The history of the Library

In 1851 the University Senate formed a committee to select books even before any professors were appointed. Frederick Hale Forshall was appointed Librarian in 1852. A room on the first floor in the Main Building (now the Senate Room) was prepared for the Library in 1857. In 1885, the University received thirty thousand pounds from the estate of the late Thomas Fisher, retired bootmaker and property investor, to be used "in establishing and maintaining a library". It wasn't until 1909 that the first Fisher Library opened after the NSW Government funded its construction in 1901. The second Fisher Library was opened in 1963 with a five storey undergraduate wing, to which a nine storey stack was added four years later.