The State Library also has an art gallery. A competitive exhibition was ongoing, with jury judgments already indicated. We did not fully agree with the jury's decisions. In fact, one landscape painting so caught our art-collector's fancy that we acquired it. Staff are lovely, dedicated ladies, who were so very helpful. Be therefore aware of smaller art exhibitions: sometimes you can find true jewels there, both in art and attending staff.
Historic place. Find out the history of SA. Mortlock library is a hidden gem.
The most beautiful place, beautiful, solid.
A huge collection of books, magazines, photocopies.
A very beautiful museum of the library and the staff of SA.
Simple entry, membership card valid in all libraries of the city.
Free wifi.
On the ground floor there is a good cafe.
I recommend to sign up and attend.
Must see, free to visit. The State Library has an old reading room, which has a lot of history displays.
Amazing resource center, has a book for anything you could think of, and then some, the Mortlock Wing is a must-see with its olden day magical feel to it and it s also an amazing place to learn some incredibly interesting history facts
The State Library is a great asset to the city and the Mortlock wing is a wonderful place to explore. The library puts on some wonderful showcases and children's performances. There is also free WiFi (which is why the hallways are packed full of people).
This is the loudest library in the world that I have ever been to. People never realize that library is a place where people appreciate silence. The security guys don't bother. May it be the Hub or any other place within the library, silence is the most important thing associated with library.
The state library provides a lot of quiet space for study and work, and there are several exhibition area for historical items about the South Australia. The architecture of the building in its interior is quite simple as not much classical decorations can be found in the interior. It is a good place to have a look.
beautiful historical building, great collection of books, good wifi,frienly staff and dont forget to register yourself to the free tour! the guide will explain you many insightful facts about the building!
The State Library has a wonderful old reading room area which is beautiful and has interesting displays on local and state history. We were also impressed with the volunteers who do a "meet and greet" at the main entrance. Thanks especially to the guide who recommended we check out the old manuscripts on display in the second floor of the new area. The Library has a wonderful collection of manuscripts, beautifully displayed. Allow time for a careful look around. Definitely right "up there" with the museum and gallery.
Great library, the Mortlock wing is the best, nice quiet place with power points and a lamp Available at every table, same goes for the main library, its also cool how you can look through most old newspapers through viewers, the library staff are very friendly and are happy to help you out.
The building is beautiful but the customer service is a disgrace!!!!Some get better service and some get horrible service -depends on how you look!!
Quite good place for study but 1 star less for they have restrictions on computer access and study room. Overall nice place to visit and study.
The environment is good, the seats are enough, there is wifi. It should be noted that some places need to be stored.
- Kids talking and playing loudly.
- People playing music on their phones.
- Tourists chatting about whilst they look around.
- People taking photos with their phone vol at max.
- The guards don't seem to care one bit.
- The conversations of the people one floor down is so loud, I can tell where and what time Karen needs to pick up Donna for drinks later.
This library is a joke. Come on Adelaide. You're better than this.
When I don't have access to a computer I can use one here for free. Valuable service for the community and peaceful quite place to be at.
Who are the people often come and ask you for money in this library? Are they beggars? drug addicts?. They only ask for little money like $2 and $4. Some say they lost their wallet, others say they are short of $2 for bus ticket to home... etc.... I lived in many poorer countries, but never encountered such "professional" beggars or drug addicts. Also not in any other state libraries across Australia. This happened to me most of the days I went to the state library in South Australia.
Interesting architecture
Great place to read quietly.
When this two-story library opened in 1884, officials were pleased by its majesty, yet felt it was missing something a timepiece. The Dent and Sons clock still holds pride of place at the end of the reading room, high up on the wrought-iron and gold ornamented balcony. (A staff member winds it once a week.) One feature that s been replicated in more modern libraries is the glass roof; its dome lets in natural light and enhances the warmth of the beautiful room.
Lovely library, absolutely beautiful reading room, great place to study.
beautiful old buildings and new places. Highly recommend this for all ages.
Slow computers using a very old system. For other stuff I would assume it's a good library though.
Love the Mortlock Wing, I go there often to read. Just wish some people would understand this is a library. A quiet place, library tour guides and tourists seem to fail at grasping this concept.
The library has excellent family history resources, facilities and staff to help with your research queries.
Quiet, comfortable and very super Harry Potter's library
A beautiful library and worth looking at the old reading room.
Absolutely amazing place. Went on a school tour with my son. So much to see and do. The tour was such a great experience.
Free WiFi and a coffee space just next door ... and most users are respectful of library etiquette
Adelaide state library is very peaceful. Stand in main street, around are many museums, good for tourists.
Inside of library looks heritage, quiet, mellow lights helped to create the right atmosphere suit for movies.
