Welcome to the State Library of South Australia

The State Library has recently improved access to its collections by merging three previously separate databases. The South Australiana database and the Archival database have been merged into the main library catalogue providing users with the ability to search all of the Library's collections from one place.

To coincide with the centenary of Douglas Mawson's return from the Antarctic in April 1909, items from the State Library's collections are now on display in the State Library's Treasures Wall. They tell the story of Antarctic discovery, including the Douglas Mawson story.

Among the items are contemporary newspaper reports of Mawson's activities, together with a letter to his fiancée Paquita Delprat, and Mawson ephemera. Rare accounts of 19th century exploration by British and French explorers lead into the Mawson period of Antarctic exploration and include the first scientific illustration of the Adelie Penguin, and the discovery of the Ross Ice Shelf.

The exhibition covers the beginning of the modern period with the establishment of ANARE (the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions).

The exhibition will remain in place until the end of April.

CURATOR TOUR: Tours of the Treasures Wall exhibition
Curator Valerie Sitters is taking free tours of the exhibition
16 March at 10.30am
20 March at 2.30pm.
Book at www.mawsonandtheantarctic.eventbrite.com OR email marketing@slsa.sa.gov.au

READING: Bathybia
Curator Valerie Sitters reads Mawson's fantasy piece Bathybia on a polar dreamworld of volcanoes, rivers and giant creatures.
30 March at 1.15pm
7 April at 1.15pm
Venue: State Library Circulating Library, Institute Building North Terrace Adelaide
FREE but bookings required. Book at www.bathybia.eventbrite.com OR email marketing@slsa.sa.gov.au

READING: Passion in the extremes of isolation: the Mawson love letters
Nancy and Ian Flannery's moving readings of the love letters of Douglas Mawson and Paquita Dalprat, with an introduction and Q&As by Curator Valerie Sitters.
Friday 3 April at 6pm
Venue; Ann & Basil Hetzel Lecture Theatre, State Library of South Australia, North Terrace
Followed by complimentary wine and cheese in the Treasures Wall area.
FREE but bookings required. Book at www.passionintheextremes.eventbrite.com OR email marketing@slsa.sa.gov.au

SACOME Treasure Hunt Wednesday 15 April 
What is a resource? Where do they come from? Who explores the land that they are found in? How do we use them everyday? Are you the inquisitive type, do you want to discover the next big thing? If so, take part in our interactive treasure hunt to test your exploration skills, part of this years Exploration Festival "Exploring Extremes" during the school holidays.  More information on the event and booking is available here.

Visitors to the Library will see on display, next to  the Information Desk, the first copy of the new atlas Earth to be acquired by an Australian library.  Earth is a snapshot of the world in 2008, but like an old family Bible it is a book built to last 500 years.  To ensure this the Library's Preservation team have provided a purpose made glass display cabinet, and will turn the pages regularly in accordance with best practice.  A very large book, weighing almost 20 kg, it features fold out pages of photographs that, when extended, reach two metres.  We are delighted to share this impressive acquisition, provided by a generous donor, until April 2009.