The Morrison Government has appointed Dr Marie-Louise Ayres FAHA as Director-General of the National Library of Australia (NLA) for a second, five year term, beginning on 2 March 2022.
Dr Ayres has served as Director-General since 2 March 2017, having joined the Library in 2002. She has worked in research libraries for nearly 30 years, after completing a PhD in Australian Literature at the Australian National University.
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said Dr Ayres will continue to play an integral role in the digital transformation of the National Library of Australia over the next five years.
"I congratulate Dr Ayres on her reappointment as Director-General of the National Library of Australia, as she prepares to mark 20 years of service to the institution, in which time she has worked as a project manager, assistant curator, senior curator, Assistant Director-General, and Director-General," Minister Fletcher said.
"Her most recent work has focused on providing digital access to cultural resources throughout Australia, including through the Digital Classroom, whose reach increased by 81 per cent in 2020-21 to 878,573 visits.
"Dr Ayres has also overseen the redesign of Trove, Australia's free online portal, which plays a critical role in underpinning Australian humanities and social sciences research. In 2020-21, Trove received almost 18 million visits and doubled its online resources to 13.5 billion digital items."
Dr Ayres is immediate past Chair of National and State Libraries Australasia, the peak body for the national, state and territory libraries of Australia and New Zealand. She is also Vice Chair of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries.
In 2020, Dr Ayres was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, in recognition of her significant contribution to the humanities, the arts and to Australian cultural life.
