Founded in 1854, the State Library of Victoria now holds more than 1.5 million books, including special collections
highlighting chess, the arts, the diaries of Melbourne’s founders, and the folios of Captain James Cook. The centerpiece of
the library is the LaTrobe Reading Room, a soaring octagonal space with the capacity to accommodate more than one million
books and 500 researchers or readers in one sitting. At the time of its completion in 1913, the LaTrobe Reading Room was the
largest dome in the world; today, it houses the library’s extensive Australiana collection.