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The Ask a Librarian Service will be unavailable on Monday 6 February between 8 and 10 am for a scheduled upgrade. 

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What’s got us talking

Join us for our children's literature conference Lit Up!

Drawing of a girl reading a book with books flying in the air

Celebrate Seniors Festival with Lifelong Learner events.

man and woman working on a laptop

Subscribe to Openbook magazine.

Cover of Openbook summer issue.

Enjoy the view from the Library Bar observation deck.

Two people with wine at a rooftop bar during sunset

Collection buzz

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.

Landmark work goes on public display

A landmark 16th century book that transformed our understanding of the human body has just been acquired by the Library.

Page in book open on image of internal organs of the body.

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

Book Lovers Club with Maryam Master

Tuesday
Tue 7 Feb 2023
Free
Talk

Young readers are invited to join Maryam for a lively discussion about her second novel, No Words, the story of a 12-year-old refugee trying to establish a new life in Australia.

Composite image of author Maryam Master and her book cover for No Words

Elizabeth Cook: Souvenirs of a life

Wednesday
Wed 15 Feb 2023
Free
Talk

Curator Margot Riley takes a look back on the imagined world of Elizabeth Cook, wife of circumnavigator James Cook.

Photograph of a waistcoat of cloth
Onsite

Chokepoint Capitalism – Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow

Wednesday
Wed 15 Feb 2023
Talk

Scholar Rebecca Giblin and writer and activist Cory Doctorow discuss their new book Chokepoint Capitalism with Maddison Connaughton.

black and white image of a woman and man looking at a camera
Onsite

Chloe Hooper and Sarah Ferguson

Friday
Fri 17 Feb 2023
Talk

To celebrate the newly released stunning hardback edition of Bedtime Story, Chloe Hooper speaks with ABC 7.30’s Sarah Ferguson.

Onsite