H V Evatt Library
History
The library is named after Dr H V Evatt who, as Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, played a vital part in the early years of the United Nations.
Services
The H V Evatt Library provides a complete library and information service for the staff of the department, both in Australia and overseas.
Services include:
- Locating, selecting, acquiring and making available a wide range of published and online information resources relevant to the department.
- Providing a prompt and efficient reference service that anticipates and responds to reference and information requests.
- Educating and informing DFAT staff on how to access and use information resources and services.
- Providing a current awareness service to alert clients to new resources.
- Facilitating access to information resources held within the department.
- Providing access to information resources held outside the department through participation in library and resource sharing networks.
- Collecting information published in the public domain by and about the department.
Collections
The library holds an extensive collection of resources in the priority areas of foreign relations and trade related matters. Within these broad subject categories the collection will emphasise the following aspects in relation to foreign countries:
- Political issues
- Trade and economic issues
- Description of countries, their history and culture
- Travel guides to assist with official travel
- International law
- Human rights issues
Staffing
The library has two full time APS staff - the Library Manager and Reference Librarian. These staff are supplemented by qualified part time contract staff.
Access
The Library is open Monday to Friday between 9.30 and 5 pm. The H V Evatt Library is not open to members of the public.
Public access to the Library's resources is through the Australia wide interlibrary lending scheme. The Library's holdings are listed on the National Bibliographic Database and can be borrowed by other libraries. Researcher and post graduate student access may be granted if the H V Evatt Library is the only library in Canberra holding relevant material. A request to visit must be arranged in advance, preferably via e-mail. A clear rationale for the visit should be included in the request.
Staff from overseas embassies are welcome to visit and borrow items, with prior notice being preferred.
Contact details
Location: R.G. Casey Building, John McEwen Crescent, Barton, ACT
Postal address: H V Evatt Library, Locked Bag 8, Kingston, ACT 2604
Library Manager: (02) 6261 2737
Reference Librarian: (02) 6261 2650
e-mail: dfat.library@dfat.gov.au
Suggested reading
This is a list of book titles that students and others may find interesting. These titles should be available from the National Library of Australia, state, university, public and school libraries. The H.V Evatt Library will only lend through other libraries, so please contact your local library.
- Advancing the national interest: Australia's foreign and trade policy white paper. (Canberra : Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003.) ISBN 0642502293
- Annual report. (Canberra, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 1994-)
Australia in world affairs. (Melbourne, Cheshire for the Institute of International Affairs, 5 volumes published between 1957-1980.) - Cumpston, I.M. History of Australian foreign policy: 1901-1991. (Canberra, I M Cumpston, 1995) ISBN: 0646245686
- Documents on Australian foreign policy series. (Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs [and Trade], 1975- )
- Evans, Gareth and Grant, Bruce. Australia's foreign relations in the world of the 1990s. (Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1995.) ISBN: 0522846572
- Firth, Stewart. Australia in international politics: an introduction to Australian foreign policy. (St Leonards, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2005.)
ISBN: 1741143462 - Goldsworthy, David. Losing the blanket: Australia and the end of Britain's empire. (Carlton South : Melbourne University Press, 2002) ISBN: 0522850286
- Gyngell, Allan and Wesley, Michael. Making Australian foreign policy. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.) ISBN: 9780521700313
- Middling, meddling, muddling: issues in Australian foreign policy / edited by Richard Leaver and Dave Cox. (St. Leonards, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 1997.) ISBN:1864483059
- Ministers, mandarins and diplomats: Australian foreign policy making, 1941-1969 / by Beaumont, Joan [et al]. (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Publishing, 2003.) ISBN: 0522850472
- Renouf, Alan. The frightened country. (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1979.) ISBN: 0333252489
- Reus-Smit, Christian. Lost at sea: Australia in the turbulence of world politics. (Canberra : Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2002.) ISBN 0731531191
- Seeking Asian engagement: Australia in world affairs, 1991-1995. (Melbourne : Oxford University Press in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1997.) ISBN: 0195540875
- Watt, Sir Alan. The evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938 - 1965. (London : Cambridge University Press, 1968.) ISBN: 521095522
- Woolcott, Richard. The hot seat: reflections on diplomacy from Stalin's death to the Bali bombings. (Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins, 2003.) ISBN: 0732271258
The following journals may also be of interest, particularly for those seeking historical information
- Australian foreign affairs and trade record (1989-1992)
- Australian foreign affairs record (1973-1988)
- Australian journal of international affairs (1990- )
- Australian journal of politics and history (1955- )
- Australian outlook (1947-1989)
- Backgrounder (1975-1992)
- Current notes on international affairs (1936-1972)
- Foreign affairs and trade record (1997- 2000)
- Insight (1992-1996)