About the National Library of Australia

The National Library of Australia is the country's largest reference library. Our role is to ensure that documentary resources of national significance relating to Australia and the Australian people, as well as significant non-Australian library materials, are collected, preserved and made accessible either through the Library itself or through collaborative arrangements with other libraries and information providers.

 

Our Collections

The Library holds the greatest collection in the world of material relating to Australia and the Australian people. It ranges from the earliest European works about the Great Southern Land to the most current publications. The collection includes all formats of material, from books and magazines to pictures, photographs, maps, sheet music, oral history recordings, manuscript papers, ephemera and much, much more!

 

The Library also has considerable collections of general overseas and rare book materials, as well as world-class Asian and Pacific collections which augment the Australiana collections.

 

The Library's Collection Development Policy provides more detail about the scope and nature of the collecting of both Australian and overseas materials.

 

Pictures

Our rich and varied pictures collection focuses on Australian people, places and events, from European exploration of the South Pacific to contemporary events.

Art works and photographs are acquired primarily for their informational value and for their importance as historical documents.

 

Art works

* Over 40,000 works of art in the pictures collection

* These highlight Australia and Australian life from 1700s to 1990s,

* The period from 1800-1920 is particularly well represented.

* Media represented include drawings, watercolours, oils, lithographs, engravings, etchings and sculpture/busts, realia (eg handkerchiefs, medals)

* Over 25,000 items online

 

Photographs

* Over 600,000 photographs available of Australia and Australians

* Dating from 1850s to present day.

* Over 60,000 photographs available online

 

To learn more about us...

Explore the Library's Website

 

Read our blogs where you can find out how we collect, digitise and preserve our material.

 

Follow us on Twitter

 

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Visit our Reading Rooms

  

Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this account contains names and images of deceased people. All users of the images in the National Library of Australia Commons should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which theywere written.