Maggie Patton, manager and curator at the State Library of New South Wales, introduces books of William Shakespeare at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, on April 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
SYDNEY, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The oldest library in Australia will hold an online event with the nation's significant authors to mark the upcoming World Book Day on Friday.
Maggie Patton, manager and curator at the State Library of New South Wales, told Xinhua that they will have a special online recording of significant individuals to talk about their favourite and least favourite books on that day.
This event is also a part of a series of cultural activities the library planed to attract more people to take a tour and enjoy reading.
In the new map room the library just opened, readers can explore cartography from around the world with a history of hundreds of years, with highlights including a rare 1515 map by Albrecht Dürer and Johannes Stabius depicting the world as a sphere, and a chart of the Indian Ocean and Asia, which is one of only four copies in the world printed on vellum by Jacob Colom in 1633.
"It's part of a program that we have across the library to bring more of the collections out permanently so that when people come to the library, they can see what we have in the collection," Patton said.
Besides maps, the library also has a rich and precious collection of William Shakespeare and a Shakespeare Room to commemorate the death of the great writer, making it a perfect place to take a tour on the World Book Day, which was established to memorise several prominent authors including William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
"We are the only library in Australia that has the first four very important publications of Shakespeare," Patton said.
"The library holds all four Shakespeare folios, including the first one, so these are the most significant additions of Shakespeare, published in the 17th century. We like to think of ourselves as the home of Shakespeare in Australia."
The library also joined the state's ongoing Culture Up Late program, which featured an extended evening opening hour on Wednesday and Thursday and would attract more visitors to come to read or enjoy exhibitions.
