Doug Walsh: Welcome to the building works update. I'm Doug Walsh, Director of Capital Works here at the National Library and I'm going to take you through the main building works activities from December 2023 through to February 2024.

Thank you for your patience during our recent planned outage. It's a vital step to support our digital services into the future. We will have another planned outage on the 13th and 14th of January 2024, so make sure you mark those dates in your calendar. This will affect all our online services, the catalogue, collection enquiries, the NLA website and Trove.

In December, we're putting up more scaffolding outside the Main Reading Room on the lake side of the building, but we will also be putting up window coverings so people studying in the Main Reading Room won't be distracted.

At the end of January, Bookplate, our galleries and the public toilets on the ground floor will close. We are upgrading the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in those areas.

We're also doing some work in the back of the bookstore. It will stay open.

We'll continue to update our website and social channels about when these services will reopen.

Join Doug Walsh, Director of Capital Works at the National Library as he takes you through key building activities for the period from December 2023 to February 2024.

This includes a planned digital services outage on 13 and 14 January 2024. This work is a vital step to support  our digital services into the future.

Learn more about our building works