State Library of Western Australia
State Library of Western Australia, Alexander Library Building
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| Type | State Library |
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| Established | 1889 |
| Location | Perth, Western Australia |
| Coordinates | 31°56′57″S 115°51′38″E / 31.949031°S 115.860513°ECoordinates: 31°56′57″S 115°51′38″E / 31.949031°S 115.860513°E |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Books, Journals, Newspapers, Magazines, Manuscripts, Personal Papers, Maps, Printed music, Sound and Music Recordings, Oral Histories, Films, Photographs and Ephemera |
| Size | 1.5 million items, 4,000 linear metres of archives |
| Other information | |
| Director | Margaret Allen (CEO and State Librarian) |
| Website | SLWA.wa.gov.au |
The State Library of Western Australia is a research, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Culture and the Arts, and controlled by the Library Board of Western Australia.
The State Library has particular responsibility for collecting and preserving Western Australia's documentary heritage. The J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History is the section of the library dedicated to West Australiana.
In 1886, the Western Australian Legislative Council allocated £5000 to be spent in celebrations for Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. Of this, it was decided that £3000 would be used to establish a free public library in Perth. A foundation stone was laid at a site in St Georges Terrace in 1887, however due to the lack of funds this site was not built upon. Instead, books to the value of £1000 were ordered from England, and the library found temporary accommodation in a building opposite the site. The Victoria Public Library, named in honour of Queen Victoria, opened on 26 January 1889. The first managers of the library were the clerks to the management committee, W.C. Townsend and then Basil Porter. The first Chief Librarian, James Sykes Battye, was appointed in 1894.
By 1896, construction had begun on a site at the corner of James and Beaufort Streets, and in 1897 the library moved to the new James Street site. In 1904, the word 'Victoria' was removed from the name of the library, which then became known as the Public Library of Western Australia. A new addition to the site was opened in 1913. It was called Hackett Hall after Sir John Winthrop Hackett, the President of the Trustees of the Library, Museum and Art Gallery. The library shared this building with the Art Gallery and Museum, and the Western Australian Museum still occupies the building today.
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