The launch of the DCU Jesuit Library Partnership took place in All Hallows College Dublin on Tuesday 1 Oct at 4.30 pm. The Irish Jesuit Provincial Leonard Moloney SJ and Brian MacCraith, (front of photo) President of Dublin City University signed a partnership agreement in which the Jesuit Province confirmed the transfer of its renowned Milltown Park library collection to Dublin City University.

Professor MacCraith said the library would mark “a massive advance for the university but also for scholarship in general in Ireland. It will be a great resource for anyone interested in the areas covered by the library.” Daire Keogh, (photo back left) Deputy President of Dublin City University who played a key role in the negotiations surrounding the move, said the partnership “will transform the student experience”, in the university.

Professor Keogh was speaking at the launch (listen here) attended by Jesuits, colleagues, former Milltown staff, and current staff and students from DCU. He said the library transfer was not a ‘transaction’ but a ‘partnership. “Effectively what has happened is that the Milltown Park community and the Jesuit Order have decided to move their library here where we will mind it for them… It’s not about ownership but it’s a way of maximising its accessibility and again it’s a way of inviting students to engage with the collection.”

Commenting on the quality, range and academic value of the books in the library, Daire Keogh said, “It’s a hugely significant collection in terms of classical, and contemporary theological issues.”  He said the library will be of great benefit to the 400 students in DCU in taught under-graduate and postgraduate studies many of whom are studying theology along with the 20 postgraduate research students. As well as housing an impressive collection of philosophical and theological works spanning many centuries, the library also hosts significant books in the field of literature and history.

The transfer of the library to Woodlock Hall in the All Hallows campus is a mammoth task involving the registering of 140,00 volumes that are subsequently packed into 25,000 boxes. In an attempt to give a sense of the size of the library Daire Keogh said that if all the books were laid flat, one after the other from  All Hallows outwards they would reach back to Milltown Park or beyond!