New Director of Library Services at DCU

Dublin City University is pleased to announce the appointment of John McDonough as Director of Library Services.

Mr McDonough takes up the role following four and a half years as Director of the National Archives. Mr McDonough’s other previous roles include Head of Collections in the Library & Research Service of the Houses of the Oireachtas, and Project Manager of UCD’s Irish Virtual Research Library & Archive (now the UCD Digital Library).

Mr McDonough, who holds an MSc in ICT Systems from DCU, is a member of the board of the Digital Repository of Ireland and has represented Ireland at European and International bodies. 

Commenting on his new role, Mr McDonough said:

“I am delighted and honoured to be appointed Director of Library Services at DCU.  I look forward to working with colleagues in DCU Library to continue to deliver quality and added-value services to students and researchers within and beyond the DCU campus.”

Welcoming the appointment, DCU President Prof. Brian MacCraith said:

“We are delighted to welcome John McDonough to DCU. His expertise and vision will be major assets to the University and we are very confident that library services across our three academic campuses will develop further under his leadership.”

Mr McDonough replaces Chris Pressler, who has been appointed University Librarian and Director of the John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester.

DCU has experienced dramatic change in the last five years: new campuses, a new Faculty of Education; an expanded disciplinary profile along with an equally dramatic growth in student numbers. The advance of DCU Library in the same period reflects that of the University.

Across all standard measures, (staffing, collections and estates) DCU library has more than doubled in scale. The ambition of DCU is to continue to grow. Equally, the Library will develop over the coming years at an accelerated rate. Current projections within the time-period 2014-2019 have seen the library’s physical collections expand from 12km in 2014, to 22km in 2016 and it is anticipated this growth will reach 30km in 2019. This will make DCU Library one of the largest academic libraries in Ireland. DCU Library comprises the O’Reilly Library, Glasnevin Campus and the Cregan Library, St. Patrick’s Campus.  A partnership with the Jesuits, involving an extended loan of the Milltown Park Library, will see the extension of DCU Library to a third location on the All Hallows Campus in September 2019. DCU Library has over a million visits per annum and provides an extensive portfolio of services and collections for 20,000 students and staff.