Had our wedding reception in the Mortlock chambers. Food exceptional, setting perfect, staff amazing. Absolutely zero complaints and still ended up cheaper than a golf course.
Great modern and historic library. Amazing staff and librarians with great facilities. You do need a dedicated State Library card to borrow anything!! (OneCard Network doesn't work). MUST visit the Mortlock Wing of the library (go up the stairs when you enter the Wing to get to the next level!
The library itself is fantastic, but it is not a place to go for study. Its more like a food court with racket that goes on. Its costantly bombarded by people that have no idea what a library is for. Youd get more study done in the baboon cage at the zoo!
It's joke !!! you can't take your bag with you !! So you have to carry all your stuff that you need ! I never seen that before !!
Love being able to reserve books so easily, and this is a lovely light airy library to visit.Staff are friendly and so helpful. Lots of different kinds of books here and if you want to read them at home you can borrow them for free. Love it.
You wouldn't want to miss the beautiful Mortlock wing, if you were going to visit the state library.
It was a nice place to hold a small function in the Circulating Library at the State Library.
This is small but it has plenty to explore, and be fascinated by.
The Mortlock Wing of The State Library of South Australia is a MUST DO when in Adelaide. It almost has a Harry Potter feel to it with the old, tall wooden bookcases stacked high with aged books. It has a beautiful charm to it and is really well maintained. Very beautiful indeed!
Incredible structure and a wealth of information. A truly world class facility.
To many, it s really a strange thing to hear I spend a lot of time at various libraries while I was here. There s a reason for that. The libraries have access to the internet . Not the notion of the World Wide Web as it stands today. Netscape, probably the first web browser ever was only launched close to the end of the year and Yahoo! have yet to be launched. It was an interesting time for me, at the precipice of a global Internet boom. But I was here at the library for more primitive method of information acquisition: bulletin boards, research journals, information databases. It was the ancient Wikipedia, searching for stuff and then finding the actual book that contains those information I seen.
I also spent a lot of time writing. Not emails, but actual letters you write with a pen and posted via the postal service which takes a week or two before it reaches friends and family. It s hard to imagine how distant you can feel to everyone else back home. No mobile phone. No email. No Facebook nor FaceTime. No Messenger nor Google Chat nor Skype. It s hard not to feel alone.
Mortlock Wing is absolutely stunning. My daughter just loved our visit & said "it's just like Hogwarts!"
The Mortlock wing is exceptional. A truly beautiful place to visit. Very peaceful.
We recently visited the State Library to obtain a copy of a 1917 newspaper. The staff were amazing and spent 1 hour helping us find the page we wanted then printing it out. They then enlarged the page to A2 and photo-shopped the page so it was very clear. I can't recommend the State Library highly enough the staff especially Dean were exceptional.
Amazing place. It feels like beeing in Hogwarts.
Best place to get things done.
Spectacular, something was chosen as one of the most beautiful in the world. He deserves length.
Most of the staff / librarians are not doing their work but busy talking to each other. Some of the staff / librarians at the counter are extremely rude and venting their anger at customers particularly one blonde short bob hair middle-age female librarian sitting at the counter. None of them are wearing name tag. The service has deteriorating so much and there is no proper avenue to channel feedback to the right authority to look into it.
It has lost its purpose to provide service to the community.
Volunteer staff are nice and helpful. The local and family history section holds a lot of information not available anywhere else, biggest selection of books in the state. Cafe is expensive.
the reading room is amazing, a lot of old books are historic, like in the Harry Potter movie..
Make sure you take time to visit the State Library even if it is to check out the decadent, delicious and divine reading room. It's absolutely stunning and so lovely to be surrounded by a million minds worth of knowledge transcribed onto paper. This room can also be used for functions and from what I've seen from various events, the room is even more amazing.
If there was any place that could capture the imagination of kids and adults alike to discover reading then this is that place.
Great! Alot of History to Investigate. From old and I mean old books to the mistakes and triumphs of humans. Keep your eyes peeled. God Bless Australia! May we do even better with Jesus Help. Stay Safe Humans! #brucesplanet.com
Aw Love it So academic place to study and lots of interesting exhibitions/events
The State Library of South Australia is situated in the city (along North Terrace). The library has 2 wing: new wing and old wing. The main entrance is in the new wing. The Mortlock wing exhibition (old wing) is accessible via the a link bridge on the second floor of new wing building. You will not regret visiting Mortlock wing exhibition as the architecture is very unique. It is also a great place to read books.
Good library but you could use the computers just for 2 hours a day, and need to be so patient with it. too old.
Why leave bags at the front security desk? Meaning/Purpose? This is 21st century. Install a scanning system if you doubt people might steal books out. Imagine how many times a person who stays the whole day in the library will have to go to the security room to collect and return the bag. I have never come across such meaningless restrictions anywhere... at least in US. Come South Australia. Adopt !!!!!
