Arts Reading Room
The Arts Reading Room houses the Library's Arts Collection.
Where is the Arts Room?
One of four enclosed courtyards, the Art Reading Room is on the ground floor just off the Information Centre. The exact location of this room is clearly identified on the Library floor plan.
Quiet room
This room is one of the Library’s designated quiet areas, reserved for silent work and study. Mobile phones should be switched to silent. If you wish to make phone calls, have conversations or hold group study sessions, we recommend you use other Library areas, such as the Information Centre and Redmond Barry Reading Room.
What's in this room?
The Arts Reading Room contains a wide range of arts-related books, journals, magazines, audiovisual materials, recordings and electronic resources. It is divided into three distinct zones.
Main room
In the main part of the Arts room, you'll find open shelves containing a range of reference materials, indexes and other recently published works for reading and browsing. You can also consult indexes such as the Music Index, Wilson Art Index, Film Literature Index and the Australian Visual Arts Database (AVAD), as well as a number of useful in-house indexes that have been created by Library staff over many years. These include the biography, song, and Victorian Artists’ Society indexes. In-house lists and guides, also compiled by staff, are available to help you find material.
On the other side of the room, the latest arts periodicals and new release books are displayed in a rack close to a cluster of comfortable arm chairs. Regular periodical titles include Art Monthly Australia, Art Almanac, Hi-Fi News, Limelight, Mojo and the Cahiers du Cinema. Other facilities in the main room include:
- computer workstations which provide access to the Library’s catalogue, databases and the web
- reading tables
- laser printer
- photocopier
- microfiche reader.
Audiovisual facilities
CDs from our collection, displayed in a purpose-built stand, can be listened to at any of the listening posts spread throughout the room. Requests for CDs should be directed to the centrally located information desk, staffed by one of the Library's specialist librarians.
Alternatively, you may want to take advantage of the Library's jukeboxes located in the listening lounge behind the CD stand. Offering visitors a choice of eight different playlists, which are regularly updated, these jukeboxes allows you to listen a wide and eclectic selection of music from the Library's collection.
Other audiovisual material ordered through the catalogue can be collected from the arts information desk and viewed or listened to in a dedicated audiovisual area. This area contains:
- turntables for vinyl and 78rpm records
- DVD and video players
- cassette and reel-to-reel tape recorders
- soundproofed booths.
Music room
The adjacent music room has a large selection of song albums, scores for piano, operas and musicals as well as the collected editions of individual composers. Everything from Vivaldi's scores to the AC/DC songbook and Kurt Weill's operas are available for browsing on the room's open shelving.
Information desk
This is where you can order specific arts-related material that is kept in storage. Items in the arts pamphlets and audiovisual collections will be delivered here, while rare and fragile material will be sent to the Heritage Collections Reading Room.
If you require assistance using equipment or finding what you need, our expert staff at this desk will be able to help you. Some items that are ordered through the catalogue may be delivered here.
When is this room open?
The Arts Reading Room can be visited during standard Library opening hours.
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