Identity area
Reference code
AU ANUA 177
Title
Date(s)
- 1960 -2005 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
1.9 m (8 type 1 boxes and 1 type 2 box)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The University Library was established on 1 May 1948 with the appointment of A. L. G. McDonald as University Librarian. By arrangement with Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, the library collection was housed at Wyselaskie Hall temporarily, and at nearby Trinity College, before being moved to the former Canberra Community Hospital buildings on the ANU site in December 1950 - January 1951. C. P. FitzGerald, Reader in Oriental Studies, was instrumental in collecting valuable Asian collections including the private library of Professor Hsu Ti Shan of Hong Kong University in this early period. When the Canberra University College amalgamated with the Australian National University, it brought with it the Oriental Studies collection that it had formed to support the teaching of the School of Oriental Languages. Another focus of the amalgamation was the cataloguing system as the ANU Library had adopted the Bliss system but the CUC the Dewey system. The first purpose-built library building, the R. G. Menzies Building, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1963 as the research library, while an undergraduate library was completed later that year and was later named the J. B Chifley Building. Meanwhile a number of branch libraries in research schools had developed under the umbrella of the University Library. By the 1990s the main collections were organised into Asia-Pacific collections (Menzies), Social Sciences and Humanities (Chifley), Science (Hancock) and Law. The amalgamation of the Canberra Institute of the Arts (formerly the Canberra School of Music and the Canberra School of Art) into the ANU in 1992 brought two more branch libraries. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the collections within branch libraries in research schools were relocated to the main libraries, with off-site storage being used to house older material and to make way for the 'information commons', workstations and group study rooms incorporated into building renovations. The Music library was relocated to merge with the Art library in 2012.
Repository
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Many of the files relate to the Library Committee, including minutes, agenda and working papers from 1960 to 1987. There are also files about significant events, ‘Library Archives’ and ‘Library History’ files, and files about the Asian Studies Division of the library. Single numbers have been imposed because many files bear the same alphanumeric number.
Accruals
System of arrangement
Single number imposed
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access under a twenty year rule. Researchers must sign an access agreement
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Dates of creation revision deletion
Prepared by Maggie Shapley on 25 January 2008. Amended by Kathryn Dan 22 March 2021 and 22 January 2025.