John Oxley Library

State Library of Queensland
Exterior of State Library
General information
Location	Kurilpa Point, South Bank, Brisbane
Address	Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Bank, South Brisbane, Queensland
Coordinates	27°28′16″S 153°01′06″E / 27.471087°S 153.018281°E / -27.471087; 153.018281Coordinates: 27°28′16″S 153°01′06″E / 27.471087°S 153.018281°E / -27.471087; 153.018281
Inaugurated	25 November 2006
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Donovan Hill, Peddle Thorp

The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contains a significant portion of Queensland's documentary heritage, major reference and research collections, and is an advocate of and partner with public libraries across Queensland. The library is at Kurilpa Point, within the Queensland Cultural Centre on the Brisbane River at South Bank.

The Brisbane Public Library was established by the government of the Colony of Queensland in 1896, and was renamed the Public Library of Queensland in 1898. The library was opened to the public in 1902.

In 1934, the Oxley Memorial Library (now the John Oxley Library), and named for the explorer John Oxley, opened as a centre for research and study relating specifically to Queensland. The Libraries Act of 1943 established the Library Board of Queensland to manage the Public Library of Queensland; three years later, under the terms of The Oxley Memorial Library of Queensland Act, it took over management of the Oxley Memorial Library as well.

A year after that, James L. Stapleton was appointed Queensland's first State Librarian. He remains the longest-serving CEO, and has been followed by four others, including Sydney Lawrence (Lawrie) Ryan from 1970 to 1988, Des Stephens from 1988 to 2001, Lea Giles-Peters from 2001 to 2011, Janette Wright, from 2012-2015 and from 2016, Vicki McDonald.

In 1971, the "Public Library" became the "State Library." The following year, the Public Library Service was established to liaise with Queensland local authorities regarding their public libraries; a subsidy for employing qualified staff in public libraries was also established. A few years later the Country Lending Service (CLS) was established to provide book exchange and other services to public libraries in Queensland's smaller local government areas. The CLS is still going strong today, administered by the State Library's Public and Indigenous Library Services program.

In 2003, the State Library began a new mission of establishing Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs) in the Cape York and Torres Strait regions. There is now a network of 22 IKCs in remote and regional communities: across Cape York, the Northern Peninsula. Area, the islands of the Torres Strait, Central Queensland and at Cherbourg in South East Queensland.