About Us

Introduction

The Library is a key part of both the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and St Patrick’s College Maynooth.  The Library was founded in 1795 and is now housed in the John Paul II Library and the Russell Library (campus maps).

We can help you to make the most of your time working and studying in Maynooth.  We have over 450,000 books/eBooks and more than 42,000 electronic journals. Please see our catalogue for more information. We also provide a range of information skills and training courses to enable you to identify, obtain, evaluate and use information efficiently, effectively and ethically.  More information about our services and facilities is available here.

You can contact us in person, by e-mail, phone, and using our online library chat service.  You can keep up-to-date with new developments and activities by following the library on twitter, facebook and the Russell Library Blog.

Library Senior Management

University Librarian: Cathal McCauley B.A. (TCD), M.L.I.S. (UCD), DipFM (ACCA)

Cathal was appointed University Librarian at NUI Maynooth in September 2008.  Between 2002 and 2008 he fulfilled a number of roles in University College Dublin (UCD) Library including Head of Reader Services.  Prior to joining UCD Cathal worked for the accountants and management consultants FGS (Farrell Grant Sparks) where he held a variety of posts including Director of Consulting. Cathal's research interests include the harnessing of new technologies and new service models to enhance the library experience for staff and readers.  In both NUI Maynooth and UCD he has been responsible for a range of service innovations many involving the use of online social media tools.  He is a regular speaker and guest lecturer on issues facing libraries including social media and change management.  He is a member of both the Irish Universities Association Librarians’ Group and the Consortium of National and University Libraries in Ireland (CONUL).

Deputy University Librarian: Helen Fallon B.A. D.L.I.S (UCD), MA (UCD)

Helen took up the post of Deputy Librarian in 2000.  Prior to that she held a number of library posts including Assistant Librarian in a medical library in Saudi Arabia; lecturer in library and information studies at the University of Sierra Leone; Business & Education Librarian at DCU;  Science Librarian at DCU and Head of Information and Public Services at DCU. She has carried out a number of library consultancies in African countries including Namibia, Tanzania and Sierra Leone.  Staff training and development are among her current key interests.  Helen is particularly interested in how academic libraries can support the academic writing process.  She presents academic writing courses and has developed a writing blog for librarians.  Her publications are available via the NUI Maynooth ePrints institutional repository.  She is on the editorial board of An Leabharlann: The Irish Library.   Helen is a member of a number of national groups and committees including the Academic and National Library Training Co-opertaive (ANLTC) and the Education Developers Ireland Network (EDIN).

• Publications

Senior Librarian for Teaching, Learning and Research Development: Mary Antonesa B.A. (UCD)  MLIS (UCD)

Mary was appointed Senior Librarian for Teaching, Learning and Research Development in August 2010. Prior to that she worked as Head of Information Services and also as the Science & Engineering Subject Librarian. Before taking up these posts she worked in the Outreach Campus in Kilkenny where she was employed to establish the Library. Mary has a keen interest in how libraries partner in the teaching, learning and research process. She has written extensively on this and has spoken at numerous conferences both nationally and internationally on this topic. She is a member of the CONUL Advisory Group on Information Literacy. Currently Mary is pursuing Doctoral Studies with the University of Sheffield where she is studying these topics further.

Senior Librarian Collection Management Services: Hugh Murphy  M.A. (NUIM) DLIS (UCD) 

Hugh was appointed Senior Librarian, Collection Management Services in October 2010. He joined the library from UCD Library, where he held the post of Deputy Head, Information Resource Management. He also worked as an Assistant Keeper in the National Library of Ireland for many years, and is an NUIM graduate.   Since 2005 he has acted as an occasional lecturer in the School of Information and Library Studies in UCD, teaching resource description, organisation of information, and in the past, social networks and web2.0. Hugh’s main professional interests lie in the areas of ongoing development of resource description, and the use of different media and data types in a collection development context. In 2011 he was heavily involved in the piloting of kindles in the John Paul II Library. He served as chair of the Library Association of Ireland’s Cataloguing and Metadata Group from 2009-2011 and sits on 2 CONUL groups -  Collaborative Storage Group and Copyright. He also is a member of IUALG’s working group on OCLC.