Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00148:reg:2017:p5
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00148
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2017 (pt 5/81)
Character Range: 53188–56117

to have become a primary influence in the operations of the Parliamentary Library.  Binns fostered a strengthening of the idea of a national library within the Parliamentary Library itself, but there was no government sanction for such a development, and it was not openly promoted.[19]

The question of the separate development of a national library remained an issue that was only to be gradually resolved over a long period.  In 1912 an important step in developing the collection of the national library came when a new Copyright Act was passed that included the compulsory depositing in the Parliamentary Library's collection of a copy of any work published in Australia.  Wadsworth, however, did not pursue the requirement of the mandatory deposit provision, and did not even retain all items so deposited.[20]

In 1923 the Library, funded by Cabinet, made an acquisition that bolstered its national credentials when it beat the Mitchell Library (NSW) in buying the Cook Journal manuscripts (for £5,000) and the Ellis Rowan collection of paintings (also £5,000).  Following the Cook acquisitions, in what might be interpreted as a 'rush of blood to the head', the Joint Library Committee on 11 July 1923, resolved that the Australian section of the Parliamentary Library be given the name 'Commonwealth National Library'.[21]

The move to Canberra and eventual separation of the National Library
The move of Parliament and its library to Canberra in 1927 did not advance the separation of the parliamentary and national functions of the library, despite Binns, an advocate of the National Library, becoming Parliamentary (and National) Librarian.

Because the space allocated to the Parliamentary Library in the Provisional Parliament house was severely limited, one-third of the West Block, then being constructed, was intended for use by the National Library.  However, this space was almost entirely lost in late 1928, shortly before completion, to make way for office accommodation for the Bureau of Census and Statistics, then being transferring from Melbourne.  The National Library retained two small offices, but this space too was finally handed over to public service use in 1930.  The Prime Minister promised the return of the West Block space to the Library when the Administration Building was completed in 1930, but the Great Depression stopped that plan (the Administration Building not being completed until 1956), and the National Library was left homeless except for storage space in the basement beneath the Senate Chamber.[22]

Charles Daley, then Secretary of the Federal Capital Commission, describes how the National Library, 'became a species of "poor relation", suffering more discomfort, perhaps, over a longer period, than any other Commonwealth instrumentality in Canberra.'[23]  Things did not improve much over the following decades, as witnessed by visiting eminent United States librarian,