- Collections
About Collections
The Library provides access to all sorts of information resources to support your learning and research. You can search all of the library's collections through the Library Catalogue, or get more information on each type of information resource and how it might be useful to your studies below.
- Using the Library
Find your way
Learn more about the Library as a physical place, find top tips and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ), find out about the study spaces and services available in the Main, Medical and Nursing & Midwifery Libraries, and if you are not a student or staff member of NUI Galway, you can find out here how to access the Library.
- Help
We're here to help
Library staff provide support, help, and training to enable you to get to grips with the literature of your subject and the Library's resources. We have staff with expertise on information resources in your subject area.
Get help from the Library with your studies, research, or teaching
- Digital Scholarship
Digital Scholarship
The Library welcomes opportunities to advance our Digital Scholarship. Our areas of contribution include content, technology, infrastructure, partnership and the practice-based expertise in our team.
- Search
Search
A single search interface to all collections and content, both physical and digital. It's quick, user-friendly, and a personalised discovery experience.
- About
About
About the Library
The main Library building of NUI Galway is named after James Hardiman, born in 1782, noted antiquarian and author of the standard history of Galway and other works and first Librarian of the College (1849-1855).
Collectively, Library spaces and services are refered to ask the "NUI Galway Library" or just "The Library". The James Hardiman Library is the main Library for the University and is located at the heart of the campus. There is also a separate Medical Library, recently extended and refurbished, in the Clinical Sciences Institute at University College Hospital. The Hardiman Building for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences research, adjoining the James Hardiman Library, opened in 2013. It includes archives, special collections, exhibitions and seminar spaces. The incorporation by NUI Galway of Shannon College of Hotel Management includes its Library.
The Library contains 540,000 printed books, with the total stock being nearer to 700,000 volumes. Read more about our Collections.
Archives and special collections are vital to the academic mission of the University. Areas of focus for archives are literature, theatre, film and the performing arts, and historical and political collections, all including significant Irish-language and regional material. Read more about archives and special collections.
The main Library management system is Alma, supplemented by others including Primo (discovery), CALM (archives), DSpace (institutional repository), Islandora (digital collections), and Talis Aspire (reading list management).