I'VE NO IDEA why my parents chose to send me to Miss McGuire's school in Dolphin's Barn, Dublin. Maybe it was because both she and they were country people. The school, which was located above a bank, contained only two rooms. I've always thought of it as the kind of school that you would have found in a country parish rather than in an urban environment.

Our education was liberal and gently focused; we were allowed to; develop at our own pace. Saturday mornings were my favourite time, when we painted and Miss McGuire read to us. The seeds of my own love of learning and reading were sown here. I wanted to read for myself the stories that were read to us; I wanted to learn more about the things we were taught.

When I was about eleven, my life changed dramatically - I moved to the Holy Faith Convent in the Coombe, which described itself as a "school for young ladies". Here, life was all about religious rituals, discipline, uniforms, elocution, drill displays and endless exams. As a child I thought the school was vast, but now when I drive by, I'm surprised at how tiny it appears.

I sat my first exams at the Holy Faith and came top of the class. From then on I was placed under great pressure by my teachers, my parents and my classmates. Looking back, I'm glad that I spent my early years at Miss McGuire's where there was no pressure and no competition. I learned a lot at the Holy Faith, but while I wasn't particularly unhappy, neither was I particularly happy.

The school was a product of its time and was no different from any other convent school. Within the narrow confines of the era, the nuns did their best to give us the kind of education they thought we should have. Our education fitted us to train as secretaries and nurses - most people left before Leaving Certificate and it was unusual for a girl to go on to third level.

It was my mother who encouraged me to go to UCD, where I studied French and Spanish. Like many women at that time she was a feminist in disguise and she wanted something better for me than she herself had had. She hoped I would become a teacher and was disappointed when I chose another direction.

I was extremely privileged to spend my undergraduate years in Earlsfort Terrace - it was a very special place, where you brushed shoulders with students from a wide range of disciplines. My memories of those years are coloured by the English department, which was fortunate to have great luminaries like Dennis Donoghue, TP Dunning and Alan Bliss on the staff.

. Dr Patricia Donlon, director of the National Library of Ireland, spoke in an interview with Yvonne Healy