ABOUT US

To deliver our mission:

Our Board is future-focused and outward-looking, connecting our priorities to current and emerging trends regionally and internationally. The Board tasks Project and Steering Groups with realising specific objectives, champions our work and initiatives, and continually reviews our strategy and the direction and utilisation of our resources.

The NSLA Office facilitates projects across the alliance to achieve the shared goals of this strategy and maximise our collective impact. It coordinates programs, data, and expertise that support the delivery of strategic initiatives and strengthen national, state and territory library services across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Our program of knowledge sharing is a self-sustaining point of online connection, enabling connections between colleagues across subject matter expertise and shared challenges and opportunities.

Our Strategy 2026–30 exists as a dynamic statement of our priorities and a roadmap to guide our resources and thinking.

Established in 1973 as the State Librarians' Council, our alliance expanded over the following decades to include the Northern Territory Library (in 1980), the National Library of Australia (in 1986), the ACT Heritage Library (1987) and the National Library of New Zealand (in 2003), evolving through several forms before becoming National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) in 2006 and an incorporated association headquartered in Canberra in 2022. What began as a forum for advocacy and cooperation has grown into a trusted leadership body representing the national, state and territory libraries of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and today, NSLA exists to advance collaboration between member libraries, strengthen the library and cultural sectors, and deliver initiatives that benefit the communities our libraries serve.

Over more than fifty years, NSLA has delivered nationally and internationally significant initiatives that have transformed how libraries collect, preserve, share and provide access to knowledge. Our Big Bang (2007-09) and Re-imagining Libraries (2008-16) strategies helped position libraries at the forefront of the digital transformation of the twenty-first century, establishing a strong foundation for shared digital infrastructure, services and expertise. This work has continued through major collaborations including the National edeposit (NED) service, (launched in 2019) as a world-first platform for collecting and preserving Australia's digital publications; pioneering projects in digital preservation and access, including Emulation as a Service Infrastructure (EaaSI); sector-leading research, capability-building and professional learning programs; and long-term initiatives supporting culturally safe and respectful approaches to First Nations collections, knowledge and cultural heritage including the Culturally Safe Libraries Program (2019-21) and leadership with sector partners to produce sector-wide Guidelines for First Nations Collection Description (2023).

Today, NSLA continues to draw on the combined expertise, resources and influence of its members to inform public policy, foster innovation, strengthen the preservation and accessibility of our shared documentary heritage, and realise a vision of libraries that connect people with knowledge, memory and discovery while supporting informed, engaged and democratic communities.

Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, has served as NSLA's patron since 2024.