State Library of South Australia

Absolutely gorgeous building, full of books, grand interiors, art exhibitions. Everything! And everything is so beautiful.

The building that combines modern and history is wonderful.
I love this beautiful space. ESL is also held free of charge on weekdays.

Most beautiful building. But the real highlight was Bev of the Geographical society upstairs.she is a real gem. We are visiting from Northern new south Wales and was glad to hear such historical insights. She really is a fountain of knowledge and is a people person. THANKS BEV. Thanks for giving details on what's in the glass cabinet on the left as you walk in up there.too good.

Cool cafe just inside the main doors. Good coffee and good service, plus a pretty good range of snacks

Beautiful library, definitely one of the most beautiful library, lots of books and the atmosphere is so serene. Also there is some gallery below showcasing some history of the place.

Limited seats in the library, but it's spaced out quite good, with minimal interruption from the next table as the shelves is dividing up each spaces.

Ladies at front desk were lovely, meet a friend to catch up at Cafe. Very clean & organised

Free internet, cozy and quiet play to read, has some study rooms which you can booked with no fees, clean, close to cafe if you want to have coffee, complete collections which you can borrow hard copy books or online books, you can go to the family tree to find your ancestors, good place for children to visit, always provides some activities for public at this place and friendly staff. The is a new area at the level 2 for kids activities and I saw some kids enjoyed this new area.

The beautiful building is in the French Renaissance style with a mansard roof. The walls are constructed of brick with Sydney freestone cladding with decorations in a darker shade of Manoora stone.

Really beautiful building made up of several different sections (see pictures), including the stunning historic wing, the research area, and the cafe. The architecture of the different parts is fascinating by itself, but the historic Mortlock Wing is especially interesting as a multilevel Victorian Library building with intricate wrought iron balconies.

It’s free to enter and there were a variety of free/paid tours available. If you do wander around by yourself, be sure to visit the second floor to get the best view of the library.

Docking one star bc its not really the best place to get any work done—the lighting is unfortunately too dim, and with all the tourists and tours, it’s much louder than your typical library.

I have been enjoying coming to this library since being accepted into my master’s program. However, one of the security guards was incredibly rude to me. He said I “needed to open my eyes bigger” because there is an “big, obvious” sign about having no coffee. There is no need to be condescending when making a point.

The State Library of South Australia is the largest public research library in the Australian state of South Australia.

Great location. A beautiful old library.
Unfortunately, the colorful flashing Christmas tree didn't really fit into the picture.

What a beautiful building!

On your next visit to Adelaide when you are wandering down North Terrace, do yourself a favour and drop into the State Library.

There are multiple sections to the Library, exhibitions and more. My daughter loved it, we stopped for a break and read some Christmas stories, and enjoyed the Christmas tree in the Mortlock wing.

I'll drop in again next time we are in town.

‘Woww’ is my first reaction when coming in, the library and everything is just perfect, it is a good place to learn history, politics, and culture of Adelaide and Australia. It also has a computers for you outside in the library, I was lucky that I heard the kid sang the Christmas songs here as well. Very highly recommend to come here!

An attractive design located in ideal location
A historical space well mixed with modern part.
The exhibition corridor combined with self study tables make me feel like in Harry Potters seri who never in Europe style before.
Good cultural and attractive environment inside.

They don't allow newly weds to come take a few pictures on their special day.

Security are super rude as well.

Very interesting exhibitions and well organised talks. Great helpful and knowledgeable librarians. There are fantastic genealogy resources and also talks.

Had a lovely visit to the State Library following a Beautiful Lunch at Jolleys Boathouse. The State Library is the most magnificent Library with so much to see & such incredibly interesting Architecture, the State Library really is a real Gem in Adelaide CBD

The SANFL display was disappointing to say the least. The most successful club arguably in Australia was hardly represented. Wouldn't recommend

Great atmosphere, has a lot of fun activities for families to do with young kids. You can read a lot about the history of South Australia here as well there are many helpful story boards around. Also a great place to read or study. There's a cute library cafe on the ground floor. Would love to come back and do a full tour next time