The Genealogy Collection is one of the most heavily used collections in the Library and has grown in response to strong interest by family historians and genealogists.
The Genealogy Collection is an open access collection which concentrates on primary records for those researching a person in a particular place and time. Also included are secondary sources, such as reference books, guides to sources for genealogical research, general collective biographies, printed records and selected supporting material. Where actual records are not held, the Collection provides lists of sources held elsewhere, addresses of repositories and guides on how to do research in other countries.
In many cases research leads to more specialised sources in the:
Researchers may also be referred to other agencies in Victoria holding relevant material, such as the libraries of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies and the Genealogical Society of Victoria, the Public Record Office Victoria and National Archives of Australia (Victorian Office).
Collecting is focused on Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom materials. Victorian material is collected comprehensively. Other Australian material, while not collected comprehensively, includes all major genealogical publications and primary source documents. Examples of primary source documents collected are civil registrations, parish registers, immigration lists and naturalisations. Published records include directories, telephone books, electoral rolls, occupational and pioneer listings, probates and indexes of cemetery transcriptions. The Library subscribes to a major database Ancestry Library Edition which gives access to over two billion names in more than 4000 databases with a particular strength in United Kingdom census material.
The extent of collecting for countries other than Australia relates to the expected level of interest of the Collection’s users, either now or in the future. The Collection reflects the increasing ethnic diversity of the Victorian community, incorporating not only people of Anglo-Saxon origins but also those from continental Europe (especially Greece and Italy), Vietnam and China.
