Libraries are no longer simply repositories of information and resources, they are becoming gateways to information from all over the world. Libraries Free municipal libraries began to appear in Australia in the 1850s as did central public libraries - which largely went on to become the State Libraries. Parliamentary libraries were established to support the work of state parliaments, and a Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was set up in Melbourne to support the new Commonwealth Parliament in 1901. In 1923 the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library became the Commonwealth National Library, the precursor to the National Library of Australia. The National Library of Australia became a separate entity under its own Act of Parliament in 1960.
Libraries are a vital source of information in any society.
Kim Beazley, Leader of the Opposition Lobbying for Libraries Libraries today are much more than repositories for books. New technologies like CD-ROM and the Internet mean libraries are now also gateways to the online world, and librarians the finders of knowledge in electronic space as well as in the stacks. Major initiatives like the Australian Libraries Gateway ensure the accessibility of these vast resources. Major databases such as those at the Mortlock Library of South Australiana, the State Library of Victoria and the State Library of Tasmania bring our heritage into our present and ensure it will be part of our future. If you have a Macintosh using System 8.5 or above, you've also got Sherlock - the father of all searches.