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Library Strategy

Continuity & Development of the Library Strategy - 2026

Continuity & Development of the Library Strategy - 2026 progresses the Library Strategy 2015-2020 to include new elements of Sustainability and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

Library Strategy - 2015-2020

Our strategy is available to view online.

The Library of Trinity College Dublin is unique in the complex variety of roles it performs, ranging from a legal depository of British and Irish published works to its place as one of Ireland’s premier visitor attractions. But many of the challenges it faces are ones that will resonate across all universities and libraries, together with other academic and cultural institutions.

The need to redefine and re-examine the role of the academic library is articulated by the College’s Librarian and Archivist, Helen Shenton, in the Introduction to the Library’s Strategy 2015-2020, which was launched on 8 October 2015 by the Provost. The Strategy addresses how libraries are moving beyond the mere digitisation of their content to becoming digital entities in their own right. It also examines how the library as physical space is evolving, as a place in which to study, imagine and collaborate, which puts it even more at the heart of universities.

Examining and anticipating the needs of its different users, fostering innovation and creativity, catalysing research, and working in partnerships with other members of the academic and wider community, are key issues faced by the Library. The Strategy seeks to address these challenges and embrace the opportunities, not just in the next five years, but for many years to come.

In a year of events entitled “The Library of the Future; the Future of the Library” Trinity explored how libraries are evolving in response to transformative shifts in information, education and society through a series of high-profile talks, seminars and symposia .

The inaugural event launched the programme with a debate mediated by broadcaster and historian Dr John Bowman. The Provost and Trinity’s three Deans of Faculty, together with the College’s Librarian, discussed the key societal, educational and research issues that affect higher education and libraries within it. It promises to be a lively and potentially contentious debate, challenging the traditional perceptions of libraries.