Objectives and Activities of the Worth Library Trust:
The Worth Library Trust, established by the order of the High Court, preserves and maintains the Worth Library and the Worth Library Collection as a unit in its original form and in its original location in Doctor Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin, for the purpose of advancing public education and a greater general knowledge and understanding of science, literature and the arts by enabling scholars and the general public to have access to a rare example of a uniquely preserved private library of an eighteenth century scholar and physician which is of unique national and international importance. The main activities revolve around public education and research in the context of expanding the profile of the library, nationally and internationally, as a centre for the history of medicine, science and the history of the book.
What we do
- Open Days throughout the year (usually linked to events such as exhibition openings, lectures and conferences).
- Tours (by appointment) throughout the year. We love giving tours so just phone or e-mail us to schedule a tour!
- An annual lecture series.
- Workshops and conferences on topics related to Worth’s collections.
- A large annual online exhibition on a theme related to Worth’s collections. All our online exhibitions are available here.
- Smaller exhibitions on a more specific theme related to Worth’s collections. These are usually undertaken by interns.
- Print publications: conference proceedings (such as Elizabethanne Boran (ed.), Book Collecting in Ireland and Britain, 1650-1850 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2018) and Elizabethanne Boran, E. Charles Nelson and Emer Lawlor (eds), Botany and gardens in early modern Ireland (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2022)), articles in scholarly journals, or smaller entries in newsletters.
- Online blogs – in so far as possible participating in online blog pieces on other websites.
- A MOOC (massive open online course) on The History of the Book, 1459–1800. This is a FutureLearn online course, developed by the Librarian and staff from the Schools of History and English in Trinity College Dublin. It was first run in 2019 and is now a popular ongoing course.
- The Librarian gives lectures at local history societies and other venues in order to spread knowledge of the Worth Library.
- A Reading Room with generous opening hours.
- A Research Fellowship programme – to encourage both national and international access to the collection by early stage researchers and more established scholars.
- Specific lectures in the areas of the history of medicine and the history of the book.
- Lectures on aspects of Worth’s collections at both national and international conferences in order to enhance recognition of the Worth Library collections.
Standards and Reports
The Worth Library Trust is currently compiling its Compliance Record Form in compliance with the Governance Code of the Charity Regulator.
In 2022 the Worth Library was awarded Interim Status with the Museum Standards Programme of Ireland.
In 2024 the Worth Library was awarded Full Status with the Museum Standards Programme of Ireland.
2023-Annual-Trustees-Report updated
2020 Annual Trustees Report Final
Annual Report of the Trustees 2019
Annual Report of the Trustees 2018
2017 Annual Report of the Trustees v 4
2016 Final Trustees Annual Report 261017
GDPR and the Edward Worth Library
Trustees of the Edward Worth Library
Professor Greta Jones (Chair and Trustee)
Greta Jones graduated from the London School of Economics with a PhD on the history of Darwinian social thought. This led to a number of books on the impact of science on wider society, including ‘Social Darwinism and English Thought’ (1980) and a book about eugenics ‘Social Hygiene in Twentieth Century Britain’ (1986). She has lived in Northern Ireland since 1977. This change, together with the assistance and encouragement of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, led to her examining issues in Irish medical history. This resulted in two major books on Irish medical history ‘Captain of these Men of Death. The history of tuberculosis in Ireland’ ( 2001) and ‘Doctors for Export’ (2022), a history of doctor migration from Ireland 1860-1960 .
She has held a Mellon fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, a Morris Ginsberg visiting research fellowship at the London School of Economics and a visiting research fellowship at Corpus Christi Cambridge. She has served on the board of the periodical ‘Social History of Medicine’.
She helped found the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland and then became its co-director between 2006 and 2012. She also managed a grant from the Nuffield Foundation by courtesy of Dr James McKenna and with the assistance of Dr Farhat Manzoor, a study of how medical ethics bore up under the impact of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This led to the Nuffield report ‘Candles in the Dark’ (2009).
