Photo Museum Ireland Library Archive

Photo Museum Ireland is home to a growing Library Archive, a unique research resource dedicated to the diversity of photographic publishing practices. The Library Archive is an evolving space for books, zines, and ephemera that reflect the breadth of visual culture and critical thinking around photography.

Our Library Archive includes academic texts, rare publications, artist monographs, zines, and self-published photobooks—spanning both Irish and international voices. It supports our mission to foster learning, critical engagement, and historical understanding of photography as both an art form and a social document.

The Library Archive currently holds over 900 titles, representing a rich cross-section of photographic practice from Ireland and around the world. It includes:

• Artist monographs and retrospectives

• Photobooks and self-published works

• Exhibition catalogues

• Academic and critical texts

• Zines and independent publications

• Locally focused works documenting Irish people, places, and culture

Formats range from paperback and hardback books to small-edition zines and experimental works. While most of the archive is in English, there are also multilingual publications reflecting the global scope of the collection.

A Landmark Archive of Contemporary Photobooks

 We are proud to now house The Source Self-published Collection as part of our Library Archive. Compiled by the editorial team at Source magazine, this unparalleled archive of over 330 photobooks captures the explosion of self-publishing in photography over the past 15 years.

This carefully curated collection includes first editions of now-iconic photobooks such as:

• Afronauts – Cristina de Middel

• Carpoolers – Alejandro Cartagena

• Hidden Islam – Nicoló Degiorgis

• Abandoned Office Plants – Ricky Adam

• Talking to Ants – Stephen Gill

It also features a range of zines, experimental formats, handmade editions, and short-run publications—many of which are unavailable in libraries or bookshops. These works are often deeply personal, politically urgent, or formally inventive—making them a vital record of how artists independently shape photographic discourse.

The Photo Museum Ireland Library Archive is available to:

• Museum Members

• Academic researchers

• Independent scholars and artists

To consult the archive or arrange a research visit, please contact us in advance. Access is by appointment only.

Email: collections@photomuseumireland.ie

We are committed to making this resource available to a wide audience of thinkers, makers, and educators. The Library Archive will also feature in future exhibitions, talks, and educational programmes.