Day-long Tour 3: South

University of Limerick, The Source Arts & Community Centre, Thurles, Co. Tipperary

 

Type of Library: academic and public

Total Distance Return Trip: 398 km

Meeting Point: Convention Centre Dublin

Price per person: € 20

Head to Tipperary and Limerick for some of the country’s finest purpose-built libraries. Thurles Public Library and the Source Arts Centre are located in a shared space in the heart of Thurles town on the banks of the river Suir, with a fully accessible riverside boardwalk. Throughout the Library, colour has been cleverly used to indicate various functions and spaces. The Source Arts Centre contains a large theatre with a year-round programme of cultural events including theatre, live music, comedy, dance, art-house cinema, children’s theatre, youth arts, and ballet. The Source Gallery is a shared space programmed year-round by both The Source Arts Centre and Thurles Library. The building won the award for best cultural building at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland awards in 2007.

Afterwards, visit the University of Limerick, and the reimagined and extended Glucksman Library. The Library, which opened in 2018, was designed to transform the space for scholarship in the digital age. The new spaces infuse the building with technology and enable project and group work, silent study and digitally-enabled scholarship. The library includes a data visualization lab, media production studios, and a moot appellate court. The Glucksman Library also houses an automated book storage and retrieval system (ASRS), the first of its kind in Europe.