Soon, library users will be browsing and reading books from the President of Ireland’s personal collection. President Michael D. Higgins donated approximately 700 books to Dublin City Libraries yesterday for nationwide public use, which he plans to continue to add new books to annually. At the event at Cabra Library, Dublin 7— where President Higgins made the donation— Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens said: “He chose to make this donation to Irish libraries because he views libraries as places that help people to nurture their inquisitive natures, and books as windows onto a wide variety of worlds, both real and imagined.”
Many of the titles are personally inscribed copies and will be held in perpetuity, and available for reference only in the Reading Room at Pearse Street Library and Archive, Dublin 2 and in various Local Studies Collections nationwide.The collection encompasses a diverse and multilingual selection, comprised of a highly varied range of subject areas, spanning from children’s books to adults’ material, both fiction and non-fiction, print and audio.
View the President’s collection for reference and for loan in the library catalogue with the search term ‘The President Michael D. Higgins Collection’.