What is a Visiting Scholar anyway?

A private, shared room to work in at the State Library of NSW (SLNSW). VIP treatment by the specialist librarians. Staff discount at the SLNSW’s café and bookshop.

Plus that quiet sense of smug satisfaction that comes from having a little something on your CV that’s highly competitive and hard to get.

Oh, hang on, that might just be me.

Late last year I was delighted and honoured to be awarded a position as a 2024 Visiting Scholar at the State Library of NSW.

Why? So that I could undertake research towards my forthcoming Louisa Lawson biography. The Mitchell Library (part of SLNSW) holds the Louisa Lawson papers, and many others that are relevant.

How? I applied for it. Anyone can. There’s a call out every year, and an online application to complete, for Fellowships (with funding attached) and Visiting Scholar positions (no funding attached).

Who? Mostly for people from academia but, as my example proves, not always.

But what does a Visiting Scholar do?

Well, they Visit (the library) and, umm, they Scholar (that is, they study library artefacts in whatever their field of expertise).

The Fellows and Visiting Scholars (FAVs) have access to a lovely, book-lined room that is solely for our use complete with desks and PCs and lockers and comfy reading chairs. To reach our room we have to pass through the magnificent Mitchell Reading Room, negotiate a velvet rope and walk right by a sign that says No Entry. I gotta tell ya, I feel like a badass every time….

The FAV program co-ordinator, Dr Rachel Franks, also has her desk in our room and is on hand to answer questions, point us towards the right people and generally be extraordinarily helpful and supportive. Some of the FAVs swing by the library most weeks while others, like me, drop in for a few days at a time when we can. Some come on the regular, others turn up at random. It’s all fine.

Rachel also arranges professional development sessions for us, in-person and online. I’ve learned a huge amount about how to best access and use the library’s vast resources, and I’ve had the privilege of Rachel’s guided tours ‘behind the scenes’.  The rare books. The ephemera. The art works. The laboratory. There’s SO much more to the library than the public spaces.

I’ve also enjoyed feeling free to ask all the dumb questions: libraries can be intimidating, even for bibliophiles like me, and being a Visiting Scholar has offered me the chance to feel like a library insider.

But best of all has been the chance to meet the other FAVs. Like their projects, they are interesting and varied and hugely intelligent. I’ve met some wonderful people and (I think) made some new friends.

If you’re thinking of applying next year, go for it. And if you have any questions for me about the FAV program, just drop them into the comments.