State Library of South Australia
Reference library in Adelaide, South Australia
The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research library in the state, with a collection focus on South Australian information, being the repository of all printed and audiovisual material published in the state, as required by legal deposit legislation. SLSA's holdings include rare books, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera. It holds the "South Australiana" collection, which documents South Australia from pre-European settlement to the present day, as well as general reference material in a wide range of formats, including digital, film, sound and video recordings, photographs, and microfiche.
As of October 2025, the director of the library is Megan Berghuis, who was appointed in 2024, after the retirement of Geoff Strempel.
The library collection was based on a number of forerunning societies and subscription libraries, until the South Australian Institute was incorporated in 1855, and a new building opened in 1861 to house the Institute's collection of books. The Institute Building opened in 1861. The Institute became a statutory body named the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery in 1884, the year that the first purpose-built library building opened – now the Mortlock Chamber, designed by colonial architect E. J. Woods. In 1967 the Bastyan Wing was opened behind the Institute building, and finally in 2003, the glass-foyered Spence Wing, which connected the Bastyan Wing to the Mortlock Wing. The Institute Building and the Mortlock Wing have been state-heritage listed.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “State Library of South Australia” is reference library in Adelaide, South Australia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through State, Library and South, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “reference library in Adelaide, South Australia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7603406. VIAF identifies the subject as 133661527. The Library of Congress control number is n50068645. Authority coordinates are -34.921, 138.602. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 2024, 1855 and 1861.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “State Library of South Australia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow State Library of South Australia primary sources, State Library of South Australia archive and State research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “State Library of South Australia”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “State Library of South Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.