Marsh’s Library is located in St Patrick’s Close, beside St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. It is a beautifully preserved library of the early Enlightenment. It was built with money provided by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, an academic and book lover with a strong belief in the public utility of education and learning. The Library was incorporated in 1707 by an Act of Parliament called ‘An Act for Settling and Preserving a Public Library for Ever’. For the first century and a half of its existence it was the only public library in Dublin.
Today, it is a charitable trust open to the general public, students and scholars, and is independent of any and all other institutions and entities. It is governed under a board of trustees known as the Governors and Guardians.
