Patricia Donlon

Patricia Anne Donlon (née McCarthy; 28 January 1943 – 23 July 2026) was an Irish librarian and academic, who was director of the National Library of Ireland, the first woman to hold that post. She was also the first woman to be appointed director to an Irish national institution.

Background and early career Patricia Anne McCarthy was born in Dublin, Ireland on 28 January 1943, to parents Patrick Joseph McCarthy and Marcella Garr. Her father worked as a Garda.

Donlon studied French and Spanish for her undergraduate degree at University College Dublin, and graduated with honours in 1964. She later undertook a doctorate degree in Spanish literature in 1974, and a diploma in Library and Information Studies in 1979, both also in UCD.

She began her professional career working as a researcher at RTÉ in 1964. She became a reference librarian and curator of the Western Collection at the Chester Beatty Library in 1981.

In September 1965, she married Phelim Donlon, a former Arts Council drama officer, when she was 22 years old. The couple had two daughters, Lorna and Sinéad. Phelim died in December 2014.

Role at the National Library of Ireland: 1989–1997 When Donlon was appointed to the role of director in 1989, almost a year after the last director had retired, storage capacity, and financing. This was no easy endeavour, considering the collections, which, at the time, amounted to five million items, were either catalogued on paper alt=The photo shows the open black gate with the word "Library" in gold letters in the foreground with some yellow leaves that have fallen to the ground. The half-circle shaped part of the front of the main building of the National Library of Ireland can be seen through the open doorway of the gate. An autumnal view of the gate and the main building of the National Library of Ireland. The year 1991 marked the official opening of the Manuscript Reading Room housed in the former location of the Kildare Street Club at 2-3 Kildare Street. The correspondence was subsequently made available to the public and a detailed catalogue entitled The James Joyce-Paul Léon Papers in the National Library of Ireland, with a foreword by Donlon, was published in 1992.

Under Donlon's leadership, the National Library of Ireland was the first Irish institution to declare its mission and aims for the future with the publication of its Strategic Plan 1992-1997. In the document, which immediately received financial support from the government, the NLI commits to innovating aspects such as its service offering, use of information technology, and structural facilities. enabling digital cataloguing, which would eventually render inventory by hand unnecessary. She was also the first woman to be appointed Chief Herald of Ireland, a position which is also granted by the NLI. In 1997, as Donlon's final act as Chief Herald of Ireland before her retirement, she bestowed a coat of arms on Mary Robinson, who was the President of Ireland at the time.

Donlon created a collection of over 1500 works of children’s literature for the National Library of Ireland during her tenure, which contains many examples of work by her former student Marita Conlon-McKenna. This collection contains books by Irish writers and/or illustrators, or authors with Irish connections. During her time as director, she made an effort to collect more materials and works from Irish artists, and appealed to living Irish writers to donate their manuscripts to the NLI's collection. Among her acquisitions before her retirement is the archive of Irish author and dramatist Hugh Leonard, which she considered a significant achievement from her tenure.

She also served as executive member of various national and international organisations. she is regarded as having significantly reformed the Library despite continued underfunding. In 1997, she won the Annual Children's Books Ireland Award, from the Children's Literature Association of Ireland (formed by the merger of the Children's Literature Association of Ireland, which she helped to found in 1986, and the Irish Children's Book Trust). Donlon has been outspoken about the importance of children's literature in wider literary circles and has emphasised the importance of its inclusion in library collection development. She taught a Children’s Literature program at University College Dublin. Amongst her past students is Irish author Marita Conlon-McKenna, who credited Donlon with encouraging her to pursue publishing her first children’s novel, Under The Hawthorn Tree.

In 2007, Donlon became director of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, an artists' retreat in County Monaghan. Through collaboration with the Digital Media Centre in Dublin, ArtLog enables artists-in-residence to document their imaginative concepts, recording and conserving artistic thought for future generations. Donlon retired as Director of the Centre in 2011, after having overseen the expansion of the facility with the addition of the new studios and improved services and comforts.

In 2018, Donlon was appointed Chairperson of the Museum of Childhood Ireland, Músaem Óige na hÉireann Ireland's first islandwide and diaspora, historic to contemporary, museum of children and childhood, and continued as an honorary member.

Donlon participated in the third edition of the Phelim Donlon Playwright's Bursary and Residency for emerging writers. The bursary was established by the Irish Theatre Institute (ITI) in partnership with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 2015/2016, to honour the memory of Phelim Donlon, former Drama Officer in the Arts Council, dedicated member of the ITI and Donlon's husband. She presented the bursary and sat on the panel that selected Amy Conroy, artistic director, as the winner.

Donlon died on 23 July 2026, at the age of 83.