I am the Children's Research Librarian. Email me if you would like to discuss your research strategy
Welcome to the State Library of Victoria's guide to finding children's books and doing research in children's literature.
The Library holds over 100,000 Australian and overseas children's books published between the 16th and 21st centuries. This collection is designed for use by researchers and is not available for browsing. A separate collection of recent children's books that adults can read with children is available in The Courtyard at the Library.
Use the tabs across the top of the page to find reviews of children's books or to research specific themes. Follow the links at the bottom of the page to thematic exhibitions based on our collection.
To search for children's books, enter your keywords in the Search box on any page of the website. For example if you want children's books about ducks enter 'ducks' into the box and click Search.
To refine your results list to children's books only, scroll down the column on the left hand side of the screen and under the heading SLV collection click on Children's.
If you want the earliest published children's books about ducks use the Sorted by drop-down menu and select date-oldest first.
Repeat these steps each time you search a different keyword or subject.
On YouTube there is a short overview of the scope of the Children's Research Collection by Juliet O'Conor, the Library's Children's Research Librarian
Some thematic exhibitions based on the Children's Literature Collection include:
- an exhibition showcasing the works of Ivan Southall
- novels and picture books of Margaret Mahy
- bunyips in Australian children's literature, Ethereal or Earthly? Friend or Foe?
- Evil females in children's folk and fairy tales
- postmodernism and the picture book, The Gingerbread Man Meets Dali
- pop-up books and paper engineering, Moving Tales
- Moomintrolls, a travelling exhibition of the Finnish series of children's books written and illustrated by Tove Jansson
- Ethel Turner's book Seven little Australians, 'My Oath' 102 Years of Seven Little Australians
- girl's magazines, Domesticity to Danger: Themes in Girls' Annuals 1880-1960
State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
+61 3 8664 7000