National Library of Australia

Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries

The most remarkable treasures exhibition drew on institutions around the world. The Conference of European National Librarians set an on-line precedent in 1999, when it launched a virtual exhibition, Treasures from Europe’s National Libraries. The National Library of Australia was much more ambitious in 2001 when it set out to secure 40 exceptional items for Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries. In fact, it obtained many more, as the generosity of other institutions created something like the glut of treasures experienced by Manchester in 1857.

In all, 38 institutions in 24 countries contributed 168 objects. These included not only books and manuscripts, but also paintings, photographs, maps, furniture, a death mask, a phonograph record, cutlery, clay tablets and cylindrical seals. The oldest item was an example of cuneiform script, 4000 years old. The most recent was a selection from the papers of Eddie Mabo, who brought the landmark litigation that gave legal recognition to the existence of native title in Australia. In between came an extraordinary array of material, ranging from a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the final page of Mozart’s last composition, his Requiem, and one of the two surviving manuscripts in which Einstein discussed his great theorem ‘e = mc2’.

The National Library expected these Treasures would be open for its standard opening hours of 9 am until 5 pm. Only about 1000 visitors at a time would be allowed in the Library’s gallery due to security requirements and temperature controls. Although the cost of mounting the exhibition topped $3 million, entry was free. It was the Library’s gift to the nation to mark the centenary of the Federation of Australia—also the centenary of the Library itself.

Public response was spectacular. Enormous queues started on opening day in early December 2001. By the exhibition’s close in late February 2002, having been seen by 115 000 people in 80 days, queues of people were ‘camping out’ the night before from around 6 pm, a phenomenon previously triggered in Australia only by football finals and rock concerts.

The Library responded by continually increasing opening hours until 18 February when it was almost a 24-hour exhibition, open daily from 7 am until 5 am the following day.

|