She has been a visitor and user of a substantial number of first rate libraries and archives in Ireland, Britain and the US over her career. The enormous debt historians and wider society owe to these institutions drew her to the Worth. Prof Jones believes a library of this kind is not only a monument to learning but also a vital part of the bloodstream of culture, learning and national self-respect.
Mr Bernard Gloster, CEO of the HSE (ex officio)
Bernard Gloster took up the post of Chief Executive Officer of the HSE in March 2023. He has worked in health and social services for over 34 years, and rejoined the HSE from the state Child and Family Agency Tusla where he served as Chief Executive Officer from September 2019.
Prior to that he held several senior management positions within the HSE including Chief Officer of HSE Mid West Community Healthcare, and he worked in and managed in both community and acute hospital operations.
He is a social care worker by profession, holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University and an MSc in Management Practice from UCC.
Mr Brian Murphy (Nominee for the CEO of the HSE)
Brian Murphy has over 35 years’ experience in the public health service, having served in the Department of Health, the Western Health Board and the HSE in a variety of local operational and national strategic roles.
He has extensive experience in many health management areas, including Strategic Reform, Primary Care, National Service Planning, Budgetary and Governance. He has led on several national reform and innovation programmes. He currently holds the position of Head of Corporate Affairs in the HSE.
Prof Linda Doyle, Provost of TCD (ex officio)
Linda Doyle was appointed by academic staff and student representatives as the 45th Provost of Trinity College Dublin, coming into office on August 1, 2021. The Provost is the Chief Officer of the university responsible to the Board and ultimately to the State for the performance of the university.
Dr Doyle’s previous leadership roles have been as Dean of Research (2018-2020), and founder Director of CONNECT, a national research centre, co-funded by SFI and industry, focused on future networks and communications. Prior to CONNECT, she was also the Director of the Centre for Telecommunications Value Chain Research (CTVR). She is currently a Director of Xcelerit and Software Radio Systems Ltd (SRS), two CTVR/CONNECT spin-outs.
Dr Doyle has served on many boards including as Chair of the Board of the Douglas Hyde Gallery (2013-2021), and as a member of the Board of Pallas Project Studios, KTH Sweden Scientific Advisory Board, and Board of the Wireless Innovation Forum.
Currently, she is Chair of the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board in the UK, and a member of the National Broadband Steering Committee in Ireland, and the Open Research Europe Scientific Advisory Board. She also serves on the Boards of Science Gallery International (SGI), as well as the Festival of Curiosity, a STEM outreach activity for children based on a city-centre yearly science festival.
Prior to her appointment as Provost, Dr Doyle was Professor of Engineering & The Arts in Trinity College Dublin. Her expertise is in the fields of wireless communications, cognitive radio, reconfigurable networks, spectrum management and creative arts practices. She has raised over €70 million in research funding and has published widely in her field. Dr Doyle has a reputation as an advocate for change in spectrum management practices and has played a role in spectrum policy at the national and international level. Combining creative arts practices with Engineering for many years, she founded the Orthogonal Methods Group (OMG) a research initiative that works in critical and creative tension with technology with the purpose of generating knowledges, insights and alternative research orientations across disciplines that are sometimes perceived to be mutually exclusive. Dr Doyle has published extensively and has given in excess of 100 keynotes and invited talks at various events globally.
As well as her contributions to research and the arts, Dr Doyle is an active advocate for women in engineering and computer science. She has been involved in numerous initiatives such Girls in Tech, Teen Turn, HerStory. In 2017 she was recognised as one of the 10 women stars working in networking and communications in the world that you should know. Dr Doyle holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering (B.E.) from the National University of Ireland, and an M.Sc., Ph.D., and P.G.DIP. STATS from Trinity College, the University of Dublin. She is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.
Ms Laura Shanahan (Nominee for the Provost of Trinity College)
Laura Shanahan, MA, is Head of Research Collections at the Library of Trinity College Dublin, leading Manuscripts and Archives, Early Printed Books and Special Collections, the Map Library and Music. She has previously performed a variety of roles in the National Library of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh Library. Ms Shanahan completed her Undergraduate Degree in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, and her Masters in Library and Information Management at Northumbria University. Her predominant focus in Libraries has been working across special and general collections on major collections, digital, and estates projects, and in securing philanthropic funding.
