September 2006 Edition

The Irish Traditional Music Archive moves to new premises

The Irish Traditional Music Archive is now at 73 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. Prior to its official opening, it is providing immediate but basic access to its collections and information. Normal provision of open access to its collections has had to be suspended temporarily, but staff will assist researchers in any way they can.

Progress on the building is being made week on week, and users of the Archive will see a remarkable improvement in access and facilities over the coming months.

In the course of a week in mid-July 2006 the Irish Traditional Music Archive moved from its long-time home in 63 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, to new premises at 73 Merrion Square. Over 650 crates of archive material— the largest collection of the materials of Irish traditional music in existence, and of information about it—and a mass of equipment and furniture, made the ten-door journey to the 200-year-old listed building in the centre of Georgian Dublin which will now be its permanent home. The Archive was allocated the building in recognition of the growth of its collections and services, and its potential for further development. The Office of Public Works, which is responsible for government and historic buildings in the Republic of Ireland, is currently finishing high-grade conservation and restoration works on the building.

It will take staff some months to fully re-engineer the Archive from its former two floors to the five storeys and mews of its new premises, and open officially there with a new computer network, an audio-visual recording studio, various specialist rooms, wheelchair access, and other improvements. But the Archive reopened to the public in record time on 14 August, deciding to immediately provide a basic life-line service that would make its collections and information available again while development work goes ahead.