History of the School
“The origins of the department and discipline within UCD go back to the 1920's when Fr
Stephen Brown, SJ, and colleagues successfully persuaded the UCD President, Dr. Coffey, to
authorise the establishment of a School of Library Training. The School operated as a unit
associated with the Library under the direction of the then Librarian, James O'Neill. On his
retirement Ellen Power became Librarian and Head of School, and served in that capacity from
1951 until 1974 when Henry Heaney succeeded her.
During the 1970s when the discipline was experiencing many changes, Heaney persuaded UCD
to separate the School from the Library. In 1975 the School was transformed into a complete
and autonomous academic department in the Faculty of the Arts. Two years later John Dean
became its foundation professor. John Dean served as the head of the school for twelve years.
In 1993 Mary Burke succeeded John Dean as Head of the Department, and four years later
became the second holder of the Chair of Library and Information Studies in succession to
him.” (D'Arcy, 2002, pp.1-2).
References: D'Arcy,F. (2002). Introduction. In Burke, M., Challenges of Cyperspace, UCD.