RUSI Victoria Library
The RUSI Victoria Library continues to go from strength to strength and now contains more than 34,000 items. Reference to "Recent Acquisitions" will show you the scope of the Library at the moment and there is more to come.
A regular source of books are the review copies that publishers are kind enough to donate to us. There are always a few individuals who like to help out the library by donating books they think should be in the collection. In addition, as members inevitably downsize, they find they have more books than they can manage and they kindly offer them to us. Lastly, there are the donations made by family members of those who have passed away and want to see their loved ones books treated kindly.
All are gratefully received and reviewed against our Collection Policy.
RUSI Victoria Library Collection Policy
The aim of the RUSI Victoria Library is to maintain a comprehensive and detailed series of books, pamphlets, magazines, maps, videos and audio tapes as well as other items that relate to the aim of the RUSI of Victoria. To that end, we have a policy of concentrating on works of a factual nature that cover defence and national security regarding firstly, Australia, then the South Pacific and South East Asian Region as it impacts upon Australia and then the rest of the world.
The Library therefore concentrates on Defence and National Security matters, Organisation, Equipments and Histories relevant to our aim.
We have a good collection of videos, mostly on DVD, of military and historical interest. We also have recordings, mostly including Video, of our recent speakers. Click on the links below to see our holdings.
How do I get a book or recording?
We are working on inter-library loan procedures. See below. While we are waiting for this to be activated, follow these procedures.
1. Contact us (see button below) with title and author. If recent, also include ISBN.
2.The Librarian will check our holdings and get back to you if we have it. You can then arrange either to come in and pick it up in person or for it to be posted out to you.
NOTE that as we are a volunteer organisation, we cannot do subject searches for you. Please do not contact us asking for a listing of all books on a subject, e.g., the Franco-Prussian War, as we do not have the resources to perform such searches.
If you want to come in and search our holdings yourself, please contact the librarian, again, see button below, to arrange a suitable time. Our holdings are all on a computerised database so searching is simple.
ON-LINE TITLE SEARCH.
The RUSI VIC library is now on-line.
To access it, either click here or go to www.thecollectingbug.com/rusivictoria/
When searching for a book, please use the Search Box indicated by the red arrow.
DONATED BOOKS
As the aim of the RUSI Victoria Library is to hold references of a factual nature related to Defence and National Security, not all donations will be suitable. Donations will firstly be checked against the relevance to the library. Then, if thought relevant, donations are checked against titles held. If we already hold a title, we will normally keep the better preserved copy, unless they have some other attraction, such as signed by the author or they were acquired as a specific bequest. The rest are treated as excess stock and they are discussed below.
Excess stock
Inevitably, when people of like mind donate their stocks of books and magazines to the library, we wind up with a number of duplicate titles. Rather than throw them in a dumpster, we would prefer that they go to a good home. They are therefore offered for sale at very reasonable prices.
As the titles change quickly due to sales and donations,we are unable to maintain a list of titles for sale. It would be best if you visited to see the range.
All funds raised from the sale of excess books go into the Library fund to ensure that the books we do keep are maintained in good condition.
VISITING THE RUSI VICTORIA LIBRARY
As mentioned elsewhere, due to the changed security regime in place at Defence Establishments we can no longer accept casual drop-ins. Visitors must be advised to the guardhouses at least 24hrs in advance. Therefore, you are asked to contact the office staff at secretary@rusivic.org.au or click on "Contact the Library" to arrange visits.