Carnegie Corporation of New York Supports Digitization Initiative of the Library of Trinity College Dublin's Most Valued Collections
The new virtual Trinity Library will conserve, catalog, curate, digitize and research its unique collections of national importance, granting universal, free access.
Using the most advanced technology the Library’s new Digital Collections platform will showcase the breadth of the Trinity Library's most prized collections, ranging from precious manuscripts to scientific papers.
The Library of Trinity College Dublin is joining other world libraries, such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard that are collectively enabling access to patrimony and cultural heritage.
Virtual Trinity Library is opening up the collections of the largest library in Ireland catalyzing research and safeguarding the iconic treasures of the Library for generations to come. This is critical for the survival of the historic collections built up over more than 400 years. The project is part of the University’s philanthropic campaign, “Inspiring Generations”.
Collections−conservation, cataloguing, curation & digitization
The Virtual Trinity Library program is centered on the Library of Trinity College Dublin’s most prized collections across nine categories:
Europe’s Diverse Heritage: from Ussher’s Library to the Fagel Library
Ireland’s Medieval History: Medieval Manuscripts
Dublin for Children’s Literature: Trinity’s Collections of Children’s Literature
Ireland’s Religious and Political Evolution: Religious, Legal, Political and Military Collections
Ireland’s Experiments and Great Discoveries: Mathematical, Scientific and Map Collections
Global Culture: Papyrus and Objects
Ireland’s Literary Heritage: Literary Archives
Trinity’s Scholarly Contribution to the World: Trinity Icons
Ireland’s Creative Legacy: Performance, Creative Arts and Architecture Archives
Trinity academics will lead research in each of the themes, reflecting the University’s broad spectrum of research and ranging over Humanities and Science collections.
All of the digitized collections will be accessible online and will be preserved for the long-term in the Library’s Digital Collections Repository.
A centerpiece of the Virtual Trinity Library will be the conservation and digitization of Trinity’s collection of medieval manuscripts, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
On the launch of the Virtual Trinity Library, the 12th President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Vartan Gregorian spoke with Helen Shenton, Trinity Librarian & College Archivist discussing Creating a Virtual World Library for our Cultural Heritage
Click here to watch the interview.
This video is well worth viewing. They reminded us of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges quote, “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library”.
They discussed how free access to libraries, both physical and virtual, can allow people “to travel” while sitting at home. From 1981 to 1989 Gregorian served as president of the New York Public Library (NYPL), a network of 87 public libraries. He put NYPL firmly back on its financial feet. The NYPL allows library-goers to borrow books without any fees or being asked to produce an ID card. Hence, continuing in the spirit of Andrew Carnegie, Gregorian delights in flinging open library doors of knowledge to those, who may need it most. He perceives libraries as the most tolerant of institutions, “secular cathedrals” and books as instruments of liberation...