National Library of Ireland Review

Came back to visit the WB Yeats exhibition which I love and have a delicious coffee and soup in their great little restaurant. The soup was tomato and chick pea ... yum!

Best and largest Irish library with over 8,000,000 items from around the world.

Nice library, time has stood still here. Superb exhibition on W.B Yeats.

A fantastic resource in the heart of the city.
Bring photo id and proof of address if you want to apply for a readers card.

I loved the exhibition about Yeats. Cool and very well made. The only lack of this place is that the reading room is closed during Saturday afternoon and sunday. It would be cool to have the possibility to have look inside not only during weekdays.

The National Library's History & Heritage tour is excellent; they have exhibitions as well as one of the most amazing collections of books I have seen.

National Library of Ireland

This library is superb.
The reading room on the first floor is splendid with its white dome and shades of green.

Before going up, you have a cloakroom to the left of the stairs.
it's free.

Good visit

The WB Yeats exhibition is very well presented with many artifacts and great use of multimedia.

This is a hidden gem.

Very nice place to read and learn more about Ireland s history. There s an exhibition about WB Yeats that will surprise you!

A fantastic place. If you're interested in literature and books, visit this place

BEAUTIFUL LIBRARY, QUESTION IF
DO YOU HAVE BOOKS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE MEXICO?

Very nice and calm stop, away from tourist masses. Entrance and exhibition are free, take photos is allowed except in the reading room. Worth a relaxing break.

Beautiful well maintained building that besides library, hosts exhibitions. Open to the public.

The museum itself is good, but I think the building its housed in (identical to the library across the plaza) is even more impressive. Go here to see middle-ages memorabilia.

Getting a readers card for the National Library made it doing my thesis almost worthwhile. The building is absolutely stunning rows and rows of study desks with green lamps and leather, surrounded by oak paneling. One of the greatest treasures in Dublin. And, this might sound weird, but the toilets are awesome. It's like stepping back in time.

If you want +100 points toward becoming a certified geek, here s a good place to start! Absolutely remarkable library with such a grand reading room that visitors are welcome to observe! No entrance fee, free cloaking in provided lockers and just a pleasant place to escape the hustle and bustle of downtown Dublin. The archaeology museum is housed in a twin building just across the way and so worth a visit if you re in the area

Beautiful library and building. Once a month they make a highly recommended guided tour.

The reading room is beautiful, with an abundance of seats and plugs (underneath the table). However, beware that the guest wifi is either so weak you can't access it or nonexistent all together - a bit of a shame for those trying to do research online.

Best place for studying, they keep it really quiet (sometimes can hear some baby crying), and you can take lovely tiny breaks just looking at the gorgeous ceiling. Is normal if they don't let people use writing tools other than their pencils, sure they do it for a consistent reason. Such a classy toilets with copper pipework, glassware and sofas, and other uncountable architectural and decorative details throughout the building

Amazing staff! Incredible resources for tracing Irish heritage.

This would be a great place if it were actually a public library. It is a library but it s not for the public.

When you enter the room, the librarian greets you with, Excuse me, sorry, this is a research library. You re going to have to leave. He enunciates research as if you are not likely to know what this word means. You do not explain that your last position was Research Director .

Instead, you inform him that you re looking for a quiet place to do some writing (and to prove it, you hold up your notebook and pen). He looks around the near empty room and says, Well we re not too busy today so I can let you stay, but that has got to go straight away, gesturing to your pen. There s no ink allowed. No pens, no markers, no felts, no quills... and he continues to rattle off a list of prohibited ink filled items as you sit there wondering if you have accidentally walked into an orphanage and you re about to be struck by the constipated headmaster. You assume that rather than evaluating education and work experience in their candidates, the library s Human Resources choose staff by finding cranky old men with failing marriages. The training, it appears, is solely the instruction, We don t actually want anyone to use this room, so just be as rude as you can.

Thank you, but actually I feel very unwelcome, you ll say, confused about why he is so aggressively unfriendly. I think I ll go somewhere else. He ll respond with, I m sorry about that, in a voice that makes it clear he is not at all sorry about that.

As you descend the stairs, the pleasant security guard obviously used to people returning to his desk with a what just happened? expression will suggest you visit the Yeats exhibit. This prompts you to wonder where Yeats did his writing; it certainly couldn t have been here. Also why is there a security guard at the entrance to a public library? To keep out the public, you realize.

You ask the guard whether there is a library you can actually use. Ah, yes, he smiles and nods knowingly. You ll want to go to Pearse Street library. You thank him.

