The University of Sydney Library is the library system of the University of Sydney. According to its publications, it is the largest academic library in the southern hemisphere, with a print collection of over 5.1 million items (circa 2005).[1] It is composed of twelve libraries across eight campuses of the university. The main building, Fisher Library, is named after Thomas Fisher, an early benefactor.
Amongst the collection are many rare items such as one of the two extant copies of the Gospel of Barnabas, a first edition of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton, and the only known extant copy of the little-known but invaluable On the mental inferiority of the people of Southern Africa by Dr David Livingstone.
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Fisher Library is the main branch of the library system, located on Eastern Avenue on the Camperdown campus, adjacent to Victoria Park. Its collection focuses on humanities, social science and commercial disciplines. The original Fisher Library, in the nineteenth century, was housed in the Quadrangle in what is presently the Senate Room. A purpose-built Fisher Library was completed in 1908 at the south-western corner of the Quadrangle, with its former reading room now known as MacLaurin Hall. The library was moved to its present location in 1962. Although it appears to be one building, the university classifies it as two separate buildings which are connected by foyer areas on the lower floors.
Fisher Undergraduate Library (Building F03) was built in 1962 and holds multiple copies of texts commonly used by undergraduate students of the university. This building also houses two computer labs, the audio and visual collection, the microform collection, the rare books and special collections section, and the photocopying room.
Fisher Research Library (Building F04) was built in 1967 with copper-clad outer walls. It is an accessible stack library with a larger and more historical collection. This building also houses the East Asian collection, the University Archives, and silent study desks, and some of the building's space is used by the School of Psychology.
Most of the other libraries of the University of Sydney Library are associated with particular Schools and Faculties. While these libraries specialise in their collections, there is no restriction on their use by borrowers: all library users have access to all collections.
The most recent libraries to be established are the Law and SciTech Libraries; the Law Library moved to the new Law Building on the Camperdown Campus in April 2009, along with the rest of the Sydney Law School.[2] The SciTech Library opened in late 2008 in the new Jane Foss Russell building on Darlington campus. It consolidates the collections of the former Architecture, Engineering, Madsen and Mathematics libraries in one location.[3]
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