State Library of South Australia
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The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research library in the state, with a collection focus on South Australian information, being the repository of all printed and audiovisual material published in the state, as required by legal deposit legislation. It holds the "South Australiana" collection, which documents South Australia from pre-European settlement to the present day, as well as general reference material in a wide range of formats, including digital, film, sound and video recordings, photographs, and microfiche. Home access to many journals, newspapers and other resources online is available.
History and governance
19th century
On 29 August 1834, a couple of weeks after the passing of the
The first Adelaide Mechanics' Institute (based on the concept of
In September 1844, a group of men founded the South Australian Subscription Library, with a collection created by donation and subscriptions, and in 1845 it took over the collection of the Literary and Scientific Association and Mechanics' Institute. A permanent librarian was employed at this time, and the library served its middle-class members.[1]
In 1847, a new Adelaide Mechanics' Institute was founded, by a group of lower-middle class men, led by schoolteacher
Meanwhile, other institutes and societies were established throughout the Adelaide suburbs, including the
In June 1856 the
As new books arrived from Britain, the library expanded and soon needed new accommodation, which was found in North Terrace in 1860.[6] The Adelaide Institute building opened in January 1861, and included rooms for the Adelaide Philosophical Society, the Medical Society and the Choral Society.[8]
The Copyright Act 1878, Part II section 15, required that a copy of every book published in South Australia was to be deposited in the Institute by a process known as legal deposit, for preservation of the books. (After Federation, the Copyright Act (1905) replaced the earlier state copyright legislation with regard to legal deposit, but the State Library continues to collect and preserve locally produced material.)[9]
The Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery Act 1884 renamed the South Australian Institute as Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery, and also broadened the scope of the Board's control to include the expanding network of regional and suburban institutes. It also created a new, independent body, the Adelaide Circulating Library, to take over the business of circulating books on a subscription basis.[9] It also became the location for university lectures.[8]
20th century
The next important piece of legislation affecting SLSA was the 1939 number 44 Libraries and Institutes Act, which repealed the Public library, Museum and Art Gallery and Institutes Act and separated the Public Library from the (newly named) Art Gallery of South Australia and South Australian Museum, established its own board and changed its name to the Public Library of South Australia. The new entity thus became a statutory corporation.[10][11]
Various reorganisations occurred through the years following, but the legislation still governing the Library is number 70 Libraries Act (1982), which repealed the Libraries and Institutes Act (1939–1979) and the Libraries (Subsidies) Act 1955–1977[9] (with the latest version as of July 2019[update] being 12 May 2011).[12][13]
During the 1990s, the Library became a Division under a series of departments, responsible to the Minister for the Arts. The State Records Act 1997 separated the responsibility for management and disposal of state government records, bringing this under a State Records Council rather than the Libraries Board.[9]
21st century
From 2001 the Library became part of the Division of
After the election of the Marshall government in March 2018, the post of Minister for the Arts ceased to exist, Arts South Australia (as Arts SA was now known) was dismantled and its functions transferred to direct oversight by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Arts and Culture section.[14]
Mortlock Wing
The building now known as the Mortlock Wing was opened on 18 December 1884 as a "Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery for the colony of South Australia" with 23,000 books and a staff of three. It had taken over 18 years to complete after the initial foundations were laid in 1866. (In 1873 the foundations of the western wing of a proposed new block were laid, but there the matter ended until 1876, when fresh plans were drawn, and another set of foundations put in. Again the work went no further until 1879 when the west wing was finally commenced. The earlier work was condemned, and had to be removed before the Public Library could be started.)[15] The foundation stone was laid on 7 November 1879 by Sir William Jervois and the building was constructed by Brown and Thompson at a total cost of £36,395, and opened in 1884.[16] Supervision for the board of directors was undertaken by secretary Robert Kay (1825–1904), later general director and secretary of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia.[citation needed]
The building is French Renaissance in style with a mansard roof. The walls are constructed of brick with Sydney freestone facings with decorations in the darker shade of Manoora stone.[citation needed]
The interior has two galleries, the first supported by masonry columns, and the second by cast iron brackets. The balconies feature wrought iron balustrading ornamented with gold while the glass-domed roof allows the chamber to be lit with natural light. Two of the original gas "sunburner" lamps survive in the office space located on the second floor at the southern end.
Restoration of the building occurred in 1985 as a Jubilee 150 project by Danvers Architects, consultant architect to the South Australian Department of Housing and Construction. The $1.5 million project was jointly funded by the government and the community.[citation needed]
In honour of a substantial bequest from John Andrew Tennant Mortlock,[17] the Libraries Board of South Australia resolved that a percentage of the South Australiana Collections would be housed in the wing and named the Mortlock Library of South Australiana in 1986.
