State Library of Queensland

 

State Library of Queensland
Exterior of State Library
General information
Location	Kurilpa Point, South Bank, Brisbane
Address	Cultural Centre, South Brisbane, Brisbane
Coordinates	27.471087°S 153.018281°E / -27.471087; 153.018281
Inaugurated	25 November 2006
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Donovan Hill, Peddle Thorp

The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contains a significant portion of Queensland’s documentary heritage, major reference and research collections, and is an advocate of and partner with public libraries across Queensland. The library is at Kurilpa Point, within the Queensland Cultural Centre on the Brisbane River at South Bank.

History

The Brisbane Public Library was established by the government of the Colony of Queensland in 1896, and was renamed the Public Library of Queensland in 1898. The library was opened to the public in 1902.

In 1934 the Oxley Memorial Library (now the John Oxley Library, and named for the explorer John Oxley), opened as a centre for research and study relating specifically to Queensland. The Libraries Act of 1943 established the Library Board of Queensland to manage the Public Library of Queensland; three years later, under the terms of The Oxley Memorial Library of Queensland Act, it took over management of the Oxley Memorial Library as well.

The old State Library with extension, built in the late 1950s

A year after that, James L. Stapleton was appointed Queensland's first State Librarian. He remains the longest-serving CEO, and has been followed by four others:

• Sydney Lawrence (Lawrie) Ryan (1970–1988)
• Des Stephens (1988–2001)
• Lea Giles-Peters (2001–2011)
• Janette Wright (2012- )

In 1971, the "Public Library" became the "State Library." The following year, the Public Library Service was established to liaise with Queensland local authorities regarding their public libraries; a subsidy for employing qualified staff in public libraries was also established. A few years later the Country Lending Service (CLS) was established to provide book exchange and other services to public libraries in Queensland's smaller local government areas. The CLS is still going strong today, administered by the State Library's Public Library Services program.

In 2003 the State Library began a new mission when it established the first fifteen of its Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs) in the Cape York and Torres Strait regions. Other IKCs were opened in the following years.

The library's current mission statement motto is Creatively linking Queenslanders to information, knowledge and each other.

Collection and services

• General collections, including books, journals and magazines, newspapers, audiovisual, family history, maps, music, ephemera, Internet and electronic resources.
• Research collections and services – including the John Oxley Library and the Australian Library of Art, which includes the James Hardie Library of Australian Fine Arts.
• Home to two UNESCO Memory of the World significant collections, Labour Party Manifesto and the Margaret Lawriecollection of Torres Strait Islands material.

Services

• Access to collections, including access to 50,000 Copyright-free Queensland images through Wikimedia Commons
• Provides books and other resource material to public libraries throughout Queensland.
• Specialist services to public libraries in a number of areas, including services to young people and multicultural communities.
• Public programs and exhibitions, including exhibition loans to schools, museums and other community organisations.
• Outreach programs in reference, research, information literacy, Internet training and digitisation throughout Queensland for public library staff and the general community.
• Library services to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders including the establishment of Indigenous Knowledge Centres primarily in Cape York and Torres Strait regions and increasing the employment and training opportunities for Indigenous peoples in the library industry.
• A digital culture centre called The Edge, for young people.

Architecture

Interior of the State Library

The then-Brisbane Public Library moved into the old State Library building in William Street, Brisbane in 1899. This building had formerly been occupied by the Queensland Museum.

The Library originally shared accommodation in the building with an art gallery. In the late 1950s, an extension, with a distinctive tiled mural on the exterior, was built onto the building to provide more space. The mural was the winning design in a national competition held in 1958.

In 1988, the State Library of Queensland moved to a new home within the Queensland Cultural Centre at South Bank, near the Queensland Museum and the original Queensland Art Gallery.

After three years of extensive redevelopment, the South Bank building officially re-opened on 25 November 2006 as "a new cultural and knowledge destination" and a fitting showcase for the collections. New services include the kuril dhagun Indigenous Knowledge Centre, and The Corner, an activities area for children under 8, their parents, carers, educators and friends.

The newly redeveloped building was designed by Brisbane based architecture firms Donovan Hill and Peddle Thorp. Their work earned them the prestigious RAIA Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture, 2007 (award for best public building in Australia) and the RAIA Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture, 2007.

The building overlooks Stanley Place between the Queensland Art Gallery and the new Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.

Governance

The State Library of Queensland is governed by the Library Board of Queensland and comprises the following program units:

Client Services and Collections

• Indigenous Research and Projects
• Learning and Participiation
• Queensland Memory
• Resource Management
• Visitor Experience

Public and Indigenous Library Services

• Literacy and Young People
• Public Library Development
• Regional Partnerships
• SLQ Cairns

Corporate Services

• Finance, Facilities & Administration
• HR Consultancy
• Information Communications and Technology Services
• Strategic Reporting

Office of the State Librarian

• Communications
• The Edge
• People and Planning
• Queensland Library Foundation

See also

• SLQ donation of images to Wikimedia Commons in December 2010

References

• Walker, Paul. Millennium Library Architecture Australia Vol 96 No 2 Mar/Apr 2007 pp 64–73

External links

• State Library of Queensland
• The Edge
• John Oxley Library Blog
• SLQ Family History Nnub
• State Library of Queensland images on Flickr
• Timelapse videos of building redevelopment – Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
• Libraries Act 1988 (Queensland)
• Music Queensland – tune in to scores of musical heritage
• Queensland State Archives