Dr Audrey Whitty, Director, National Library of Ireland (ex officio)
Audrey Whitty, a curator, art historian, and archaeologist, is the Director of the National Library of Ireland (since February 2023). From 2019 to January 2023 she was the Deputy Director/Head of Collections and Learning at the National Museum of Ireland (NMI). During 2015-19 Dr Whitty was Keeper of the Art and Industrial Division, at NMI. Throughout 2013 and 2014 she was Curator of European and Asian Glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, New York. From 2001 to 2013, Dr Whitty was Curator of Ceramics, Glass and Asian collections, Art and Industrial Division, NMI. She has curated numerous exhibitions, most notably Alison Lowry: (A)Dressing Our Hidden Truths – An artistic response to the legacy of mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries and A Dubliner’s Collection of Asian Art: The Albert Bender Exhibition.
A graduate and postgraduate of UCD, she also has a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in History of Art as a result of her thesis, ‘The Albert Bender (1866-1941) Donations of Far Eastern Art to the National Museum of Ireland in the context of his Cultural Interests in Ireland and California’. She has authored over ninety publications and lectured to such institutions as the Sorbonne, Paris; Trinity College Dublin; Art Institute of Chicago; National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; SOFA (Sculptural Objects and Functional Art), Chicago; National University of Ireland, Galway; the American Irish Historical Society, New York City; the Irish-Chinese Cultural Society; New York Metropolitan Glass Club; University College Dublin; Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington; National University of Ireland, Maynooth and National College of Art & Design, Dublin. She is past Chair (2020-2023) of the Irish Museums Association.
Mr Gerard Long (Nominee for the Director of the National Library of Ireland)
Gerard Long has worked in the National Library of Ireland since 1983, and is an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Special Collections. His publications, mainly on the history of the NLI, include A twinge of recollection: the National Library in 1904 and thereabouts (2005); A writer of great promise (2006), the chapter on the NLI in the Cambridge history of libraries in Britain and Ireland (2006); an essay ‘The National Library of Ireland, 1890-1983: informal perspectives’, in Librarians, poets and scholars: a festschrift for Dónall Ó Luanaigh (2007) ; and the chapter ‘Institutional libraries and private collections’, in the Oxford history of the Irish book; vol. 4: The Irish Book in English 1800-1890 (2011). He edited Books beyond the Pale: aspects of the provincial book trade in Ireland before 1850, published by the Rare Books Group of the Library Association of Ireland in 1996.
Ms Maureen Browne
Maureen Browne is a Dublin based health analyst, journalist and communications consultant, who has worked in the health area for many years. She is currently proprietor of Hartcliffe Communications, which specialises in medical journalism, crisis management for the health services and media training services. She is Editor of Health Manager (the official journal of the Health Management Institute of Ireland), Managing Editor of The Consultant, (the official journal of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association) and Editor of The Clinical Care Journal, (which reports on the HSE National Clinical Care Programmes).
Ms Browne is a former National Communications Director with the Health Services Executive (HSE), has also been Head of Public Affairs with the M &C Group and Director of Communications with the former Eastern Regional Health Authority and the former Eastern Health Board.
She trained as a journalist with the Limerick Leader & Limerick Chronicle newspapers in Limerick, worked as a senior reporter with the Irish Press Group of Newspapers, reported on Irish affairs for a number of UK newspapers and is a former Editor of the weekly medical newspaper, Irish Medical Times. She co-authored Cleared for Disaster, the critically acclaimed story of Ireland’s most horrific and mysterious air crashes, published in 2006. She was appointed by the Irish Government to the Second Commission on the Status of Women.
