Preliminary research

I started by spending a bit of time just searching through a few different online library catalogues; Swinburne, State Library Victoria, Boroondara Library Services and Monash University to get an idea of how much information was available, how accessible it was and in what formats.  I wanted to start with some very general and broad information on the history of libraries and then more specifically, national libraries and then more specifically again to the the four national libraries that I have chosen to focus on.

I always like to start with books and then move on to other formats like journal articles found through online databases, other eresources like Britannica online and then Google Scholar and websites.

As a library history subject, there were a few books which cover the general topic and give good general background. Most then devote a chapter to each type of library including national libraries. So, I have been able to read through a few books (a couple of which were written in the 1970s) for the historical information.
Each of the four libraries I intend to look at in detail have their own website with an historical overview of their beginnings which is great primary source information also.

I have also been able to find some journal articles through EBSCOhost and Informit which give detail on the history of the Library of Congress, and the challenges for national libraries in the context of new technologies.

There are also plenty of images available through Google images as well as the websites of the national libraries. 

I am looking forward to now really getting "stuck in" to putting all the information together to create an interesting look at the development of national libraries.