The Australian Speleological Federation Inc. has been collecting caving related information, as well as ASF records and publications,  for more than 60 years. Our hope is that this library will eventually hold the most comprehensive collection of information on caving and speleology, covering all aspects of the history of exploration, geology, ecology, management, technical practices and everything else associated with caves and karst in Australia and across the world.

The holdings of the library (except for reference and rare books) are available for all ASF members to borrow. The material we have exists to be used, that's what we're building the collection for!

Because member organisatons of the ASF are scattered all over Australia, it isn't always possible/practical to just 'pop in and pick something up' ... at least, sometimes not without a 30 hour drive (or a 4 days drive, if you come from WA). Where possible, the Librarian will email you what you need or, if it isn't already digitised, will arrange to scan it for you first. Books and other items that are too large to scan or are still in copyright can be mailed to you, or dropped off on the next field trip - just email the Librarian and ask!

If there are articles in recently published scientific publications that you need to look at - please ask  the Librarian for to get them for you - it can be arranged.

If you are not a member of the ASF, but would like to look at anything in our collection, please feel free to contact us and we will help as best we can. The Library is currently being re-catalogued using Koha and material is being added to the catalogue daily. We hope to have our MARC records available to exchange with other libraries soon.

A Word about Copyright

The ASF Library links to many digital records and has a substantial digital repository. Where these digital holdings are freely available on the internet or exist in the public domain, we include an open link to these in the bibliographic or item records. If the Library has downloaded material from a freely-available website, we always include a link to the original site, but also to the Library's holdings in case the original site moves or is not accessible for some reason. Where digital records are not in the public domain (or where they contain sensitive information about caves, caving areas, or people) and we are able  to make these available to ASF members in a digital form, the bibliographic or item records will contain links that require ASF membership to view. Fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review still applies to reproduction of this material.

Should you encounter any digital material in these links that you feel should not be freely available (or vice versa), please contact the Librarian.

For any questions about the Library, please contact the Librarian at asf.caves.library@gmail.com