Spotlight on Cregan Library, St. Patrick's College
St. Patrick’s College opened in 1875 to meet the teacher training needs of a
denominational primary school system but over the years it has grown to include
post-graduate and doctoral programmes and established humanities programmes
which have led to a holistic approach to education.
The
library has existed in some form or another as far back as 1884! The last
version of the library was built in the 1980s and was in need of a revamp for
some years before we moved into a new four-story library building earlier this
year. Lots of planning and work went into the move – for example we integrated
the collections of our ‘Resource Centre’ into the library and RFID tagged over
160,000 items in preparation for self-issue kiosks.
Highlights
Flexible library space
I work
in the information service and moving into the bright, colourful new building
has been a great boost for staff morale, as students and College staff have
given lots of positive feedback about what a nice place the library is to study
and meet in. It provides a variety of seating to facilitate various types of
learners; from a bookable group study room, egg-shaped lounge-chairs in the
lobby, and individual study booths, to (of course) bean-bags for relaxing in!
There are quiet areas and louder areas so that people can have a chat and
coffee on the ground floor, but must engage in silent study on the top floor.
Archive room
We have
several special collections which are now housed in a purpose-built,
temperature-controlled archive room. These special collections have been built
up over the long history of the library, and reflect a rich tradition in
education and Irish children’s literature, as well as Irish history. They
include (but are not limited to!): a schools text book collection, Junior
special collections (Padraic Colum, Patricia Lynch) and P.W.Joyce and Henry
Morris collections.
Accessing the Library
The
library is open to staff and students of the College during term-time from 9am-
10pm Mon-Thurs & 5pm on Fri. We open from 10am- 1pm on Saturdays. During
the Summer months we open office hours Mon-Fri.
Location: Drumcondra Road, Dublin 9.
Website: http://leabharlann.spd.dcu.ie/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/creganlibrary
Twitter: @LibraryStPats
About the Author
Genevieve Larkin
Genevieve started working in St.
Patrick's College Library in 2008 while studying in
DCU and later completed an M.LIS from RGU. Prior to joining the College
she worked for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown co/co in public libraries.
Genevieve is currently the
secretary of the LAI Career Development Group and her professional
interests
include the use of emerging technologies in libraries and archives,
continuing professional
development for librarians, information and digital literacies, and
library
advocacy.
Phone:
(01) 8842175
Email: genevieve.larkin@dcu.ie
Twitter: @Genevievela 
0 comments: