Global Ireland and the Digital Footprint: The Abbey Theatre Archives in the Digital Repository of Ireland

Abstract

While digital technologies were initially seen as harbingers of globalization, scholars increasingly acknowledge their role in the rise of nationalism. This paper argues that the policies and practices of the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) simultaneously resonate with national as well as global opportunities in light of the vision of Global Ireland 2025. As a trusted national digital repository for Ireland’s humanities, the DRI can be a celebration of the Abbey Theater collection as a prototype of these national and global opportunities. This paper outlines the earlier attempt of the Abbey Theater Digitizing Archive Project at the National University of Ireland, Galway’s library (NUIG) and its limitations, as well as the policies and Practices of open access, collaboration, and metadata management in the Digital Repository of Ireland. In doing so, the paper draws on the conceptual framework in light of Global Ireland's objectives and the publications of some of the stakeholders and directors of the DRI, such as Sha- ron Webb and Aileen O’Carroll. The outcomes of this paper are that the DRI globally contributes to representing the national position of Abbey Theatre by ingesting and visualizing the scenes that express the Irish struggle for freedom and identity, illuminating the importance of Irish literary discourse over time and place. Also, the use of the interdisciplinary approach uncovers how the use of digital tools highlights the opportunities that the DRI can offer to disseminate, discover, and visualize the dramatic performances of Abbey Theatre as an Irish literary heritage and as an essential part of the Irish national canon.