Behind the scenes

Read about the history of the Library and meet the staff who bring our collections to life.

Behind the scenes

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Reconstructing the Holtermann: the world's largest collodion glass-plate negatives

What do you do when one of the world’s largest wet-plate glass negatives, weighing over 30 kilos, smashes into hundreds of pieces?

The thickness of the trays allowed the weight of the glass to be supported without bowing, which in previous tests, had resulted in distortion patterns.

The Library’s digitised collections showcased by Google’s Cultural Institute

In 2015 the Library began sharing some of its digitised collections on Google’s Cultural Institute. 

Google staff preparing to photograph a map from the State Library's collection

Women of the Library

by Maggie Patton

The Library celebrates International Women's Day by honouring the legacy of female Librarians.

Women of the Library

Arresting gaze

by Helen Casey

A compelling portrait of a young colonial woman has been given new life. 

Julia Sharp, Conservation Manager, David Stein & Co, works on the painting

Libraries building communities

by Kristin Twomey

Winner of the 2017 Jean Arnot Memorial Fellowship essay by Kristin Twomey on the importance of libraries as information, educational, cultural and social institutions assisting to build local communities. 

Jean Arnot

Origins of the State Library of New South Wales 1826 - 1869

by Geoff Barker

Between 1826 and 1869 the Australian Subscription Library was reshaped into a Free Public Library.

Interior, Australian Library and Literary Institution c.1868, watercolour by E. Hawley

Boy oh boy!

by Cathy Perkins

In 25 years at the State Library, our Curator of Photographs has seen four people cry.

A sepia photograph of a man lying on a beach, covered in droplets of water

Living language: Aboriginal languages in New South Wales

by Damien Webb, Melissa Jackson, Marika Duczynski and Ronald Briggs

A major exhibition opening in July at the Library will celebrate UNESCO’s International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Two women, lit up by projected words.

Amplify: audio collections from NSW

Workmen mixing and pouring concrete with small hand-wheeled hoppers Creator Hood, Ted, 1911-2000, Call Number, Home and Away - 2262 Digital Order No. hood_02262

The Library at war: 1939–1943

by Andrew Tink

While the Nazis had conquered Western Europe in 1940 and threatened Britain’s very existence, the State Library had continued on much as it had before the war.

Armidale Teachers College, September 1937

150 years ago: the Free Public Library

by Richard Neville

A vital public institution.

An illustration depicting a lavish gathering of gentlemen.

The Iron Church

by Geoff Barker

For over 50 years, the site next to the New South Wales Parliament on Macquarie Street was occupied by one of the Colony's more unusual pieces of architecture.

St Stephen's Church, Iron Church, Macquarie Street, Sydney, 1871,