In May 1856, Augustus Tulk was appointed as the first librarian. He and Barry set to work building the foundations of the Library’s collections which had grown to more than 22,000 volumes by 1861. Four years later, the collection had increased to 38,000 with the number doubling again over the next decade.
An important factor influencing the growth of the Library’s collection was the introduction of the Copyright Protection Act in 1869. This Act required a copy of every book, magazine, pamphlet and map published in Victoria to be lodged at the State Library by the publisher. The Act also required that a copy of each issue of all newspapers published in Victoria be deposited at the Library within two months of publication.
The opening of the Dome
The ongoing expansion of the collection, due in part to the introduction of the Copyright Protection Act, eventually led to the need for more space. This resulted in the construction of new buildings including the spectacular domed reading room which opened in 1913. This magnificent reading room was designed to seat 320 readers and to house 32,000 books on the shelves around its walls. The remainder of the Library’s evergrowing collection was stored in stacks, available to readers on request.
Australiana - a new collection emphasis
By the 1950s, the focus was firmly on acquiring Australian material, particularly that relating to Victoria. This was almost a complete reversal of Barry’s collecting preferences which had given a lower priority to material on, or about, Australia. Barry’s hand-picked elegantly bound volumes of classical authors were confined to the far recesses of the basement stacks, deemed to be of little if any value to modern Library users.
In 1951 the decision was made to build a new wing to house the Library’s extensive but dispersed holdings of Australian material. Opening in 1965 as the La Trobe Library, the Australiana collection contained some 40,000 volumes covering the areas of discovery and exploration, history and travel, biography, Aboriginal history and culture, language and literature.
Works that Barry had rejected as ephemeral or of no value, such as John Batman’s treaty with the Aborigines, were now regarded as treasures. Ironically, it was to be the local material compulsorily acquired by the Library through the Copyright and Legal Deposit legislation rather than the hundreds of thousands of volumes bought from England and other countries that would be most valued by Victorians in their Library’s second century.
The Library in the 21st century
In keeping with the Library’s role as custodian of Victoria’s heritage, the Library collects an eclectic range of contemporary material for the benefit of subsequent generations. Popular culture is regarded as a major collecting area and items that certainly would not have got past the door of Barry’s ‘great emporium’ are being acquired - comic books, popular magazines, pulp fiction, children’s books, rock and pop CDs, posters and fanzines.
While modern collecting practices probably contravene every one of the numerous rules of exclusion laid down by Redmond Barry, one thing that would meet with his approval is the major redevelopment of the Library begun in the early 1990s. This has created a magnificent building ‘of an order, class and magnitude’ which exceeds that originally proposed in 1853. At the heart of the refurbished Library is the great domed reading room of 1913, now housing the Australiana Collection. The main public reading room bears the name of Redmond Barry, a fitting memorial to the man whose passionate commitment led to the creation of a great library.
Note: This is an abridged version of text taken from Treasures of the State Library of Victoria. This publication is available from our online shop. |
