Collection spotlights

Trial databases at State Library Victoria

Trial databases at State Library Victoria

June 20, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories:

Explore the Library’s latest trial databases, which include early published works from the British Isles and Europe, and primary resources from the Second World War.

Online Collection Spotlight: Naxos Music Library

Online Collection Spotlight: Naxos Music Library

June 15, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

Interested in exploring the music of the Baroque era but don’t know where to start? Looking for a curated playlist to listen to while you study or work? Hoping to understand more about a key piece of classical music? Naxos Music Library is a music streaming database that features much more than just audio.

Online Collection Spotlight: Socialism on Film

Online Collection Spotlight: Socialism on Film

May 5, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

Snapshots of the past, documented by films. From the birth of Karl Marx through to the Russian Revolutions and into the1980s, explore the communist world through the eyes of socialist film makers.

Online Collection Spotlight: International Relations, Archives unbound

Online Collection Spotlight: International Relations, Archives unbound

April 14, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories:

Archives Unbound is a Gale electronic database made up of hundreds of resources, many previously unpublished, from the Middle Ages through to 20th century political history. 

Mapping the past with Victoria’s historical plans

Mapping the past with Victoria’s historical plans

April 4, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Victorian history:

The Historical Maps and Plans Collection is a boon for researchers, containing everything from descriptions of what the landscape was like when Europeans arrived, to the locations of early buildings and houses, pastoral runs, and even shipwrecks.

Jane Austen – new acquisitions

Jane Austen – new acquisitions

March 8, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we took a look at a recent acquisition to our collection – a first edition copy of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in a four-volume set.

Pro abortion march, May 1979, 1979. Photo by Lyn McLeavy. This work is in copyright; H2012.7/6

Online Collection Spotlight: Women’s Studies Archive

March 6, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

Where can I find first-hand accounts of bush nurses working during the 1956 Murray River floods? Who was the first lesbian rights organisation in the US and where can I find their newsletter? And does anyone have a good recipe for sheeps’ head pie anymore? If any of these questions have sparked your interest, the Women’s Studies Archive has got you covered!

Pram Factory theatre posters and the Australian Performance Group

Pram Factory theatre posters and the Australian Performance Group

March 5, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:

The Pictures collection at State Library Victoria contains many gems such as a posters collection of over 6,000 items, including 237 posters from Melbourne’s legendary Pram Factory.

Online Collection Spotlight: Australian Newspapers Collection (1831-2000)

Online Collection Spotlight: Australian Newspapers Collection (1831-2000)

February 10, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

Australian Newspapers Collection (1831-2000) database has images of each page of the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald from when they were first published right up to the end of 2000.

1866 in 3D: the isometrical plan of Melbourne & suburbs

1866 in 3D: the isometrical plan of Melbourne & suburbs

February 6, 2023

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:

Sometimes called ‘bird’s eye view’ maps, isometric maps depict a view ‘from above’. This plan, produced in 1866, shows a remarkable point-in-time layout of Melbourne streets, the Yarra, Port Phillip Bay, and parts of Collingwood and East Melbourne. A closer examination reveals some of the fledging city’s most important social, economic and civic locations and buildings, as well as parks and reserves, including many which remain today.