Library History
Architecture, Building and Planning (ABP) Library
The Architecture Building and Planning (ABP) Library is located in the Melbourne School of Design, which opened in 2015. The new building was designed by John Wardle Architects and NADAA, with input from academic and professional staff. The library’s rare materials collection is made up of significant donations from individual students, staff, practitioners, and The Royal Victorian Institute of Architects (RVIA). The library encapsulates the faculty’s vision of ‘a pedagogical building,’ with many design elements represented, both physical and intangible - the most celebrated being the ‘wishbone’ ceiling in the basement.
Prior to 2015, the Leighton Irwin Library, located in the former Architecture Building and Planning Building, was named to commemorate the life and legacy of Leighton Major Francis Irwin (1892-1962), director of the Melbourne University Architectural Atelier for nearly 20 years.
Baillieu Library
In 1945, architect John F.D. Scarborough was commissioned to prepare designs for Australia’s first purpose-build academic library. Construction commenced in 1957, and the Baillieu Library was officially opened in 1959 by UoM alumnus and then Prime Minister, Robert Menzies. The library was named in recognition of a substantial bequest by Edward Lloyd Morgan Baillieu on behalf of the William Lawrence Baillieu Trust. A competition to design a mural for the foyer was held and the winning entry, Norma Redpath's Areopagitica, is still in place.
Between 1969 and 1974, stages 2 and 3 of the development were completed. Extensions to the south-west, north-west and north-east corners added an additional 80,000 square feet to the library’s floorplan. In 2000, the Percy Baxter Collaborative Learning Centre opened on the first floor, providing computer facilities and e-learning classrooms. In the 21st Century renovations continue to ensure the Baillieu Library meets the continually evolving needs of students and researchers.
A Third Place – podcast made to mark Baillieu’s 60th anniversary 2019
Brownless Biomedical Library
The Brownless Biomedical Library was designed and built in the late 1960s. The building is a brutalist design by Rae Featherstone, an architect who was employed by the University as staff architect. It contains collections relevant to life sciences, medicine, dentistry, health and veterinary sciences, and agriculture.
Burnley Library
On 1st January 1863, Burnley Gardens opened, and in 1891 Burnley Gardens became the home to a new teaching institute, Burnley College. In 1997, it amalgamated with the University of Melbourne. The Burnley Library is located in Building 914 in the centre of campus. The collection focuses on plant taxonomy; botanical floras; plant propagation; weed science; soil science; garden design; garden history; conservation and restoration management; horticultural plants; and amenity horticulture.
Creswick Library
The Creswick Library is located within the former Creswick Hospital which was built in 1863 during the Victorian gold rush. In 1910, the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) was established, and in 1980 it was amalgamated into the University of Melbourne. The library houses specialist forest science resources and includes historical items collected over a more than a century of Australian forestry education.
Dookie Library
The township of Dookie was established when the railway line was extended from Shepparton in 1879, and Dookie Agricultural College was established in 1886. Dookie's association with the University of Melbourne began in 1910 when Bachelor of Agricultural Science students spent a year at Dookie as part of their degree studies. Dookie Library is located in the historic Swinburne Hall (1907) at the UoM Dookie Campus. Its collections cover general agriculture, animal, plant & crop science, water resources, and viticulture.
Eastern Resource Centre (ERC)
The Eastern Resource Centre was originally called “The Education Resource Centre” when it was designed and built in the late 1960s/early 1970s. It was part of the Victoria State College (VSC) located at the corner of Swanston and Grattan Streets, Melbourne – then the state’s foremost teacher training institute since the 19th century. In the 1980s, VSC – and the ERC - became part of the University of Melbourne. Over time other collections moved into the ERC, so along with teacher training resources, the library housed media, maps, and the significant research collections on the lower levels. Significant renovations in the 21st century, and the consolidation and relocation of several smaller departmental, school and faculty libraries, further changed the nature of the collections housed in the building, which in turn led to a renaming of the building to the “Eastern Resource Centre” in 2011. Today it houses the collections related to physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, the Map collection and the East Asian collection.
Giblin Eunson Library
The Giblin Eunson Library opened on 25 July 2011 at 111 Barry St overlooking University Square. It houses collections relevant to business, finance, economics, education and teaching. It is named to honour the work of prominent economics professor, Lyndhurst Falkiner Giblin (1872-1951) and a former principal of the Melbourne Teachers’ College, Warwick Eunson (1907-1983), who was also Chief Librarian 1949-1958 and was a leader in the field of school librarianship. The Giblin Eunson Library’s origins and collections originated as two distinct libraries (The Giblin Library and the Education Resource Centre) in the 20th century.
Law Library
From 1857, the Law Library collection was housed in various locations within the first building on campus known as the Old Quadrangle. In 2002, the Law School including the Law Library moved to its current location in Pelham St. opposite University Square. On May 2002, the Law Building was opened by The Honourable Murray Gleeson AC Chief Justice of Australia. In its new location, the Law Library was known as The Legal Resource Centre until 2009. The Law Library is at the heart of the Law Building with the entrance on level 3 and encompassing level 4 and part of level 5. Its collections specialise in law and legal research, case law and legislation and includes a collection of rare legal books. The Law Student Study Area, on level 3 opened in 2010 for use by Melbourne Law School JD and Melbourne Law Masters (MLM) students whenever the Law Building is open.
Southbank Library
The new Southbank Library opened in February 2019 incorporating the collections of the Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library (formerly at Parkville campus) and the Lenton Parr Music, Visual and Performing Arts Library (formerly at Southbank campus). Its collection specialises in visual and performing arts and contains a rare books and music collection.
The Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Collection is over 100 years old. It honours Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884-1962) founder of the publishing house Editions de l’Oiseu-Lyre in Paris, which became a pre-eminent publisher of early music recordings, collected editions and championed contemporary Australian composers.
The Lenton Parr Visual and Performing Arts Collection was named in honour of Lenton Parr (1924-2003), the distinguished sculptor, arts educator and Founding Director of the Victorian College of the Arts.
J.A. Gilruth Library, Werribee
The original J.A. Gilruth Library was the Parkville Veterinary Sciences Library, which closed in 2015. John Anderson Gilruth was Professor of Veterinary Pathology and Director of the Veterinary Research Institute, University of Melbourne from 1908. He was Administrator of the Northern Territory 1912-1920 and later Chief of the Division of Animal Health, CSIR).
In 1967 Helen Hicks was appointed the first librarian at the ‘Clinical Centre’ on the Werribee Campus. In 2019, the new Learning & Teaching Building on the Werribee campus was opened. This includes the relocated J.A. Gilruth Library, now incorporated with the Werribee library collection as a single veterinary science library. Its collection specialises in veterinary science, surgery, pathology and parasitology.