Mr David Fitzpatrick
David FitzPatrick, MA, MCh, FRCSI, FRCS. 1971: Appointed Orthopaedic Surgeon Federated Dublin Voluntary Hospitals assigned to Adelaide, Dr. Steevens’, and National Children’s Hospitals. 1976–77: Fellow in Orthopaedic Pathology Hospital for Special Surgery, New York. 1988: Transferred to Adelaide Meath and National Children’s Hospital (MANCH). 1989–1992: Specialist Orthopaedic Surgeon Nyangabwe Hospital Francistown Botswana on secondment to UK Ministry for Overseas Development. 1992: Completed Diploma in Hospital Management – RCSI. 1992: Continued at MANCH until retirement in 2001. Member of Board and Chairman Medical Board. 2014: Appointed Trustee of the Worth Library Trust. Interests include: Choral singing & music generally; Rugby: Leinster Senior Inter-provincial cap 1961-62. Tennis & Squash; Book Collecting: mostly Dublin and Irish Medicine; Hill Walking & Travel. Publications include: ‘Natural History of Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head’ (MCh Thesis); Fitzpatrick, David (ed.), The An Account of the Federated Dublin Voluntary Hospital 1961–2005 (Dublin, 2006); Fitzpatrick, David, Esmond Fogarty and James Nixon (eds), Orthopaedica Hibernica. An Account of the Development of Orthopaedics in Ireland (Dublin, 2018).
Mr Kieran Hickey
Kieran Hickey, DPA, BComm, MBA, FHMI. Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board for 10 years up to end of 1996. Inaugural Chair of Worth Library Trust, 1995 to 2004. President of the Health Management Institute of Ireland, 1995 to 1998.
Elected a Fellow of the Institute in 2010. A founder member of the European Institute for Health Records, EUROREC. Elected Vice President of EUROREC from 2004-2008
Recipient of the O’Moore Medal from the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland in 2012.
Mr Tony Kelly
Anthony Kelly, B. Arch (UCD), Dip Proj Mgt. (Trinity), Dip in Business (IMI).
Retired Architect and Project Manager.
Bachelor of Architecture – UCD.
Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management – Trinity College.
Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management – Irish Management Institute.
Mr Kelly has worked in the airports design sector, the healthcare estate sector and the private sector on building project design, project management, capital programme management, technical auditing, facilities management and estate portfolio management.
He has held the following positions during his career:
Corporate Estate Manager, HSE National Estates Directorate,
Head of Corporate Estates, HSE.
Director of Property and Capital Projects, Eastern Health Shared Services, ERHA.
Member of Eastern Health Shared Services (EHSS) Management Team.
Member of Eastern Regional Health Authority Audit Committee.
Technical Audit Manager, Group Internal Audit, Aer Rianta.
Operations Project Advisor for Terminal Building Extension, Dublin Airport.
Corporate Programme Manager, Aer Rianta Group Capital Programmes.
Project Manager with Aer Rianta Technical Consultants (ARTC).
Architect and Senior Architect with Aer Rianta.
Architect with National Schools Division, Office of Public Works.
Dr Emer Lawlor
Emer Lawlor is a retired consultant haematologist and a qualified barrister. She became a Trustee of the Worth Library Trust in September 2008 and was Chair of the Trust from October 2017 to June 2021.
Dr Lawlor and the Librarian, Dr Elizabethanne Boran, co-curated a major online exhibition on the theme of ‘Botany at the Edward Worth Library’ in 2013. In 2016, Dr Lawlor was awarded an M. Litt. by Trinity College Dublin for her thesis ‘Enquiries into vegetables : botanists in Ireland and their sources,1680-1775′.
Dr Lawlor, Dr Charles E. Nelson and Dr Boran subsequently edited Botany and Gardens in Early Modern Ireland (Dublin, 2022), which includes a chapter written by Dr Lawlor on the subject ‘Caleb Threlkeld: dissenting minister, physician and botanist’.
Mr Pat McLoughlin.
Pat Mcloughlin is Chief Executive of Virtue Integrated Care, comprising primary care, 3 homecare companies and 14 nursing homes. He was CEO of The Alzheimer Society until March 2022.
His career included being CEO of the Eastern and South-eastern Health Boards, Planning and Commissioning Director of the ERHA, first national director of the National Hospitals Office and Deputy CEO of the HSE.
