Catalogue Search

Research

What we can do at first

If you visit the State Library and ask us for help, we will advise you on a research strategy, support you to use finding tools effectively and suggest appropriate resources.

If you phone us we are generally able to spend up to 10 minutes advising on the most appropriate information resources to guide you in your search.

If we cannot respond in a short time frame, you may be referred to our research enquiry service.

You may also be referred to another information provider if that is most appropriate.

What we do

Enquiries that cannot be responded to in a short timeframe and written or email enquiries may be referred to our research enquiry service.

You are welcome to use this research service up to four times within a calendar year.

Depending on the nature of the enquiry, this extended service provides:

  • guidance on the most appropriate information resources for you to continue with your own research
  • resources librarians have consulted to respond to your enquiry.

This service is provided for:

  • anyone wishing to access information relating to the jurisdiction of the State Library
  • anyone wishing to access information which is unique to our collections.

You may also be referred to other state libraries or the National Library of Australia, to your closest public, school or tertiary library, or to another information provider if this is the most appropriate place for you to find the information you need.

What we provide

Up to 1 hour of research on most enquiries. We may spend more time on enquiries that require researching materials unique to our collections.

Where copies of documents are an outcome of the research, a charge may be levied. We will inform you if this is necessary as part of the response process.

Our response time

Up to 7 - 10 working days for most enquiries.

For enquiries which require researching materials unique to our Library, we may negotiate a longer response time with you. If you have a particular requirement under 7 working days please indicate this in your request. Note the State Library cannot guarantee a response time.

What we can't do

We are unable to help with:

  • lengthy or ongoing research e.g. extended family history or newspaper searches or searches through manuscript collections
  • extended research assistance to people interstate or overseas asking for information that is readily available in their own state, territory or country
  • answers to lists of questions for quizzes or competitions
  • detailed assistance with school assignments
  • searches for missing persons
  • valuations
  • legal and medical advice
  • respond to 'urgent' queries.

In these instances, we may give you guidance on search strategies and relevant resources to get you started in your research or refer you to your local library or another information provider.

To ensure everyone is treated fairly/equally, we reserve the right to limit the number of enquiries per person to 4 per the calendar year.