Margaret Dent Retires from the National Library
Former Exhibitions Curator Margaret Dent
examines the Library’s Coverdale Bible
Photo: Loui Seselja, National Library
The National Library of Australia recently saw the retirement of a long-serving and very popular member of staff, Margaret Dent.
Margaret came to the Library in 1974, having previously worked at the Fisher Library at The University of Sydney, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Library (London), and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Library. She also taught at the Canberra College of TAFE in the 1980s and 1990s.
From about 1975 to 1992 Margaret was the Library’s Rare Books Librarian, and afterwards maintained a personal and professional interest in the Rare Book Collection. She was instrumental in many important acquisitions, for example the Legenda aurea [Golden Legend] by Jacobus de Voragine, published in Venice in 1478. This incunabulum was until recently thought to be the oldest complete book in our collections (that honour now lies with a Chinese text printed around 1162).
After working in various other sections of the Library, including Maps, Pictures, and Information Services, Margaret joined the Library’s Exhibitions team to work on the 2001 Library centenary exhibition that many reading this no doubt visited—Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries. Margaret’s expert knowledge, coupled with her boundless enthusiasm and ability to get on with just about anyone, made her a vital part of the phenomenal success of that exhibition. Over 115 000 people saw it (many still want to talk about the experience when they visit the Library), and it ranks as the most successful single Australian library exhibition ever.
Not resting on her laurels, Margaret went on to curate a number of other highly successful major exhibitions and smaller displays at the Library. These included 2004’s Future Memory: National Library Recent Acquisitions, and the successor to ‘World Treasures’, the highly ambitious and extremely successful touring exhibition National Treasures from Australia’s Great Libraries. No touring exhibition of Australian library treasures had ever been attempted, and Margaret’s dedication to the task helped ensure that over 417 000 people saw National Treasures as it travelled around the nation.
Margaret’s final exhibition was the very popular Bridging the Distance earlier this year. In addition to her curating work, Margaret assisted in the production of catalogues and publications associated with the exhibitions and contributed to other Library publishing projects, most recently A Banquet of Books.
At Margaret’s farewell in October, Exhibitions Director Nat Williams spoke to a packed room about Margaret’s host of wonderful qualities that endeared her to so many. Her work will indeed be sorely missed by colleagues at the Library, and by librarians and library exhibition visitors right around Australia.
Andrew Sergeant
Reference Librarian, Information Services



