Biggest Library of the World
'STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA' - Melbourne The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner , and the folios of Captain James Cook , R.N. . It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly . On 3 July 1854, the recently inaugurated Governor Sir Charles Hotham laid the foundation stone of both the new library complex and the University of Me lbourne . 1854 Neoclassical architecture The Dome - Reading Room The landmark Domed Reading Room, opened in 1913, and was designed by Norman G. Peebles of Bates Smart . Its octagonal space was designed to hold over a million books and up to 600 readers. It is 34.75 m in both diameter and height, and its oculus is nearly 5 m wide. The dome was the largest in the world on completion.