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We welcome all to the State Library of South Australia

The State Library provides fair and equal access to all visitors. All should feel welcome and comfortable in the library, regardless of whether they are here for serious research, or simply a place to sit, relax, and think. Our services are accessible and easy to use, and we actively work to engage people who assume the State Library is not relevant to their lives.

We represent the diversity of South Australia

We aim to reflect the diversity of South Australians of the past, present, and future. We proactively seek and share stories that represent the broad range of voices that have shaped our state, from Indigenous Australians through to new Australians, and everyone in between. We work with communities to represent their cultural and linguistic diversity, and provide a platform where all can share their stories.

We aspire to make our entire collection accessible and usable

Our collection should be accessible to all, whether they visit us in person or online. We prioritise digitisation to broaden our reach to those who can’t or won’t visit us in the physical library. We provide free access to digital versions of our collection wherever copyright permits, and challenge copyright to make our collection more accessible. Our collection is easy to use and remix to create new stories to add to our collection.

Our services connect visitors to our collections

Everyone who visits the library is exposed to our collection, regardless of their reasons for visiting. We inspire visitors to explore our collection by dressing our physical spaces in intriguing items. Our community programming provides accessible routes into our collection, and our Mortlock building brings South Australian stories to life. We make sure that visitors are prompted to delve deeper into our collection, and provide clear pathways between our physical and digital collections.

Our physical and digital spaces are easy to understand and use

Our clearly delineated spaces help customers to identify and understand the services we provide, and simplifies service delivery for our staff. Our intuitive spaces offer simple, consistent wayfinding to help customers quickly orientate, identify, and use our services. Clear and contextual help means visitors always understand how to use our services, and where to find support.

Our services are easy to understand and use

Visitors will be able to use most services in the library without relying on staff for support. While we’re always happy to help, we ensure visitors can use and interact with our services at their own pace, when and where they need. Where assistance is required, services will be as user friendly as possible, placing the customer at the centre. By empowering our visitors to self-serve our staff have space for higher value interactions, helping visitors dig deeper into our collections. We support and nurture our staff in delivering our services and curating our collections

We create an environment where staff feel connected and supported.

Our processes and systems keep us connected, and ensure issues are always addressed. Flexible rostering helps staff fit their hours around their lives. We develop staff’s knowledge and skills, and bring in outside expertise to build our capabilities. We support our staff to curate the collections that inspire them, and foster relationships with researchers and community groups using our collections.

We create partnerships to extend our reach and augment our resources

We build partnerships with community, education, and cultural organisations. Our partnerships have clear intent, and are mutually beneficial. They extend our reach into communities to give them a voice in our collection, and help us to uncover new South Australian stories that represent the diversity of our state. They help us to develop our collections, extend our services, and provide engaging programming. We provide a platform to share their stories, and add their experience and ideas to our cultural record of South Australia.