Heritage Collections at the University of Galway Library

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Heritage Collections 



The Library at University of Galway is home to a rich, diverse and ever-expanding range of Heritage Collections, which include Archival, Print, and Digital Heritage Collections. It is the role of the Heritage Collections and Digitisation Team to acquire, catalogue, preserve, digitise and promote our unique Heritage Collections, and to enable staff, students, external researchers and members of the public to access and interrogate our collections, both on site in our dedicated Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, as well as remotely, through our Digital Collections repository. 

Our team works hard to make sure these collections are preserved, easy to find, and accessible for research, learning, and knowledge sharing both locally and globally. We also invite students to explore the unique materials in our library to enrich their coursework and overall learning experience. The Archives and Special Collections Reading Room is central to our services and provides key access to our physical collections. Check out more details about what we offer below. 

If you'd like to learn more about how our collections can support your teaching and learning, feel free to reach out to the team. Click on the headings below to find out more information and contact details for the relevant Archives, Special Collections and Digital Heritage Team members.  

Archives


The University of Galway Library’s Archive collections include over 400 collections dating from the 15th century to today, encompassing a wide range of formats such as parchment, paper, photographs, maps, audio, and digital materials. These archives preserve a historical and contemporary record of life, society, and culture in Ireland and beyond, in both English and Irish. Key areas of focus include Irish music and language, folklore, literature, business records, politics, and human rights. The collections are valuable resources for research, teaching, and learning. 


They are available to consult in our Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, some of our archives are also available remotely, through our Digital Collections repository. Read more about them in the Digital Heritage section below.


Special Collections 



Special Collections is the section of the Library which looks after old and rare items as well as material in different formats such as maps and newspapers. Our special collections include notable strengths in folklore, Irish-language materials, and travel literature related to Ireland. We hold over 30 Named Book Collections, representing the collections entrusted to us by named donors. Maps, historic newspapers and older and rare books constitute a substantial part of our Special Collections. 



As befits a University which takes its community remit very seriously, the Library has for many years collected material relating to the West of Ireland and the local Galway area. This is reflected in some of the donated collections, as well as in our modern Local Studies Collection. These collections are accessed in the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room. The staff there will be happy to assist with queries relating to this material. 

Digital Heritage


Our work in Digital Heritage is to embrace technology to preserve our archives and special collections, and to make that content more accessible to all audiences. Our objectives are to enable researchers to access material remotely, create transformative ways of interrogating information, and offer innovative visitor experiences. We provide a suite of services that includes digitisation, metadata and publication, content creation, technology to support access, infrastructure to support preservation. Primary access to our Digital Collections is through our  


Digitisation 



Digitisation means creating a high-quality digital surrogate of an archival document or a rare book. There are many reasons for doing this, some examples are: 

  • Access: Providing a digital copy of something so that it can be viewed remotely, or published 

  • Exhibition: Curating a narrative using digital items 

  • Preservation: Reducing handling on a fragile document, or ensuring the content on a vulnerable recording remains accessible 

  • Publication: Creating a digital surrogate for use in a publication or broadcast 

 

We have state-of-the-art digitisation equipment and skilled digitisation practitioners on our team. Much of the content on our Library’s Digital Collections and Digital Exhibitions platforms has been created from these types of digitised collections. 

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