RMIT University Library (previously known as 'Libraries of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology') consists of six academic branch libraries in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Its four Australian branches are located on the

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

campuses in Melbourne City,

Bundoora Bundoora is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Banyule, Darebin and Whittlesea local government areas. Bundoora recorded a population of 28,068 at the ...

and Brunswick; and its two Vietnamese branches are located at the RMIT University Vietnam campuses in

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

and

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

History

The antecedent to RMIT's University Library network was established as the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

of the

Working Men's College of Melbourne The Working Men's College was an Australian college of further education located in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1887 by a prominent Victorian parliamentarian and philanthropist, Francis Ormond. The college was the predecessor to th ...

(antecedent to present-day RMIT) in 1890. The tiny library was initially housed in a 6 x 9 m room in Building 1 and contained only 152 m of shelf space. It was managed by the college's mathematics instructor Alfred Hart between 1902 and 1930, a leading Shakespearian of his day. From the 1930s, the library was expanded and relocated to the space beneath the public lecture theatre of Building 1 (what is today the Pearson and Murphy's café). During this time, it was primarily staffed by repatriated

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

soldiers as part of a federal government re-skilling program. By 1945, the library had outgrown its space and the decision was made to split it into specific field collections. From then the various collections were housed in the schools relevant to each field. In 1955, a central library was re-established in Building 6 - following ongoing requests from the

student union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

. And, in 1956, John Livingstone Ward was appointed as RMIT's first chief librarian. Some schools continued to maintain research collections, in addition to the central library. Examples of school collections that still exist are the AFI Research Collection,AFI Research Collection
RMIT University, retrieved 30 September 2012 RMIT Design Archives and National Aerospace Resource.RMIT Design Archives
RMIT University, retrieved 28 September 2012National Aerospace Resource Centre
RMIT University, retrieved 28 September 2012 As the campus expanded northward during the 1970s, a second library site was opened. In 1993, the main library was relocated to Building 8 and was further expanded - after which it was known as the Swanston Library. The second library became known as the Carlton Library. Two more libraries were added to the network when the Bundoora campus opened in 1995 - Bundoora East Library and Bundoora West Library. When the Brunswick campus was annexed by RMIT in 1999, the Brunswick Library also became part of the network. During the 1990s and 2000s, a Business Library was located in Building 108 on Bourke Street. The collection was merged with the Swanston Library when RMIT closed the building in 2012. The branches at the Ho Chi Minh City, known as Beanland Library, and Hanoi campuses opened in 2001 and 2004 respectively. In November 2018, the Bundoora East Campus Library closed and merged with Bundoora West Library.

Branches

Melbourne City campus

The City campus has two sites: Swanston Library and Carlton Library. Swanston Library
The Swanston Library is the largest site in the network, and is located in Building 8. It is unique from the other campus libraries in that it is the only RMIT Library site open until midnight during part of the semester. Swanston Library was named as one of "Five of the best libraries" in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' Sunday M magazine. The reasons included... "Like the sprawling campus itself, wanston Libraryhas nooks and crannies and, best of all, dedicated silent places".

RMIT Library Makerspace

The RMIT Makerspace provides free access to 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers and other equipment to students, staff and alumni of RMIT University and is located in Building 14.

Bundoora campus

The Bundoora campus has one library site: Bundoora West Library. Bundoora East Library closed in November, 2018.

Brunswick campus

The Brunswick campus has one Library site.

Vietnamese campuses

Two libraries are located at RMIT's Vietnam campuses; Beanland Library and Hanoi Library. The Beanland Library is the largest of the two libraries, and is located at the Ho Chi Minh City campus.

Services

For users with disabilities, services are available to assist with using the collections. At Brunswick, Bundoora, Carlton, and Swanston libraries, contact library staff. For all other matters, contact the Library Disability Services Co-ordinator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Libraries of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University Libraries in Melbourne

Libraries established in 1890 1890 establishments in Australia