Art Bookshop Ireland

The PhotoIreland Collection

A unique resource in Ireland

 

The PhotoIreland Collection

The PhotoIreland Collection has been hosted at The Library Project since 2013, making its holds available to national and international organisations.

The PhotoIreland Collection started its life as ‘The Library Project‘ in 2011, aiming to bring to Irish audiences a collection of publications around Photography, complementing those of the public and university libraries, and building the core of a public resource library. To date, it holds approximately over 3000 items from more than 200 publishers worldwide. 

Imagine a library dedicated to Photography and Image Culture with unique, contemporary publications from all over the world, free for you to enjoy. 

Initiated in 2011 by Claudi Nir and Ángel Luis González Fernández, The Library Project set out to offer the public an on-going collection of the latest photobooks, magazines and zines, whether produced by publishing houses or self-published.

In 2012, the collection was expanded with the efforts of Arcangela Regis. Then, Claudi Nir, Alison Baker Kerrigan, and Svetlana Zabelka started cataloguing the items. In 2013, with the support and passion of Steven Maybury, Katie Mooney-Sheppard, Gill Thorpe, Sinéad Corcoran, and Lorna Murphy, the collection kept expanding, it was catalogued, and was finally made available online. Many other individuals have kindly contribute to the cataloguing since, including TU Dublin BA Photography students Billie Johnson (2016), Liam Devine (2017), Aleksandra Klimczak (2018), Arman Duzel, Michael Croghan, Andrew Nally (2019), who carried out the Archiving in Context module as part of the course programme engaging with the PhotoIreland Collection. 

The curated selection holds already a respectable number of titles, and welcomes everyone, both individuals and organisations, to contribute to and enjoy this unique public resource library. This website offers an online catalogue with most of the items in the collection being constantly updated.

 

Visiting The Library Project and the PhotoIreland Collection

The Library Project and the PhotoIreland Collection are accessible as a retail space and a research library during the opening hours featured at the bottom on this website. Visitors should be aware that these times may change at times in short notice to allow installation and deinstallation of certain exhibitions and events. By contract, both the bookshop and library close in January and September, to facilitate an exhibition by Black Church Print Studios. 

 

Access to the PhotoIreland Collection

Access to the collection is free for students, researchers, and PhotoIreland patrons. It is good practice to inform us about any visit in advance, as we would like to make sure we can satisfy your needs, and to prevent disappointment if the space has been booked already. 

While in constant expansion, the PhotoIreland Collection is documented online at library.photoireland.org and visitors are welcome to peruse and research the items before they arrive to The Library Project.

Researchers should note that we actively collect all types of relevant ephemera and forward it regularly to NIVAL, The National Irish Visual Arts Library, a far more resourced and adequate organisation we endeavour to support. Most of the ephemeral materials we generate are also presented to them. We invite visitors to find out more about NIVAL and benefit from their excellent services.

 

Group Visits

Every year, we host many group visits to the Art bookshop and the collection, where a background of the project is presented by one of our members, and if needed, a specific presentation on photobooks from the collection is delivered. To book an appointment, please email us or call us using the details at the bottom of this website. 

 

Research

If you are conducting research on a particular subject, we can facilitate access at specific hours and provide further guidance. Contact us to arrange a visit, or to consult about any of the materials in the collection. 

 

Loans

While The Library Project is a resource library and it does not loan items regularly, temporary loans could be arranged if they are considered part of a genuine research project, or for one-off exhibitions. Let us know what we can help you with and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Find out more about PhotoIreland's projects and programme of events at photoireland.org

 

VISIT THE PHOTOIRELAND COLLECTION →

 

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