The Classics and Archaeology Library
The Classics and Archaeology program has a Library of about 10,000 books, housed at the north end of the first floor of the Old Quadrangle, room 1-36. It contains an extensive collection of Ancient Greek and Latin texts (e.g., Loebs, Oxford Classical Texts, Budés, and Teubners, including some Byzantine texts), dictionaries and lexicons, and major works of reference (e.g., Oxford Classical Dictionary, Cambridge Ancient History, Pauly Wissowa). The Library houses a complete set of the Australian-published journal Ramus: critical studies in Greek and Roman literature, which is available at no other university library in Victoria. There are also many academic books on ancient literature, art, architecture, mythology, political history, social history, philosophy, epigraphy, Roman law, Byzantine studies, and many other areas of classical studies.
There is also a large Archaeology collection, which includes a number of rare periodicals and excavation reports on Classical, near Eastern and Egyptian archaeology (e.g., Israel Exploration Journal, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, and Orientalia Suecana). The Library's most recent addition is the Gertrude Spencer Collection, a bequest of over 1900 books on the archaeology and religions of the ancient Near-East.
Opening hours
| Morning | Afternoon | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 9:30am - 12 midday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | 9:30am - 12 midday | 2:00pm - 4:30pm |
| Wednesday | 9:30am - 12 midday | 2:00pm - 4:30pm |
| Thursday | 9:30am - 12 midday | 2:00pm - 4:30pm |
| Friday | 9:30am - 12 midday | 2:30pm - 4:30pm |
Catalogue
The library's contents are itemized into two hard-copy catalogues (in the form of computer print-outs), one by subject, the other by author. There is no accessible electronic catalogue at present, but there are plans to develop one.
Guidelines
- The Library is a non-lending, research-only library.
- Students and visitors are not permitted to take books from the library. If you should wish to photocopy a book, you must ask an academic staff member to do it for you.
- Students and visitors may not take large bags or backpacks into the library.
- No food or drink is permitted in the Library.
- No smoking is permitted in the Library.
- Please be quiet! If you must speak whilst others are working, please whisper.
- Mobile phones must be turned off and not used in the library.
- Walkmans, Diskmans, or iPods are not permitted in the library.
More about the Library
The Classics and Archaeology Library is situated in the Old Quadrangle Building. Construction on the Old Quadrangle was started in 1856; however, the North wing, where the library is situated, was not added until 1874-75. Its architects were Joseph Reed and Frederick Barnes, who at the same time had designed Old Wilson Hall.
The library was started by Graeme Clarke who became Professor of Classical Studies in 1969. When he arrived the Classics department was still in the Old Arts building and there was no Classics library as such, just a small collection of multiple copies of the Latin and Greek set books which were kept in the secretary's office.
Shortly after his arrival, a large number of texts and commentaries that had been housed in the Tower of the Jesuit establishment at Watsonia were donated to the department when the Jesuits left Watsonia to re-establish houses at Pymble and in Parkville. At the same time the John Medley Building was being completed and Classics was due to move into the 6th floor of the East wing of the building. Graeme Clarke asked for and got a large room to house what was to become a rapidly expanding Classics library.
Graeme Clarke established a departmental policy of building up a working collection of texts and standard commentaries, funded from various departmental sources. He was able to make standing orders for the full Loeb collection, for Oxford Classical Texts, the Budé series, and the Teubner series. Other important works, especially reference works, were also acquired. The aim was to have in hand a standard reference collection, including encyclopedias and dictionaries, useful for both staff and students, and to have on the shelves all the material referred to in our various courses and essay lists.
Under Graeme Clarke's successor, Professor Michael Osborne, the Classics department merged with the Dept of Middle Eastern Studies which had a large library of its own, housed in the Old Arts Building. This library contained a large number of rare excavation reports on sites in the Middle East and Egypt, as well as several Middle Eastern archaeological and biblical periodicals, such as Israel Exploration Journal, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, Old Testament Abstracts, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, and the Swedish journal Orientalia Suecana. It also contained a large number of reference works and dictionaries, including grammars and lexicons of Hebrew, Aramaic, Assyrian, and Akkadian.
Shortly after Frank Sear became Professor of Classical Studies in 1991 the library moved to the 5th floor of the John Medley building. In 1997 the library was moved again, this time to the Elisabeth Murdoch building, when Classics and Fine Arts were merged. Finally in 2002 the Centre for Classics and Archaeology was established and the Classics staff were moved to the Old Quadrangle. The library moved with them. The room which the library now occupies is its most splendid location so far, although new shelving had to be added to cater for a collection of nearly 10,000 books.
The books are shelved in the following sequence. Starting in the north-east corner there are the Loeb Classical texts, followed by the Oxford, Budé and Teubner texts. Greek and Latin literature occupies much of the east and south sides of the room. On the west side are books on history, art, society and law. In the middle of the west wall is the extensive collection of Middle eastern periodicals, followed by books on Middle eastern Archaeology and excavation reports. The north wall contains dictionaries and works of reference, including the Cambridge Ancient History and Pauly Wissova.