Canberrans will now have access to a new and improved treasure trove of information as the National Library launched its new program on Friday.
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More than 3000 Australians contributed to a new and improved Trove system, which was unveiled after four years of work.
The federal government announced a further $8 million for the project to support its ongoing development over the next two years, in addition to the $16 million already provided.
Trove may be just 10 years old, but it houses billions of historical resources, dating back hundreds of years.
The National Library's collaboration with partner institutions allowed Trove to provide its collections of digitised newspapers, books, magazines, oral history, maps and images.
All of this is free to search on Trove from anywhere in the world, and one third of Trove visitors are from outside Australia.
Director-General Dr Marie-Louise Ayres said she was particularly proud of how the team collaborated with a diverse range of communities throughout the project.
"The project has taken thousands of people who've told us how they feel about Trove and how they use it, and it's taken incredibly generous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who engaged with us about how Trove can help them to connect to their families, to their culture, to their land and to their language," she said.
Dr Ayres said it was important for the library to engage with the people who used and loved the old Trove for the past 10 years, and the project team held workshops and webinars with users all over Australia to ensure the final product would meet their needs.
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The project team also undertook measures to improve Trove's cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"It's a wonderful snapshot of Australian history and culture available to absolutely everybody and I encourage everybody to dive in, pursue your research, pursue your curiosity because it's yours, and we just can't wait to see what you'll make of it," Dr Ayres said.
Federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher said the Australian government was proud to strengthen Trove, which was a significant national asset.
"The National Library and its partner networks are to be commended on maintaining, building and contributing to a resource of such cultural and historical significance for all Australians and the additional funding will provide ongoing support for the operation of Trove," he said.
Dr Ayres said the funding would allow Trove to continue as a free and open resource service available to everyone on mobiles, laptops, tablets and PCs.
"These collections belong to Australians, this library belongs to Australians, every taxpayer pays for what we do and so keeping it free has always been an article of faith, and we've also had great generosity from donors who've helped us to digitise content," Dr Ayres said.
"The Australian government has really shown its faith in Trove by investing in it over the last four years and having a free service like this means that it's accessible to everybody and therefore it has public power as part of our Australian democracy," she said.
