About the Library

Contact Details

Mailing Address: PO Box 6309, KINGSTON, Australian Capital Territory, 2604
Street Address: Parkes Place, PARKES, Australian Capital Territory, 2600
Fax: 02-6273 2110

Petal Kinder
Court Librarian
02 6270 6922, pkinder@hcourt.gov.au

Rosemary Nicholson
Deputy Court Librarian
02 6270 6921, rnichols@hcourt.gov.au

Pauline Downing
Technical Services Librarian
02 6270 6916, pdowning@hcourt.gov.au

Margaret Hutchison
Collection Management Librarian
02 6270 6911, mhutchis@hcourt.gov.au

Interlibrary Loans
02 6270 6912, interlib@hcourt.gov.au

The Collection

The Library is on three floors and contains 140,000 volumes. The main strengths of the collection are law reports, including some 19th century US state reports, and historical texts including a set of Nineteenth-Century Legal Treatises on microfiche.

There are also library collections in the Court's Registries in Sydney and Melbourne, and in Brisbane Chambers.

Access

The Library is maintained for the Justices of the High Court and is therefore not open to the public except by appointment with the Librarian. The Bar Library collection is open to the legal profession if they are appearing in a case before the High Court of Australia.

For academics and others doing research, permission is granted to use the Library during non-sitting periods at the Librarian's discretion if they require material that is not available elsewhere in Canberra. The Bar Library on Level 7 is open for research. The Judges' Library on Levels 8 and 9 are security floors and therefore not available for browsing.

Library Tours

The Library conducts tours by appointment for groups of librarianship students. Please contact the Deputy Court Librarian for further information.