The library of Trinity College Dublin has launched its new strategic plan, outlining how the library will redefine itself in the digital age and to define what it means to be a major research library in the 21st century.
The strategy, launched this evening in the Science Gallery, will govern the operation of the library from 2015-2020, and is described by Provost Patrick Prendergast as “one of the most important documents in defining Trinity’s future”.
Librarian and College Archivist, Helen Shenton, stated that the new initiatives centre around the need for research libraries to “move beyond the digitisation of their collections to becoming digital entities in themselves to secure their futures”.
With over six million printed volumes and collections reflecting over 400 years of research, the library of Trinity College Dublin is the largest in the country, attracting over half a million visitors each year as well as two million virtual visitors to the library’s website. “Trinity has a tradition of innovation, it was the first library in Ireland to automate its catalogue, was the first to integrate conservation, was a pioneer in devising an exhibition around a single item,” Shenton explained, “So now, in that Trinity tradition, we must innovate, in both the virtual and physical realms, to create the library that ensures our multiple communities progress and flourish”.
She added that “libraries are undergoing massive shifts in how they operate. They are moving beyond the simple digitisation of their collections to becoming digital entities themselves. There is also a commensurate social shift in the use of library space as learning spaces, cultural spaces and communal spaces. Our vision is for Trinity’s library to be the physical and virtual ‘go-to’ place to learn, to research, to study unique collections and showcase the impact of Trinity’s research to the world.”
Among the initiatives outlined in the plan is the development of physical and virtual exhibitions of library treasures, and an enhancement of facilities to allow for greater global access to research collections. The library also aims to accelerate access to digital content and enhance search tools, allowing library content to be easily available and connected to relevant information outside the University. It further proposes to expand its range of current services to enhance online reading such as the inclusion of a real-time heat-mapping survey of how people use the library’s collections and an analysis of how the library contributes to the Trinity’s reputation, performance and ranking, as well as undertaking a data analysis on the library’s economic and non-monetary impact on Trinity, Dublin, and Ireland.
Also speaking at the launch tonight was broadcaster and historian, Dr. John Bowman; Provost Patrick Prendergast; Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Darryl Jones; Dean of Health Sciences, Professor Mary McCarron; and Dean of Engineering, Maths and Science, Professor Vinny Cahill. At the event a programme of public talks, seminars and symposia for 2015 and 2016 were announced, entitled, ‘The Library of the Future; the Future of the Library Trinity’. This programme will see authors and academics such as John Banville and Professor Geoffrey Crossick take part in public interviews and discussions on the advancement of the library.
