Hayley Webster

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I am a senior librarian and accredited historian with more than fifteen years’ experience in the GLAM sector, including extensive experience at Museums Victoria across library management, programming, digitisation, curation, collection management, stakeholder engagement and commercial projects.

As Manager, Library at Museums Victoria, my work connects collection stewardship of a significant rare book collection with research, public access, interpretation and partnership opportunities. I hold senior sector leadership roles with the Australian Library and Information Association, including Chair of the Government and Special Libraries Committee and Convenor of ALIA Rare Books and Special Collections.

My PhD research in history examines women’s participation in natural history through rare books, alongside broader research interests in library history, rare natural history books and collection management practices for special collections.

I welcome enquiries relating to rare books and special collections, museum libraries, special libraries, library history, provenance research, student placements, sector collaboration and public engagement.

Qualifications

PhD Candidate in History, Monash University

Graduate Diploma of Information Management, RMIT

Bachelor of Arts (Hons., History), La Trobe University

Professional Training

• From College Library to Country House, Attingham Trust (2026)
• ANZ Rare Book School: Nature in print from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century, State Library of New South Wales (2026)
• Beginning Bibliography, Beginning Cataloguing (2020)
• Rare Book Summer School (ANZ): English Book Bindings, 1450–1850: Identification & Interpretation, State Library of New South Wales (2020)
• Marketing & Fundraising Workshops, More Strategic (2019)
• London Rare Book School: Provenance in Books, University of London (2018)
• Informing Change: Engaging LGBTQ Audiences, V&A Museum (2018)
• Grant-seeker Workshop, Strategic Grants (2017)
• Rare Book Cataloguing, Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (2016)
• ANZ Rare Book School: The Paper Museum, State Library of Victoria (2014)
• Collection Emergency Response Training, Museums Victoria (2013)

Links

• Museums Victoria Rare Book Collection on Collections
• Museums Victoria Library’s collection on Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Time Flies in Museum Collections - Ornithology in Victoria Exhibition
• Hayley Webster's articles on Museums Victoria Collections
• Hayley Webster's articles on the Biodiversity Heritage Library Blog

Conference presentations

Webster, H (2024) “Layers of time: unearthing provenance in Mary Anning’s copy of JS Miller’s A Natural History of the Crinoidia”, BSANZ: Bibliomania: Stories from Inside and Outside the Book Conference. National Library of Australia, Canberra, 4-5 December.

Steele, Gemma & Webster, Hayley (2021) “Volumes in Vogue: Women, Readership and the Book”, Gender & the Book Trade Conference.

Steele, Gemma & Webster, Hayley (2020) “A beautiful ornament: tracing change through ornithology publications”, BSANZ: The History of the Book and the Future of the World Conference.

Steele, Gemma & Webster, Hayley (2019) “Volumes in Vogue: Women, Readership and the Book”, BSANZ/ALHF: Tradition and Innovation: Readers, Books and Libraries Conference.

Webster, Hayley (2018) “Marginalia in Scientific Books”, BSANZ: Marginalia: Bibliography at the Margins Conference.

O’Hanlon, Clare & Webster, Hayley (2018) “Queerying the GLAM sector: New GLAMorous solidarities for collecting, celebrating, curating and conserving queer legacies”, Queer Legacies, New Solidarities Conference.

Webster, Hayley, (2017) “Circulating Scientific Literature: the development of the Museums Victoria Library collection”, BSANZ: Connecting the Colonies: Empires and Networks in the History of the Book Conference.

Webster, Hayley, (2013) “Biodiversity Heritage Library: Digitising Scientific Literature”, BSANZ: Bibliography in the Digital Age Conference.

Webster, Hayley, Cash, Leonie and Unger, Ingrid, (2012) “Google Art Project”, ARLIS/ANZ: Collaborations: Artists, Scholars and Libraries in a Research Ecosystem Conference.

Committees

Chair, Government and Special Libraries Committee
Convenor, ALIA Rare Books and Special Collections

Professional Associations

Australian Library & Information Association (ALIA)
Associate Member

Professional Historians Association (Vic & Tas)
Professional Historian

Bibliographical Society of Australia & New Zealand (BSANZ)
Member

I'm available for student supervision.

I am available to supervise tertiary students undertaking qualifications in library and information studies, especially those with an interest in special libraries, museum libraries, and rare books & special collections.

Webster, H. (2026) A New Era for Government and Special Libraries, INCITE, Available at: https://incite.alia.org.au/a-new-era-for-government-and-special-libraries/

Webster, H. (2026) Managing hazardous substances in historic library collections. INCITE, Available at: https://incite.alia.org.au/managing-hazardous-substances-in-historic-library-collections/

Goodall, R., & Webster, H. (2025). Showing our Metal: Identifying and Managing Hazardous Substances in Book Covers in the Museums Victoria Library. Studies in Conservation, Volume 70, Number 7-8, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2025.2490884

Steele, G. & Webster, H. (2025). Getting Inked? A Survey of Current Institutional Marking Practices in Rare Books and Special Collections. RBM: a journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage. Volume 26, number 1, Spring 2025.

Webster, Hayley (2024) The Return of Mary Anning’s Book, INCITE, 44 (4).

Webster, Hayley (2020) Rare Opportunities, INCITE, 41 (9/10).

Webster, Hayley (2020) LGBTIQA+ Leadership at Museums Victoria, INCITE, 41 (3/4).

Webster, Hayley, “Annotated bibliography” in Kean, John, 2013, The art of science: remarkable natural history illustrations from Museum Victoria, Carlton, Vic. : Museum Victoria.