UCD Digital Library

About UCD Digital Library

Welcome to UCD Digital Library’s temporary access website. Here you can explore a selection of digital collections from our permanent collection, with more content added over time.

UCD Digital Library is currently undertaking a major technology redevelopment project, which will involve the procuring and implementation of a new digital library access platform, along with a sustainable and robust digital preservation platform. 

What is UCD Digital Library?

The purpose of UCD Digital Library is to curate and present the digital cultural heritage collections of University College Dublin to the world, protecting and preserving the data, while keeping it as open as possible.

We have also collaborated with external organisations through partnership agreements, and all of the digitised and born-digital collections are made available through an open access platform. The website you are visiting currently is a temporary access website. We will have a new digital library access platform in 2026, which will contain a full set of collections, along with additional functionality.

Our digital collections include historical materials, such as maps, photographs, letters, pamphlets, telegrams, printed documents, registers of names, as well as more contemporary cultural heritage material, such as video, audio recordings and pointcloud data.

Please note that the UCD Digital Library does not include access to e-resources (such as books and journals) that UCD Library provides for faculty, staff and students. These can be accessed as usual from the UCD Library website.

Where is the UCD Digital Library based?

UCD Digital Library is based in University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 04, Ireland, and is part of UCD Library. 

You can contact the UCD Digital Library team by email at digital.library@ucd.ie

Meet the team

UCD Digital Library has a dedicated team of five members under the Directorate for Collections & Digital Services. Members of the team also support other services in the Directorate through technical and project management roles, and are currently involved with the Irish Social Sciences Data Archive (ISSDA) and Research Repository, UCD (RRU).

The Directorate for Collections & Digital Services is led by Arlene Healy. 


L-R: Peter, Órna, Audrey, Niamh, Étaín, and Arlene.


Why was the original UCD Digital Library taken down and replaced with this temporary website?

Following a review of the UCD Digital Library, we identified a system vulnerability and took the difficult decision to retire the ageing infrastructure and to focus our energies on its replacement, along with the introduction of a new digital preservation system. UCD Library took this action to ensure the safe-keeping and long-term sustainability and accessibility of all the digital collections that we steward. The digital collections remain safe, and the Digital Library team can still access them.

When will the Digital Library be back online?

We aim to implement a new UCD Digital Library in 2026. In the meantime, this is a temporary website to enable access to selected collections and we will add more collections over time. Please keep an eye on the UCD Digital Library page for updates, or follow us on social media platforms Bluesky or X (Twitter), or on LinkedIn.

Are the data (images and metadata) safe and secure?

The digital collections are safe, and will remain safe, while we replace the Digital Library platform. For us, the safe-keeping and long-term sustainability and accessibility of all the digital collections that we steward is of paramount importance.

What if I need to access images for use in teaching or research?

You can request images for teaching or research by emailing us directly at digital.library@ucd.ie. 

Are there other services we can recommend / refer to?

Some of our collections are available on other platforms. Please email us directly at digital.library@ucd.ie for assistance.

I’ve added links to the Digital Library from Brightspace. What action do I need to take?

Please remove the links, and contact us if the collection continues to be required for teaching purposes.