The first "Tasmanian Public Library" opened in 1849, in a house in Hobart, funded by a government grant and yearly subscription of members.

American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie funded the move to new premises in 1907, with the requirement that a free lending service should be established at the same time.

[1] From October 2006, the State Library, the Archives Office, Adult Education and online access centres were integrated as the Community Knowledge Network, renamed LINC Tasmania in 2009.

[citation needed] The library operates several collections and archives of historical publications and documents, particularly those related to Tasmania.

[8] A collection of historical and modern published material related to Tasmania, in a range of formats from paper to digital.

[15][16] In 1998, the State Library developed a service to capture and store selected Tasmanian websites, known as Our Digital Island.

), but it became clear that the format did not allow for easy accessibility and use, so the Library set out to create a different type of online depository and archive.

Its scope was limited to self-contained electronic resources with a defined title (i.e. excluding websites) which were able to be used by current web browser software.