Historians are inveterate users and readers of books, and massive consumers of information. So we love libraries.  We have three libraries in Sydney that are still operating today and  can date their foundation back to the 1820s and 1830s. Who would have thought? Sydney's first major library was the Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room. It opened in Sydney on 1 December 1827, with 1,000 volumes. In 1869 this was bought by the colonial government and became the first Free Public Library of Sydney. It has since evolved into two separate libraries. The Public Lending Library Branch was transferred by the state government to the Sydney Municipal Council in 1909 and became the Sydney Municipal Public Library, and the Reference Branch was retained and became the State Library of New South Wales. The other really old library in Sydney is the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts Library. The school of arts movement swept across the English speaking world in the mid 19th century. It was all about the education of working men.The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts was established in Sydney in 1833. It established classes and lectures for the working men, as well as a library. The School proved popular in the 1830s. Two hundred and fifty lectures were given in the first 10 years on subjects ranging from chemistry, electricity and steam, to how to choose a horse, phrenology and vulgarities in conversation. Aided by philanthropists, the SMSA built its own premises at 275 Pitt Street, which opened in 1837.  Of course it had a library and a reading room. And women got their own reading room in 1879. The SMSA operated in this building until 1988. This site is now the Arthouse hotel, and you can still enjoy the history and heritage of the building. The SMSA just moved down the road to new premises. It is the oldest continuous lending library in Australia, and with over 32,000 books, mostly fiction, it holds one of the largest fiction libraries in Sydney. There is actually an artwork in the Sydney Biennale which is inspired by the SMSA library. Meriç Algün Ringborg's work 'The Library of Unborrowed Books' brings together books that have never been borrowed from the SMSA collection. It's an amazing work, and I'm going to be reflecting on its meanings at a talk at the Art Gallery of NSW as part of their Art After Hours talk. The talk kicks off at 6.30pm, and I'd love to see some 2ser listeners down there. *apologies to Lisa and to our readers - with an office move and some technical problems we weren't able to get Lisa's post online in time to put a call out for you to join her for what was a terrific talk. We'll hopefully bring you some of it next week. If you missed Lisa's chat with Mitch on 2SER breakfast, you can catch up here. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday morning to 107.3 at 8:20am to hear more of Sydney's history.