City of Sydney Library

City of Sydney Library

Customs House Library Branch
Country	Australia
Established	1909
Location	Sydney
Branches	8
Collection
Size	400,000 books
Website	www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

The City of Sydney Library is a network of eight branch libraries and two 'library links', located within the City of Sydney Council administrational area.

A free public lending library service has existed in Sydney since 1877 when the New South Wales state government opened a lending branch of the State Library of New South Wales on Macquarie Street. By the end of the same year there were over one thousand registered borrowers. In 1899 the lending library moved to the second floor of the Queen Victoria Building and in 1909 control passed from State to the City of Sydney Council. In 1918 the library moved again, this time to the old concert hall of the Queen Victoria Building. This provided space for a separate children's library to open in the same year. The first branch libraries opened in 1949 which also provided book deposit stations at a number of local schools. In 1970, the City library moved to yet larger premises within the Queen Victoria Building before taking up residence on Pitt Street in 1984. High rent fees prompted it to move again in 1994 to Town Hall House. In 2005 the Town Hall branch moved to its current location at Customs House at Circular Quay.

Library Link

In addition to the network's collection of over 400,000 books the libraries provide for the loan of CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, toys and non-English books. The libraries also provide internet, copying and printing services.

In the Sydney Subject Specialisation Scheme, a Sydney-wide collection development policy which facilitated interlibrary loans prior to computerised union catalogues, the City of Sydney Library maintained a focus on life sciences, engineering and French literature.

The City of Sydney library had a total stock of 461,253 items as of June 2015.