After the State Library underwent a substantial redevelopment, commencing in 2001 and reaching completion in 2004, the main chamber of the Mortlock Wing became an exhibition space providing a glimpse into the history and culture of South Australia.
In August 2014 the Mortlock Wing featured in a list of the top 20 most beautiful libraries of the world, compiled by the U.S. magazine Travel + Leisure.[18][19]
Collections
General reference collections
The general reference and research material in the State Library was named the Bray Reference Library in 1987 after former SA Chief Justice, Dr John Jefferson Bray, who served on the Libraries Board of South Australia from 1944 to 1987.
Heritage collections
The State Library has a national responsibility to collect, preserve and give access to historical and contemporary South Australian information. The South Australiana collections document South Australia from pre-white settlement to the present day, and the Northern Territory to 1911. The South Australiana collection is one of the most comprehensive in the world due to legal deposit requirements for published material, and through donations of unpublished material. A well known donation is the Bradman Collection of cricketing memorabilia.
York Gate Geographical and Colonial Library
The York Gate Library was acquired from the estate of
Mountford-Sheard Collection
The
Rare books
The State Library's rare books collection is the major collection of its kind in South Australia. It comprises Australian and international items which have been identified as having a special interest through subject matter or rarity.
Children's Literature Research Collection
The Children's Literature Research Collection was formed in 1959 and has over 65,000 books, periodicals, comics, board and table games, and toys. The collection has been enhanced by donations from South Australian individuals and families and from organisations. It is one of the State Library's heritage collections and is of international importance.
Collaborations
The Library manages, in collaboration with the History Trust of South Australia, the Centre of Democracy on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue.[24] The Centre's gallery exhibits treasures from History Trust and State Library collections, as well as items on loan from State Records of South Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Courts Authority, Parliament House, Government House and private lenders.[25]
National edeposit system (NED)
As a member library of
See also
References
- ^ hdl:2440/113377. PDF
- ^ a b "History of the State Library of South Australia: Home". State Library of South Australia. LibGuides. 5 May 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ a b "About the Society". Royal Society of South Australia. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- JSTOR 3119430.
- ^ "What is a Mechanics' Institute?". Prahran Mechanics' Institute. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d "VII.—Educational". South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889). No. 27 October. 1863. p. 4.
- ^ "About Institutes of SA" (Video). Institutes of South Australia. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ^ a b c Hancock, Joelie (Winter–Spring 2021). "Beginnings of Institutes in South Australia". Useful Knowledge (55). Mechanics' Institute of Victoria: 20-21. Retrieved 3 January 2022 – via Institutes Of South Australia.
- ^ a b c d e f g "History of the State Library of South Australia: Board members & legislation". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ "National Gallery of South Australia (Record ID 36484115)". Libraries Australia. Libraries Australia Authorities – Full view. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ "Art galleries". Adelaidia. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Libraries Act 1982, Version: 12.5.2011" (PDF). 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ "Libraries Act 1982". legislation.sa. Government of South Australia. Attorney-General's Dept. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ "About arts and culture". South Australia. Dept of the Premier and Cabinet. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "An Important Institution". South Australian Register. Adelaide. 4 June 1898. p. 5. Retrieved 4 May 2014 – via National Library of Australia. This reference contains interesting details of the "cultural precinct" of North Terrace and list of chairmen of the Board of Governors to 1898.
- ^ Australia, State Library of South. "LibGuides: History of the State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing". guides.slsa.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Valmai A. Hankel, 'Mortlock, John Andrew Tennant (1894–1950)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 15, Melbourne University Press, 2000, pp 426–427.
- ^ Travel + Leisure > Most Beautiful Libraries in the World Accessed 5 August 2014.
- 891 ABC AdelaideAccessed 5 August 2014.
- ^ a b Henderson, Kelly. "York Gate Geographical and Colonial Library" (PDF). icomos.org. ICOMOS. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
- ^ "Mountford-Sheard Collection". State Library of South Australia Collection. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ "Mountford-Sheard Collection". State Library of South Australia LibGuides. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ "#21: Mountford-Sheard Collection". Memory of the World. UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Program. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ "About". Centre of Democracy. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ "Supported by". Centre of Democracy. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
- ^ "What is legal deposit?". National Library of Australia. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- ^ "What is National edeposit (NED)?". NED. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
Further reading
- Hancock, Joelie (20 September 2021). "South Australian Institute". Institutes of South Australia.
- Talbot, Michael R. (2008)The Library of the South Australian Literary and Scientific Association: a combined short-title list arranged by contributor