State Library of Tasmania
Encyclopedia
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
system in the state of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The State Library operates as part of the Tasmanian Department of Education
Department of Education, Tasmania
The Department of Education, Tasmania, is responsible for primary and secondary education, library and information services, vocational education and training services, children's services, assessment and certification services and youth affairs.-See also:...
, and maintains close ties with Tasmanian schools and senior secondary colleges.
The headquarters of the State Library is located at the corner of Murray and Bathurst Streets in Hobart.
Lending libraries
The State Library of Tasmania administers and funds all public libraries in Tasmania. There are 7 city/suburban lending libraries and 39 smaller branch libraries located in the main cities, regional and rural centres throughout the state. All libraries share a single catalogue and the collection circulates freely between the libraries.State Reference Library
Located on the second floor of the Murray Street library, the State Reference Library contains over 200,000 books, periodicals, maps and directories. Items in the catalogue but not located on the library floor can be retrieved by library staff from an area called the Stack within 30 minutes. Reference and research services are provided to on-site and off-site clients using a range of print and online resources. The Ask a Librarian webpage provides clients with access to virtual and online enquiry services.Heritage Collections
The library operates several collections and archives of historical publications and documents, particularly those related to Tasmania. In addition, the library maintains a newspaper index, an image library and a sheet musicSheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
.
Tasmaniana Library
A collection of historical and modern published material related to Tasmania, in a range of formats from paper to digital. All Tasmanian-related material is collected including all works published in Tasmania, all works published about Tasmania, and all works by Tasmanian authors.W.L. Crowther Library
A collection of historical books, documents, photographs, works of art and objects collected by Sir William CrowtherWilliam Crowther (Australian politician)
William Lodewyk Crowther FRCS was an Australian politician, who was Premier of Tasmania 20 December 1878 to 29 October 1879.-Early life:...
, whose great-grandfather arrived in Hobart in 1825. The library contains about 15,000 books and manuscripts, as well as photographs and artworks, and whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
ephemera including a collection of scrimshaw
Scrimshaw
Scrimshaw is the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the byproducts of harvesting marine mammals. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses...
.
Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
Another collection of historical material, bequeathed to the people of Tasmania by the Allport family to the library in 1965. It includes about 6,000 books, and outstanding collection of about 2,500 colonial-era artworks (by family members and others) and collections of Georgian eraGeorgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
furniture, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
.