptops on them. The notes will inform the ‘desk hogger’ that if they do not reclaim the space within a certain period of time, the belongings will be removed …” (more)

[Emer Moreau, University Times, 25 October]

“Trinity’s Old Library is set for a major reconfiguration, which will see many of its oldest manuscripts moved to a new research space on the ground floor and involve the embedding of the library’s shop into the podium outside the Berkeley …” (more)

[Aisling Marren, University Times, 3 September]

“Sir, – Your guide to college life in Ireland (August 13th) details the realities of student life and includes ‘what’s hot’ and ‘what’s not’ for a number of university campuses. For DCU the author unfortunately notes in the latter category, that one would ‘have conquered Everest sooner’ than walk to the library. I can only deduce that he is referring to the O’Reilly Library on the Glasnevin campus …” (more)

[John McDonough, Irish Times, 19 August]

“Northern Ireland’s universities generated more than £400,000 in student library fines over the last five years, the BBC has learned. Figures show that Ulster University and Queen’s University in Belfast amassed a total of £423,000 since 2013 …” (more)

[BBC News, 12 August]

“The question of whether – and, if so, to what degree – Sci-Hub and similar pirate portals will lead (or are already leading) libraries to cancel journal subscriptions has been a fraught one for some time, and the debate doesn’t seem likely to settle down anytime soon …” (more)

[Rick Anderson, The Scholarly Kitchen, 3 July]

“Universities are increasingly extending their main library closing times into the early hours of the morning to cope with a surge in demand for late-night study. Colleges say they are responding to demand for extra study time in the run-up to the exams, while trying to balance this with student welfare …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 6 May]

“Dundalk Institute of Technology has renamed its library in honour of retired general John de Chastelain, the man who oversaw arms decommissioning in Northern Ireland. At a ceremony to mark the occasion on Thursday evening, Mr de Chastelain noted the ‘true architects’ of the peace process were the people of the region …” (more)

[Mark Hilliard, Irish Times, 2 May]

“Students have blasted the College after the library’s opening hours were cut over the Easter weekend, with a crowd of more than a hundred left waiting outside this morning ahead of the start of exam season next Tuesday …” (more)

[Eleanor O’Mahony and Donal MacNamee, University Times, 19 April]

“A male student was removed from Trinity’s library by the Gardaí for being abusive to other students this afternoon. At around 4pm, Gardaí escorted an unnamed student from the first floor of the Berkeley library …” (more)

[Robert Quinn, University Times, 3 April]

“As I write this in the library, I suddenly hear the dreaded tones of the librarian’s bell begin to echo through the various floors of the Ussher. I wonder, has my time come? Do I need to start hiding my books? Thankfully, it turns out that the bell is only meant for Ussher 1, so I’m safe …” (more)

[Hugh Whelan, Trinity News, 24 March]

“Maynooth University has moved to abolish library fines, marking the first time a higher education institution in Ireland has made the shift away from fines for late returns. Fines for standard loan items, which may be borrowed from the library for three weeks, are to be abolished under Maynooth University’s new loan scheme …” (more)

[Lauren Boland, Trinity News, 18 February]

“Trinity’s Santry stacks depository, which houses the majority of the College’s books, is to be replaced in the near future, after being deemed ‘not fit for purpose’. The College is also considering the possibility of disposing of its properties on D’Olier St and in Foster Place …” (more)

[Kathleen McNamee, University Times, 30 November]

“NUI Galway’s James Hardiman Library has not been invested in or improved upon since 1999, SIN has learned. The other six Irish universities have made investments of at least €20 million in the past ten years to modernise their library buildings, by either extending or replacing them. NUI Galway has made no such investments …” (more)

[Áine Kenny, SIN, 6 November]

“The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) expresses its support and solidarity with Dublin Institute of Technology Students’ Union (DITSU) as they protest the severe and recurrent staffing shortages across their college, which have now had a hugely detrimental impact on library opening hours …” (more)

[USI, 17 October]

“It goes without saying that a university’s library is one of its most important institutions. Without a functioning library, the very idea of a university becomes untenable. From an academic standpoint at least, libraries are at the heart of what colleges do …” (more)

[Jack Synnott, University Times, 8 October]

“A book vault that can store half a million volumes in little more than a tenth of the space occupied by conventional shelving is one of the stand-out features of the new Glucksman Library that was officially opened last Friday. The Automated Reserve Collection (ARC) comprises of a 10 meter high book vault and robotic crane that will allow UL’s historic collections, currently housed off-site, to be returned to campus …” (more)

[Limerick Post, 25 June]

“Thousands of bookworms, students and digital researchers will soon experience a unique lounge atmosphere, thanks to the much-anticipated €31m library transformation at University of Limerick. A number of eminent figures attended the launch of the Glucksman Library 7,600 squaremetre expansion, which now optimises student space, specialist facilities, acoustics and research zones …” (more)

[Fintan Walsh, Limerick Leader, 22 June]