National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act 1960 for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people", thus functioning as a national library. It is located in Parkes, Canberra, ACT.
| National Library of Australia | |
|---|---|
| 35°17′47″S 149°07′46″E | |
| Location | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory |
| Type | Reference library |
| Scope | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Established | 23 March 1961 |
| Reference to legal mandate | National Library Act 1960 |
| Collection | |
| Items collected |
|
| Size | 6.93 million items |
| Criteria for collection | Publications made available to the Australian public |
| Legal deposit | Digital and hard-copy Australian published materials |
| Other information | |
| Budget | A$57,800,000 (2015–16) |
| Director | Marie-Louise Ayres |
| Employees | 400 (2016) |
| Website | www |
Building details | |
National Library of Australia as viewed from Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Architectural style | Late Twentieth Century Stripped Classical |
| Address | Parkes Place and King Edward Terrace, Parkes, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory |
| Country | Australia |
| Construction started | 1961 |
| Inaugurated | 15 August 1968 by Prime Minister John Gorton |
| Cost | A$8 million (1968) |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Marble, granite, bronze, slate, trachyte, and copper |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Walter Bunning |
| Architecture firm | Bunning and Madden |
| Other designers |
|
| Official name | National Library of Australia and Surrounds, Parkes Pl, Parkes, ACT, Australia |
| Type | Listed place |
| Criteria | A., D., E., F., G., H. |
| Designated | 22 June 2004 |
| Reference no. | 105470 |
| References: | |
Created in 1960 by the National Library Act, by the end of June 2019 its collection contained 7,717,579 items, with its manuscript material occupying 17,950 metres (58,890 ft) of shelf space. The NLA also hosts and manages the renowned Trove cultural heritage discovery service, which includes access to the Australian Web Archive and National edeposit (NED), a large collection of digitised newspapers, official documents, manuscripts and images, as well as born-digital material.