National Library of Australia

The National Library of Australia is located in Canberra, Australia.

Related Topics:
Canberra - Australia

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The Library was established in 1960 and grew out of the Federal Parliamentary Library, which was established in 1901. In 1960, the National Library was separated from the Parliamentary Library by the National Library Act 1960.

Related Topics:
1960 - National Library Act 1960

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In 1968, a new building was built for it on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.

Related Topics:
1968 - Lake Burley Griffin

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The Copyright Act 1968 requires that a copy of every book published in Australia be deposited with the National Library of Australia.

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The National Library of Australia hosts the national bibliographic database and offers access through the LibrariesAustralia service. The Library also provides Cataloguing-in-Publication (CiP) details, ISSNs and ISMNs for Australian publishers.

Related Topics:
ISSN - ISMN

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The large National Library building is home to various reading rooms and collections.

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On the ground floor is the Main Reading Room along with private reading rooms. This is where the bulk of the library's Internet access terminals are located, and where wireless access is available. Services are also delivered on-site from the Petherick (for advanced readers), Newspaper and Microcopy, Map, Asian Collections, Manuscript and Pictures reading rooms.

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The Library is "closed access" so one cannot simply browse the shelves.

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The National Library's collection of books, journals, pictures, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, microfilm and other media is vast.

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Behind the scenes of the National Library is over 40km (25 miles) of shelves. The bulk of its collections are held on-site and so are usually delivered promptly (ie in 30 minutes) but the material that is stored off-site at Hume annex and other warehouse locations may take longer. Visitors to the Library can, however, order material ahead.

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The Library has digitised over 105,000 items from its collection (the 100,000th being http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3409117) and, where possible, delivers these directly across the Internet.

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The Library is a world leader in digital preservation techniques (see http://www.nla.gov.au/padi), and maintains an Internet-accessible archive of selected Australian websites called the Pandora Archive.

Related Topics:
Digital preservation - Pandora Archive

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In addition to the research facilities available, the National Library offers a gift shop specialising in Australian books, a café, and a Friends Lounge for members. There are also several exhibition galleries for temporary exhibits.

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Interestingly, the National Library is also a popular venue for Canberra's climbing community — the unique use of roughly cut blocks in the outer northern wall presents a challenging bouldering problem.

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