| Hobart Library | |
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 Libraries Tasmania HQ, including the State Library, in Hobart | |
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| Location | Hobart,Tasmania,Australia |
| Branch of | Libraries Tasmania |
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| Legal deposit | Yes |
TheState Library of Tasmania is the reference, special collections, research and public lending library in theTasmanian capital ofHobart,Australia. It is part ofLibraries Tasmania. Libraries Tasmania includes a state-wide network of library services, community learning, adult literacy and theState’s archives and heritage services.
The first "Tasmanian Public Library" opened in 1849, in a house in Hobart, funded by a government grant and yearly subscription of members. It became accessible to the public in 1860, but was forced to close in 1867 owing to debts. In 1870 a new, free publicreference library opened in theHobart Town Hall. American philanthropistAndrew Carnegie funded the move to new premises in 1907, with the requirement that a free lending service should be established at the same time.[1]
TheLibraries Act (1943) established the State Library of Tasmania, administered by the Tasmanian Library Board. At this time, the Library included many branches across the state, which grew in number over time until such time as some were closed ingovernment rationalisations.[1]
From October 2006, the State Library, the Archives Office, Adult Education and online access centres were integrated as the Community Knowledge Network, renamed LINC Tasmania in 2009.[2] The system was part of theTasmanian Department of Education.[3][4][5] The name changed from LINC Tasmania toLibraries Tasmania in mid-2018.[6]
The headquarters of Libraries Tasmania, which also houses the State Library, is located at the corner of Murray and Bathurst Street inHobart. The public Reading Room is located on the second floor of the building.[7]
The State Library contains over 200,000 books, periodicals, maps and directories. Reference and research services are provided to on-site and off-site clients using a range of print and online resources.[citation needed]
The library operates several collections and archives of historical publications and documents, particularly those related to Tasmania. In addition, the library maintains a newspaper index, an image library and adatabase ofsheet music.[8]
A collection of historical and modern published material related to Tasmania, in a range of formats from paper to digital. All Tasmanian-related material is collected including all works published in Tasmania, all works published about Tasmania, and all works by Tasmanian authors.[9][10]
The W. L. Crowther Library is a collection of historical books, documents, photographs, works of art and objects collected bySir William Crowther,[11] whose great-grandfather arrived in Hobart in 1825. The library contains about 15,000 books and manuscripts, as well as photographs and artworks, andwhaling ephemera including a collection ofscrimshaw.[12][13][14] The collection was donated by William Edward Lodewyk Hamilton Crowther (1887-1981), son ofEdward Lodewyk Crowther and grandson of W. L. Crowther, in 1964, and also includes extensive content about his own military service, including his own diaries.[11]
Another collection of historical material, bequeathed to the people of Tasmania by the Allport family to the library in 1965. It includes about 6,000 books, and outstanding collection of about 2,500 colonial-era artworks (by family members and others) and collections ofGeorgian era furniture,British,French andChineseporcelain.[15][16]
In 1998, the State Library developed a service to capture and store selected Tasmanian websites, known asOur Digital Island. The sites were downloaded and then reinstalled onto a State Libraryserver, where they would operate independently of the original site, and held in perpetuity. Thelegal deposit obligations within the TasmanianLibraries Act 1984[17] allowed the Library to capture the websites without having to gain permission their Tasmanian publishers. While the service did not capture all Tasmanian websites, it had captured about 600 by 2003.[18] The publicly available store ofOur Digital Island contains websites as preserved from 2001 until 2012.[19][20][21] The 3000 website records (with over 9000 captures taken at different times) are available through the Libraries Tasmaniaonline catalogue.[22][23]
Over time,Our Digital Island began to also store electronic documents as separate entities (annual reports, policy documents, etc.), but it became clear that the format did not allow for easy accessibility and use, so the Library set out to create a different type ofonline depository and archive. TheStable Tasmanian Open Repository Service (STORS) was a joint initiative of the State Library andService Tasmania that was officially launched in late 2003. Its scope was limited to self-contained electronic resources with a defined title (i.e. excluding websites) which were able to be used by currentweb browser software. collected all material published in Tasmania, as per legal deposit requirement. The purpose of STORS was to act as a repository for and to provide access to contemporaryelectronic documents, and to serve the function of an archive by retaining these documents forever.[18] Publishers submitted their digital publications directly to STORS, which by the end of 2017 held about 33,000 items.[22]
STORS was terminated on 31 May 2019, when it was replaced by theNational edeposit system (NED),[24] a collaboration between Australia’s nine national, state and territory libraries.[25] As a member library ofNational and State Libraries Australia, the organisation collaborated on the creation of NED, which enables publishers from all over Australia to upload electronic publications as per the 2016 amendment to theCopyright Act 1968 and other regional legislation relating tolegal deposit,[26] and makes these publications publicly accessible online (depending on access conditions) from anywhere viaTrove.[27]
The State Library of Tasmania is not a partner organisation inPANDORA, the national web archive.[28]
Further reading: J Levett, The origins of the State Library of Tasmania, Hobart, 1988; 'Libraries', Tasmanian Year Book 2000.
Note: as of April 2012, Our Digital Island site is no longer updated.
42°52′54″S147°19′28″E / 42.881735°S 147.324552°E /-42.881735; 147.324552
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