The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Established in 1869 its collections date back to the Australian Subscription Library established in the colony of New South Wales (now a state of Australia) in 1826. The library is located on the corner of Macquarie Street and Shakespeare Place, in the Sydney central business district adjacent to the Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens, in the City of Sydney. The library is a member of the National and State Libraries Australia (NSLA) consortium.
The Mitchell Wing of the State Library of New South Wales building was designed by Walter Liberty Vernon, assisted by H. C. L. Anderson and was built from 1905 to 1910, with further additions by Howie Bros in 1939; by FWC Powell & Sons in 1959; and by Melocco Bros in 1964. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. Work began on the Macquarie Street Wing in 1983 and it was opened in 1988.
Collection The State Reference Library contains a comprehensive and diverse collection of Australian and international research material. The collections grow through purchase, donation, transfer and legal deposit for all books published in New South Wales. A number of specialist services are located within the State Reference Library, including the legal information service established in 1990, a drug and alcohol information service and a family history research service.
The library contains over 6 million items including more than 2 million books, 1.2 million microforms, 2 million photographs, as well as newspapers, maps, architectural plans, manuscripts and other items. It is part of the PANDORA web archiving project of the National Library of Australia and also collects born digital material.
As well as being a general purpose reference and research library, it contains many historically significant collections including material dating from the European colonisation of Australia. These are held in the Australiana research collections known as the Mitchell Library (named for David Scott Mitchell, first collector of Australiana) and the Dixson Library (named after Sir William Dixson).
Collection highlights The library has been continuously adding to its collections since 1826 and holds collections of manuscripts, books, artworks, photography and artefacts of national and international significance. These include:
Original Log of the Proceedings of HMS Bounty in a Voyage to the South Seas, William Bligh, 1 December 1787- 22 October 1788, Safe 1/46. Journal kept by Joseph Banks on board during the first voyage undertaken by James Cook to the Pacific Ocean. Harold Lasseter's diary documenting his expedition in 1930 searching for gold. George Augustus Robinson's journal from 1832 recording his activities in Tasmania, notable for the detailed information he recorded about the local Aboriginal people he encountered. The Holtermann Collection of over 3,500 glass-plate negatives and albumen prints, many of which depict life in New South Wales goldfield towns between 1871 and 1876. Max Dupain and Associates archive of 250,000 negatives, transparencies, and photographs 1905-2011. Richardson Collection of 289 volumes of rare bibles, religious works, early printed books and a small collection of medieval manuscripts. First Fleet Journals. The Library holds the most comprehensive collection of First Fleet journals in the world; of the fifteen journals known to survive, ten are held in the State Library's collections. Shakespeare Folios. The Library holds a copy of the extremely rare 1623 "First Folio" as well as copies of the "Second", "Third" and "Fourth" folios. World War One Collection. The Library holds a rich and significant collection of personal diaries and letters written by those who served in the First World War. Indigenous Languages Collection. These records are vocabularies and other language material from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and date from 1788 to the 1930s. George Morrison Collection. A comprehensive collection of the personal papers of 'Morrison of Peking' that documents a volatile time in world history and is of international significance. Australian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914) photographs, notes, and reports. Includes over 2000 photographic negatives taken on the expedition. Frank Hurley's Antarctic colour plates of Shackleton's Endurance expedition as well as his colour Paget plates from World War One. The Social Media Archive is the Library's Digital Collecting Strategy partnership with CSIRO Data 61 to collect and archive publicly-available social media. Sir William Dixson numismatic collection of over 7800 coins, notes and tokens. Two of three surviving copies of the New South Wales General Standing Orders, the first book published in Australia.
Electronic resources Computer cataloguing commenced in the early 1980s for books, and in 1992 for pictures and manuscripts. A large cataloguing backlog of material without an electronic record prompted the library's successful 2008 application for government funding to create over one million electronic catalogue records. The library subscribes to electronic databases which are accessible for cardholders via the catalogue. The digitisation of the papers of Sir Joseph Banks, completed in 1997, was the first digitisation project of original manuscripts undertaken by the library. It was followed by further digitisation of manuscript and picture collections including the papers of Matthew Flinders, the Hood collection of photographs by Sam Hood and son Ted Hood, and the Holtermann Collection of images of the NSW goldfields of the 1860s and 1870s, which is now listed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. Digitised images of items from the library's collection are available in the catalogue, and some are also available through thematic online exhibitions. In 2012 the library received State Government funding to digitise 12 million pages from its collection, including newspapers, manuscripts, pictures and books.
