Marie-Louise Ayres

Biography

Dr Marie-Louise Ayres was appointed Director-General of the National Library Australia in March 2017, having joined the Library in 2002. She has worked in research libraries for more than 25 years, after completing a PhD in Australian Literature at the Australian National University.

Dr Ayres’ career has been characterised by two long-term passions supporting the humanities: building major archival collections to support deep research in Australian culture; and building digital platforms and content that benefit both academic researchers and the general public. Over the course of her career, she been a major contributor to AustLit; Music Australia, Australia Dancing; Libraries Australia; and Trove, which brings together a range of services run by the NLA. For most of her NLA career, Dr Ayres has been heavily involved in the Library’s Fellowships and Scholarships program, which supports early to mid career researchers and artists engage intensively with the NLA’s collections.

Dr Ayres is the Chair of National and State Libraries Australia (NSLA), having previously been a leader and participant in many NSLA projects, including NED, the National eDeposit service that was jointly developed by Australia’s national, state and territory libraries, and which safeguards Australian digital published heritage for future generations.