I visited the National Library for the first time in early 2000. These notes are my experiences on the day - which may help others to be better prepared that I was in this instance. In case you get tired reading this, the following points summarise my advice for being better prepared :-

• get reference numbers for as many records as possible in advance
• bring 2 passport size photographs
• bring a magnifying glass
• bring as few papers as possible with you, preferably just a notebook
• bring both a pen and a pencil (and a ruler)
• arrive there on time (check opening hours in advance as sometimes they might vary)

Based on Grenham's "Tracing Your Irish Ancestors" book, I had made out some references for counties Meath and Sligo which I hoped to look up in the National library. My list of references ran to about 20 items - a very ambitious list indeed and I had not put much though to ordering it by priority.

I arrived late in the library, at 11.30am. First mistake, as I was really pressed for time later on. The first thing that I needed to do was to get a membership card. I wanted to have access to both microfilm records and original manuscripts. For this type of membership card, I needed to have a photograph on my membership card. As I did not have a photograph with me, I was directed to the shop in the library reception area, where they took a photograph at a cost of £3 and gave me 4 copies of it. All I needed was 2 copies, one for the card and one for the Library's records. If you are coming here for the first time, bring 2 passport size photographs - this will speed things up a little for you and also save you £3!

You are not allowed to take bags or coats into the library reading room. You must hand the bag in at reception - it is placed in a locker and you receive the key. For coats, you can hang them up near the locker room. I had not realised this beforehand and had quite a few items, including Grenham's book in the bag. I took a bundle of papers out, handed in the bag and proceeded to the reading room.

Here I explained that it was my first time in the library, and I was taken to a room where a member of staff explained some of the procedures to me. She made out a second membership card for me, which was a manuscripts reading card. The manuscripts are housed in a separate building at the foot of Kildare Street, next to Trinity College. She explained that if a record was on microfilm, you can only see the microfilm. If its not on microfilm, it will either be available in the main reading room if its a book or in the manuscripts building if its an old manuscript (e.g. estate records). There is an index in the main reading room which will indicate whether the record is on microfilm (reference will be prefixed by NLI Pos.). You should look up all records there in advance and make a list of the microfilms which you want to see, and note the reference numbers for the other records for when you visit the manuscripts building. The staff in both buildings are very helpful.

I was interested in seeing the Tithe Applotment records and did not have reference numbers for these. In fact, I was not even sure if they were available in the Library. So I enquired about them and was able to look up an index book specific to the Tithes which was available at the desk in the main reading room. Here, I was able to pick out reel numbers for the Tithe records for Co. Meath and Co. Sligo. I requested these 2 reels plus one on the O'Hara estate in Co. Sligo for which I already had a reference number from Grenham. The procedure for requesting a microfilm reel was to collect a few dockets from the main desk, go down to the microfilm reading area which adjoined the main reading room, pick a desk, fill out 1 docket for each reel that you are interested in (including your desk number on it), return the dockets to the main desk and return to your desk in the microfilm reading area. Within a few minutes, the first of the reels that you requested will be brought down to you. You can only look at them one by one - you return each one to the main desk when you're finished with it and they give you another of the ones that you requested.

I happened to enquire also about the pre-1900 Catholic Church records. They are on microfilm there and can be viewed, but the assistant indicated that they could not be printed off as they had not permission to do so from the Church. As it turned out, I did not have time to view them, but the answer regarding printing off records led me to believe that I could not print any records. I'm pretty sure that I must be incorrect in this, but will need to check it again. The microfilm reader I was at, was definitely not equipped with a printer, but it didn't occur to me to check the others for same. If I had access to a printer, it would have saved me a lot of time.

The first reel that I looked at was for the O'Hara Estate. It was actually only the 2nd ever microfilm that I've looked at, so it took me a few minutes to become familar with the equipment. As I scrolled through the reel, I was regretting not having brought a magnifying glass with me - some of the writing was extraordinary difficult to make out. Eventually, I figured that some of the pages were written in English, some in Irish, and some in Latin! After about 30 minutes of scrolling through this reel for information on the particular townland that I was looking for, I got tired of it and gave up on this particular one. Having unwound the reel, I noticed that the box for the reel had a brief table of contents of the reel, with some interesting infomation towards the end of the reel. However, I was too short of time now to put the reel up again and advance to the end, so I left it for the moment.

I then looked at the Tithe records for Sligo. There was lots of information that I was interested in here, but it was quite slow to make notes of everything in which I was interested. I'd certainly recommend that you make out a template in advance for the recording of notes for the Tithes or whatever other records that you are interested in. Having something which has the column headings from the records, in which you can quickly note down the details, would have been an immense help. Of course, if I had a ruler with me on the day, I could have manually made such a template, but again this did not occur to me.

At this point, I had to grab lunch. After lunch, I went to the manuscripts building as there were other records for which I had references, in which I was particularly interested - the Lorton estate records for Co. Sligo/Co. Roscommon. Here the locker room is unattended. I deposited my bag in a locker and brought the key with me. I received directions to the manuscript reading room. The assistants were very helpful. I gave them the references in which I was interested and sat down at a desk. It took around 10 minutes for 2 large volumes to be retrieved, as they were in the basement of the building. You are only allowed to use a pencil to make notes in this room (in case you damage the records I guess), so make sure you bring one with you. It was slow progress going through these volumes of information and I did not have nearly enough time to make all the notes that I wished to make. I will have to return again. Part of my rush was that I wanted to get back to the other building to look at the Tithe records for Co. Meath. The manuscripts room closes at 4.30pm and the main reading room in the other building closes at 5pm. I rushed through the Lorton estate records, made some notes and headed back to the other building. I only had 30 minutes left at this stage, so again it was a little rushed to get through the Meath Tithe Applotment records. I found the specific information that I was looking for, but needed more time to analyse all the other data for neighbouring townlands to see if it might be helpful to me.

So that's the story of my first trip to the National Library. I will learn from the experience and be both better prepared and less ambitious the next time. Hopefully this account might help you if you ever visit the National Library.