As you leave, you see the street lamp posters with the Library s slogan: What will you find today? The answer is a publicly funded service seemingly dedicated to being inaccessible with a beautiful marble staircase.

If what you re looking for is the verbal equivalent of being pushed off a bicycle, this is the place for you. If you re looking for a library, try somewhere else.

The library, aside from having a gorgeous interior, had lots of interesting exhibitions. It was a nice place to spend a few hours, which isn't bad for a free attraction.

Nice exhibition about Kents. Free and with a good mix of media/manuscript

National Library of Ireland is free of charge, but I did not find my visit so interesting because there is nothing amazing to see inside. For proof, I only took two little photos.

Absolutely amazing.

I found the manuscripts room to be incredibly interesting. I could hold in my hand documents written by someone hundreds of years ago.

The staff and security are helpful and I can see myself spending a lot of time here in the future.

Non-lending library, housing the personal notes of Roddy Doyle Seamus Heaney and James Joyce !!!

It is worth passing even if you do not visit anything else in Dublin.

I was there for the special exhibit on WB Yeats. It was brilliant! Too much to see; Too little time. And the building itself is lovely.

Beautiful; studious atmosphere; great lockers to hide away bags etc. This is what a library should be. Will be getting a Reader's Ticket next time and may never be seen again!
And the Yeats exhibition was really interesting; with interactive exhibits and worksheets for kids to make it brilliantly inclusive and accessible.

Look at their events calendar and try to do one of their tour as it s the only time you ll actually get to hang out freely in the reading room. Plus, our guide was super friendly and knowledgeable

Possibly my favorite library for getting one into the mind and mood of thought, reading and concentration. Beautiful surroundings. Photography is not allowed, nor is standing in certain areas. Great for reading and/or writing.

The reading room is an absolutely stunning sight that anyone and everyone should try to take in when visiting Dublin. There are, however, very strict rules about where you can stand in the room if you are not using the library for its intended purposes. Photography is banned and standing areas are very clearly demarcated.

The genealogy service at the National Library is wonderful; there is a wealth of resources, and the help we received from expert Patricia Brennan was not only extremely useful, but she was a treat to work with - passionate and professional! If you are looking for a good place to start your family history research, I highly recommend taking time to stop here!

Free and interesting to all who like history. If you have time, you can watch it and you do not need too much time

As a tourist you can visit the National Library of Ireland and its exhibitions for free, the only disadvantage is that you have limited access to the "Reading Room". For anyone interested, a look in the library is still worthwhile!

Persian translation

C

Great library with amazing resources. If you are carrying a bag you will be asked to store it in the free lockers. You are not allowed to take picture, but is worth the visit.

They told me the space was too small to study, I couldn't read and study inside. This was the strangest rule I had ever heard in library. So I left. What the problem this library?

Nice room but bad place to do schoolwork.

No pens or highlighters allowed and no Wi-Fi unless you're looking at their manuscripts. You might as well study at my grannys. At least she has chocolate digestives and tea.

The free and amazing Yates exhibit is worth the visit.

Great place, nice free Yeats exhibition, library worth a look.

The National Library is located on Kildare Street in the centre of Dublin.

Highly recommended. Terrific free exhibitions downstairs. Definitely recommended.

Downstairs is a full and interesting exhibit on W.B. Yeats, replete with photos, objects, and 4 themed video rooms that detail certain aspects of his life, his loves, and Irish identity. Upon entering there is a place to sit which is surrounded by screens that show pictures along with his poems, accompanied by a soothing audio recording of his poems.

I was so excited to finally be able to visit the National Library of Ireland. The manuscript collection is full of unique documents related to family history that can be found no where else in the world. This is not a library you can come to without any preparation. Doing so will ensure hours of wasted time. I only had one morning to spend here during my trip to Dublin but I did many hours of research through their online catalog and had a list of the manuscripts I wanted to view in order. I went first thing in the morning to the desk for the reader's ticket and that process only took about 15 minutes. To enter the manuscript room you must put all of your belongings in a locker. You can use no-flash photography and paper and pencil to take notes. One of the manuscripts I had reserved was too heavy for the archivist to carry, but it had been microfilmed and was available in the main building. The National Library of Ireland is an invaluable source of information for any serious Irish family history researcher. I can't wait to go back!

I've seen much better "reading rooms". Still, worth a 10 minute pop in. Free.

I came here to see the Main Reading Room. Beautiful interior, but the viewing itself is for 5 minutes. You can still see various exhibitions, but I didn't take advantage of this opportunity, so it's hard to say how interesting they are.