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There are currently intermittent issues with the display of images on the old catalogue and Library website. We are working to resolve the issue and apologise for any inconvenience. Please search the new catalogue. 

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The Ask a Librarian Service will be unavailable on Monday 27 March between 8am and 10am. We apologise for any inconvenience. 

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What’s got us talking

Celebrate 50 years of the Koori Knockout

Woman sitting in folding chair waving at camera

Subscribe to Openbook magazine

Cover of Openbook autumn issue.

Share your pride story

Yellow rotary telephone on windowsill and text "Pride Line - Share your pride story"

Vote in the 2023 People's Choice Award.

Stack of books

Collection buzz

Ethel Turner gets personal

A new acquisition reveals the personal and professional lives of one of Australia’s best-known authors.

a collection of items from the Ethel Turner collection including a notepad and a photograph

I feel like a Tooheys ... or two

Dr Lisa Murray explores the Library's Tooheys Limited collection, some 300 volumes of business records covering the period 1881–1979.

Inside cover of report with picture of two bottled beers and a stemmed glass full of beer, in the background two women sit on sun-terrace.

Surf shooters catching a wave

A recently acquired vintage photograph by an influential early-twentieth-century photographer shows one of the first depictions of bodysurfing.

People bodysurfing at Bondi beach.

A capital idea

Decorated initials — artworks in themselves — have a long history.

The recalcitrant priest

The little-explored Therry papers, one of the Library’s largest nineteenth-century manuscript collections, are a window into the early penal colony of NSW.

A drawing of a man sitting at a desk, writing by candlelight. He is surrounded by letters.

Featured events

Finding out the history of your house

Wednesday
Wed 29 Mar 2023
Workshop

Launch into Library research: Are you trying to find information about your house or the house your ancestors lived in? Get started with this workshop!

Learning
Onsite

Politically speaking with Chris Wallace and Frank Bongiorno

Thursday
Thu 30 Mar 2023
Talk

Chris Wallace and Frank Bongiorno discuss their recent books examining Australia's political history.

black of white combined photo of two people looking into camera
Onsite

Writing picture books with Zanni Louise

Saturday
Sat 1 Apr 2023
Workshop

Spend the day with Zanni Louise, bestselling author of over twenty picture books, learning how to bring your own story to life. 

Woman sitting and smiling looking at a book
Learning
Onsite

Behind the scenes at the Library

Sunday
Sun 16 Apr 2023
Talk

ABC RN’s Kate Evans delves into the work of librarians, curators and conservators and some of their favourite parts of the collection.

A woman sits in garden leaning against a tree
Onsite and online