Mr McLoughlin assisted Governments, on a pro bono basis, on local government efficiency, public expenditure control, childcare services and Dept of Justice review. He is Chair of the Audit Committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas. He holds B.A., L.L.B. and M.B.A. degrees and additional diplomas in Risk Management, Compliance and internal Audit and in Executive Coaching.
Ms Helen Stokes
Helen Stokes was born in Dublin in 1963, and has been working in the health services since 1981. She has worked in the Eastern Health Board, Eastern Regional Health Authority and how the Health Service Executive. She has also spent some time in the Private health care sector. She was Secretary to the ERHA Board from 2000 to 2004 and became Secretary to the Worth Library Trust during this time. She became a Trustee of the Worth Library in December 2011 when she resigned as Secretary. Currently Acting Assistant National Director and Facility Manager of the HSE National Infectious Diseases Isolation Facility. Her skills include proven leadership ability; strategic planning, programme management; operational management; change management & people management at a senior level, and is an excellent communicator.
The success of two self-isolation facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, at Citywest Hotel and The Address Citywest Hotel, was such that in mid-2022 when concerns regarding the MPox virus began to increase, she was tasked with establishing a National Insolation Facility which could accommodate individuals with Mpox and other infectious diseases who are self-caring, medically well and thus do not require to be kept in a hospital setting, but could not isolate in their own environment without the risk of onward transmission.
This new facility was identified in July 2022 and works commenced to convert the unit into what it is now the HSE National Infectious Diseases Isolation Facility, which became operational in September 2022. To date, the Isolation Facility has taken residents with COVID-19, MPox, Measles, Chicken pox, Measles, TB, Scabies and other infectious diseases.
Professor J. Bernard Walsh.
An tOllamh Séamas Bearnard Breathnach: Clinical Professor, Dept of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College and St James’s Hospital (SJH) Dublin.
Hon Consultant, Bone Health & Osteoporosis Treatment Unit, Mercer’s Institute, SJH
Clinical Director, MedEL Directorate, St James’s Hospital, 1992- 2001& 2008 – 2011.
Lead Hospital Clinical Director and Medical Director of St James’s Hospital, 2011-14.
Director of The Mercer’s Institute for Research on Ageing 2002-2018.
Graduate of University College Cork. Trained in Cork and Mater Hospital in Dublin.
Registrar in King’s College Hospital, London.
Senior Registrar in Medicine for the Elderly, Royal Liverpool Hospital.
Consultant Physician in Co Durham North East England 1981 -1984.
Visiting Professor to the University of California, San Francisco 1982.
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
Member of the British Geriatrics Society.
Past President of the Irish Gerontological Society 2011-2014.
Member of the International Osteoporosis Society.
Member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Member of the European Calcified Tissue Society.
Medical Director of the Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2000-2014.
Board Trustee Member, Royal City of Dublin Hospital Trust, Baggot Street, Dublin.
Appointed Trustee, Worth Library, Dr Steeven’s Hospital, Dublin 8, in 2023.
Founding member of National Dementia Information and Development Centre, SJH.
Past Treasurer and Chairman of the Consultants Committee IMO.
Uachtarán ar Acadamh na Lianna (Academy of Irish Speaking Physicians) 2021- present.
Administrator of the Worth Library Trust
Ms Bette Browne
Bette Browne was appointed Administrator to the Worth Library trust in 2020. Her background is in journalism & communications. She previously worked with Reuters news agency as a Correspondent in London and New York and spent a number of years in Washington as an Editor-in-Charge with Reuters. She has also worked with The Times of London and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. After returning to Ireland, she continued to work in journalism and communications. In 2014, in the aftermath of the Ryan Report on institutional child abuse, her book Stolen Lives was published and is part of the UCD archive on the subject.
Library Staff:
Librarian of the Edward Worth Library
Library Assistant of the Edward Worth Library
Mr Antoine Mac GaoithÃn
CRA number 20066093
Charity number CHY 17643