State Library of Western Australia
The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, 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 Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, and facilitated by the Library Board of Western Australia.
SLWA has particular responsibility for collecting, preserving and digitising Western Australia's heritage materials. The Battye Library of West Australian History is the section of SLWA dedicated to Western Australian historical materials.
History
In 1886, the Western Australian Legislative Council allocated £5000, equivalent to in, 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, 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 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. The Library Board of Western Australia was established with the passing of the Library Board of Western Australia Act 1951, appointing the first State Librarian, Sharr. The purpose of the board was to assist local authorities in establishing free public libraries throughout the state, and work to co-ordinating those libraries as a statewide system. However, James Battye successfully resisted having the board take over control of the Public Library of Western Australia. It was only after Battye died in office in 1954 that the board gained control of the library. It was closed for a year for renovations, then reopened in 1956 as the State Library of Western Australia. This included a section dedicated to collecting Western Australian materialthe J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History and State Archives.
Between 1964 and 2002 the organisation was known as the Library and Information Service of Western Australia. This reflected the board's broader operations beyond the walls of the library, particularly in encouraging the development of public library services throughout the state. In July 2002, the library once again became known as the State Library of Western Australia.
By the late 1970s, the library had grown sufficiently that staff were working from ten different sites and annexes in the city. Planning was undertaken for a new building as part of the development of the Perth Cultural Centre. In 1985 the library's current home, the Alexander Library Building, was opened. It is named after Fred Alexander, the first chairman of the Library Board of Western Australia.
The State Archives was established as a separate unit in 1988, and the State Records Office of Western Australia was created as a separate entity to the library in 2000 with the passing of the State Records Act 2000. Responsibility for the collection and management of public records was transferred to the State Records Office of Western Australia, although it remains co-located with SLWA in the Alexander Library Building.
Collections and services
SLWA operations fall into four main areas:- collecting and preserving Western Australia's documentary heritage,
- general reference and public lending library services,
- literacy and education, and
- supporting the public library network in Western Australia.
Western Australian heritage
The library has extensive collection of Western Australian:
- Newspapers
- Original manuscripts, journals, diaries and letters
- Records of non-government organisations
- Music recordings
- Photographs
- Western Australian films
- Oral history recordings and transcripts
- Maps, charts and serials
- Private archives
- Post Office Directories
SLWA was the legal deposit library for Western Australia under the Copyright Act 1895 and the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act 1884, but these acts were repealed in 1994 and 2005 respectively. Legal deposit provisions were re-established in principle in 2012, with the passing of the Legal Deposit Act 2012, and brought into force for physical publications with the passage of the Legal Deposit Regulations 2013.