J S Battye Library

The J S Battye Library (more properly known as the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History) is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia. It stores much of the state's historical records and original publications including books, newspapers, periodicals, maps, and ephemera, as well as oral history tapes, photographs and artworks, films and video, and non-government records which are kept in the library's Private Archives collection.

It is named after Dr. James Sykes Battye, the first State Librarian, who began the collection in the early 1900s. It was established in December 1956.

It is housed on the upper floor of the Alexander Library Building, and public access to the collection is made at that level. There is a reading room for special materials, as well as a microfilm reading room.

The separate State Records Office of Western Australia houses the State and local government archives.

The current administrative structure of the State Library has removed mention of the name of the library from the library catalogue and now refers to it as 3rd Floor of the Alexander building, however it still has a web page.

References

• Friends of Battye Library - history and description of the organisation in Newsletter: Friends of the Battye Library, No.49 (July 1991), p. 7-9.
• Hays, Leigh.2002 Worth telling, worth keeping : a guide to the collections of the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History . Perth, W.A. : Library Board of Western Australia. ISBN 0958116709
• Ives, Alan. 1978 Archives in Western Australia : the Battye Library : M.F.F. Lukis and M. Medcalf : a bibliography Canberra : Pearce Press. Archives in Australia ; bibliography no. 18 ISBN 090841028X
• Jamieson, Ronda. A people with a past and the J S Battye Library of West Australian history . Fremantle studies, Vol. 4 (2005), p. 22-31.

External links

• State Library of Western Australia
• State Records Office