Stuart Kells’s speech at the launch of From Convict Printers to Book Arcades: The History of the Book in Australia Volume 1. Acknowledgement of country. Distinguished guests and representatives of Melbourne’s book community. It’s great to be back at the Athenaeum Library. Thanks for the opportunity to launch this important book – the definitive publication... Read More| Library Planet
The Library: A Fragile History, Andrew Pettegree & Arthur der Weduwen, Profile. The intriguing category of “books about books” is broad: it embraces many different aspects of making, owning, using and even destroying books. The meta-attractions of this meta-genre have caused a recent flowering of popular and scholarly titles, such as Susan Orlean’s The Library Book, Richard Ovenden’s Burning... Read More| Library Planet
Writers as different as JRR Tolkien, Audrey Niffenegger and Jorge Luis Borges have stacked some of their most giddying visions on imaginary shelves. My book, The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, began as an essay on writers’ libraries but quickly grew to encompass public and fictional ones as well. Ancient, modern and imaginary libraries have... Read More| Library Planet
Hereford Cathedral: https://www.herefordcathedral.org/chained-library https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180706-the-ancient-library-where-the-books-are-under-lock-and-key Zutphen Chained Library: Chetham’s Library: Wimborne Minster: Other Chained Libraries: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chained-libraries-of-the-world| Library Planet
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/openbook-online https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/policies-and-publications/publications/openbook https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/| Library Planet
Smithtown Building Closed Due to the storm that occurred during the early morning hours of August 19, which caused torrential flooding, our Smithtown Building suffered catastrophic damage to its lower level. Therefore, until further notice, our Smithtown Building will be closed while we continue to assess the damage and begin to rebuild. Our other three... Read More| Library Planet
From the BL: We’re continuing to experience disruption as a result of a cyber-attack that took place in October 2023. The outage is still affecting our website, online systems and services, as well as some onsite services, however our buildings are open as usual. The attack caused substantial damage that is complex and challenging to... Read More| Library Planet
Stuart Kells The State Library of Victoria, founded in 1854, is one of the most visited libraries in the world. And right now it is in the middle of a crisis. Leading Australian authors such as Grace Yee, Michelle de Kretser and Tony Birch have resolved to no longer work with the library – unless... Read More| Library Planet
A Library Planet post by Rosine Rigot Bingol In the middle of the picturesque Scandinavian city of Ålesund in Norway is the largest public library in the county of Møre og Romsdal, Ålesund Bib…| Library Planet
After a long history of evolution, legislative changes mean the Prahran Mechanics Institute is poised for an even brighter future. In 1799 the physician and philanthropist Dr George Birkbeck g…| Library Planet
The Penguin paperback is an icon of publishing and design. The first covers were attractively simple. A rectangular shape, 181×112 mm, adhering to the golden ratio of 1.61 and based on work by Leon…| Library Planet
1. Why did you want to write about the history of Australia’s oldest university press? I relished the opportunity to write about one of Australia’s most important publishers. Many details of MUP’s …| Library Planet
A Library Planet post by Fiona Kells The Mildura Library is housed in the Alfred Deakin Centre. The Centre, which was named in honour of Australia’s second Prime Minister, opened in 1997. Up until …| Library Planet
The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes who Created the Oxford English Dictionary is a celebration of words and word-people: authors, editors, publishers, linguists, lexicographers, philologists, …| Library Planet
One way to get a sense of a country’s cultural touchstones is to visit its libraries — both the famous and lesser-known ones. BY MARK DAPIN Some years ago I was at a conference of international thr…| Library Planet
The 1623 volume, Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies, aka the ‘First Folio’, was 400 years old in 2023. Why is it so special? I should begin by putting all my cards on the …| Library Planet
