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State Library Victoria

State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. It is also Australia's busiest public library[3] and, as of 2023, the third busiest library globally.[4]

State Library Victoria

1854 (1854)

3,892,523 collection items electronically registered [1]

Legal deposit library for the State of Victoria

Free to access

2,113,118 [1]

87,073

311 FTE[1]

State Library of Victoria

State Registered Place

August 20, 1982

H1497[2]

HO751[2]

The library has remained on the same site in the central business district since it was established fronting Swanston Street, and over time has greatly expanded to now cover a block bounded also by La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets. The library's collection consists of over five million items, which in addition to books includes manuscripts, paintings, maps, photographs and newspapers, with a special focus on material from Victoria, including the diaries of Melbourne founders John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, the folios of Captain James Cook, and the armour of Ned Kelly.

National eDeposit (NED)[edit]

As a member library of National and State Libraries Australia (NSLA), 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 relating to legal deposit,[30] and makes these publications publicly accessible online (depending on access conditions) from anywhere via Trove.[31] As CEO of State Library Victoria and Chair of NSLA, Kate Torney played an important role on the steering committee, which met 100 times during the two-year build phase of the project.[32]

In popular culture[edit]

The exterior of the Library is prominently featured at the conclusion of the post-World War III-set movie On the Beach.


Rock band Faker shot the music video for their 2005 single "Hurricane" in the La Trobe Reading Room.


The La Trobe Reading Room is the setting for a confrontation between Justin Theroux's character Kevin Garvey and a librarian in the fourth episode of the third season of the critically acclaimed HBO drama series The Leftovers.


Parts of the Library were used for the SBS series Safe Home.

Edmund la Touche Armstrong

Museums Victoria

National Gallery of Victoria

Architecture of Melbourne

List of heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne

Victorian architecture

. Libraries. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2008.

"State Library Victoria"

State Library Victoria's Official Website

Wheeler Centre

State Library Victoria Foundation

State Library Victoria accessed 23 March 2015.

The history of the State Library Victoria

Inside a dog

provided by Google Arts & Culture

Virtual tour of the State Library Victoria