Ninth Level Ireland

“Any Trinity student who frequents the library, particularly during exam season, knows the all too familiar struggle of trying to find a seat: pacing the BLU, passing rows upon rows of occupied seats, or desks reserved with a pile of untouched books and a jacket. In October of last year, the practice of ‘desk hogging’ became such an issue that College hired teams of postgraduate students to manage the situation …” (more)

[Grace Gageby, Trinity News, 19 October]

“The James Joyce library will provide limited study spaces for undergraduate students this trimester in an effort to comply with COVID-19 restrictions and physical distancing guidelines. Additionally, opening hours have been minimised and there is currently no access to other UCD library locations …” (more)

[Emma Hanrahan, College Tribune, 21 August]

“Trinity’s libraries will re-open on a phased basis next week after more than three months, with a new book delivery service for researchers and a ‘click and collect’ facility. Kinsella Hall will be the first library space to re-open on June 29th, with the Berkeley, Lecky, Ussher, and Hamilton libraries and the John Stearne Medical Library opening on July 20th …” (more)

[Emer Moreau, University Times, 22 June]

“Trinity has received a grant of €2.7 million from Fáilte Ireland, Ireland’s government body for tourism, towards the overhaul of its Old Library. The reconfiguration of the 300-year-old building is part of a College strategy to improve the conditions in a library that houses some of its oldest manuscripts and book collections …” (more)

[Emer Moreau, University Times, 13 April]

“Higher education institutions are suffering tremendously from the impacts of the pandemic. And, as one university president noted last week, if any colleges and universities are unable to reopen for residential instruction in the fall due to the pandemic’s continuing effects, the results will be ‘cataclysmic’. Even putting aside worst case scenarios, instability in the economy means that many higher education institutions will likely face reduced revenue this upcoming academic year …” (more)

[Roger C Schonfeld and Christine Wolff-Eisenberg, The Scholarly Kitchen, 6 April]

“I study in Leipzig in Western Saxony. That’s in Eastern Germany between Berlin and Munich. When I finished secondary school, I worked as a volunteer in a children’s library for one year. I really liked that and decided a library career was for me …” (more)

[Theres Rudolph, libfocus, 30 March]

“As higher education institutions in the United States began to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving classes online, emptying residence halls, and authorizing remote work, academic librarians found themselves in need of real-time information – not only about their own institution’s practices, but also how other libraries were responding …” (more)

[Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Christine Wolff-Eisenberg, The Scholarly Kitchen, 23 March]

“University College Dublin (UCD) is to open one of its libraries on campus for students without internet or laptop access at home, despite a two-week shutdown of schools and colleges ordered in response to the coronavirus outbreak …” (more)

[Jack Power, Irish Times, 17 March]

“The number of study spaces in Trinity’s libraries will be reduced to allow for ‘social distancing’ in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn, Trinity’s Head of Library Communications, confirmed to Trinity News that the library is ‘looking at how best to implement the guidelines on social distancing, with the recommended 1 metre between our readers’ …” (more)

[Finn Purdy, Trinity News, 11 March]

“NUI Galway has begun the process of recruiting a project management team to oversee the development of a €39-million interactive learning facility, the first of its kind in Ireland …” (more)

[Galway Advertiser, 5 March]

“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]