Legal deposit In Australia, legal deposit legislation exists at the national and state levels to support the provision of access to Australian research, heritage and culture. The Copyright Act 1968 governs legal deposit requirements at a national level. In New South Wales, legal deposit is required under the New South Wales Copyright Act 1879–1952, ss 5–7. The State Library of New South Wales, along with New South Wales Parliamentary Library and University of Sydney Library are entitled to "receive a copy of every book first published in New South Wales within two months of publication. 'Book' is defined in the Act as any book, newspaper, pamphlet, leaflet, music, map, chart or plan separately published and 'bound', sewed or stitched together'."
As a member library of National and State Libraries Australia, the organisation collaborated on the creation of the National edeposit (NED) system, which enables publishers from all over Australia to upload electronic publications as per the 2016 amendment to the Copyright Act 1968 and other regional legislation, and makes these publications publicly accessible online (depending on access conditions) from anywhere.
Services Access to the library reading rooms and galleries is free. There are a range of services that are accessible via a library card including remote access to electronic resources for NSW residents, access to books and other material from storage, and bookings for onsite study rooms. The library hosts free exhibitions, both from its own collections and from other organisations such as World Press Photo.
Relationship with NSW public libraries The library administers the sections of the Library Act 1939 and the Library Regulation that relate to local authorities and public libraries in New South Wales. The library provides information, professional development programs, advice and the payment of grants and subsidies to local authorities operating New South Wales public libraries.
The State Library's Public Library Services team provides a research program on behalf of public libraries in New South Wales. This covers standards and guidelines for library buildings and services, economic value studies, services and management of public libraries.
Online services The Australian Indigenous Index, or INFOKOORI, is an index to the fortnightly newspaper Koori Mail, covering from May 1991 to July 2016, as well as to biographical information from various magazines, including Identity (1971-1982); Our AIM (1907-1961); and Dawn (1952-1969) / New Dawn (1970-1975).
Collaborations with Wikimedia The library has contributed to a number of Wikimedia projects, including:
Added images to Wikimedia Commons Added State library of NSW collection items to Wikidata 2016-2023 the library has contributed to 1Lib1Ref
Opening Hours - Transport connections Reading Rooms & Exhibition Galleries Monday to Thursday (9 am to 8 pm) Friday (9 am to 5 pm) Weekends (10 am to 5 pm) Library Bar Wednesday to Saturday (4 pm till late)
Mode Station/Stop Services Trains Martin Place North West & Bankstown Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra St James Circular Quay Buses Macquarie Street 200, Sydney Explorer Timetable Ferries Circular Quay Timetable
History The first library collections were part of the Australian Subscription Library which was started by a group of wealthy Sydney citizens in 1826. It was then purchased for by the New South Wales Government in 1869 and became the Sydney Free Public Library. In 1895 it was renamed the Public Library of New South Wales until its most recent name change in 1975, when it became the State Library of New South Wales.
Establishment (1826–1900) The Australian Subscription Library was established in 1826 at a meeting at the Sydney Hotel chaired by barrister John Mackaness. Library membership was subject to committee approval. James Mitchell, father of David Scott Mitchell (who would later bequeath his collection to the library), was a committee member from 1832 to 1853 and Vice President from 1856 to 1869.
In December 1827 operations began in rented premises in Pitt Street and in the two years following, the library led a peripatetic existence having been located a few years in George Street, Bridge Street, Macquarie Street and Macquarie Place. The library had financial problems and required more space to house its growing collections but negotiations in 1838 to construct a new library building broke down over member unwillingness to broaden access to the library. Fortunately for the members later negotiations with the government were more successful and construction of a new library building began in 1843. The foundation stone for this new building, on the corner of Bent and Macquarie Streets, was laid by Alexander Macleay and the library was opened in 1845.
Financial difficulties continued, and by 1869 the subscription library was in serious debt. The New South Wales Government was persuaded to buy it for ( for the books and for the building). In September 1869, the Sydney Free Public Library opened its doors with a stock of 20,000 volumes. Over 60,000 people visited the library in its first year of operation as the Free Public Library. Robert Cooper Walker was appointed Principal Librarian. He, in collaboration with the Trustees (led by Charles Badham), worked to expand the educational role of the library both through collection expansion and the production of printed catalogues of the library's collection.