The Max Henry Memorial Library is a collection of over 800 books and manuscripts. It includes early veterinary textbooks, books about animal health and veterinary science in Australia and books written by Australian veterinarians.

The library was formed in 1931 by Mr Max Henry from books received by the Australian Veterinary Journal for review. Originally known simply as the AVA Library, it was renamed the Max Henry Memorial Library in 1961 to commemorate the life's devotion of Max Henry to veterinary science in general, and to the AVA, its journal and the library in particular.

From its earliest days the Max Henry Memorial Library was housed in the McMaster Laboratory of CSIRO located beside the Veterinary School of the University of Sydney. Dr Hugh McL Gordon was the AVA Honorary Librarian for the entire period the library was housed in the McMaster Laboratory.

With the growth of the Max Henry Memorial Library and competition for shelf space in the McMaster Laboratory library, a collection of 559 books of historical value was transferred to the Fisher Library of the University of Sydney in the late 1970s.

In 1995 the AVA Executive decided to disband the Max Henry Memorial Library. The traditional type of library consisting of books and journals was seen to be too costly to maintain and outdated by technological developments. It was considered preferable to have an information service based on electronic methods. Most of the books and journals were donated to the Veterinary School in Zambia. Custody of the historical component of the Max Henry Memorial Library, comprising over 600 books, was given to the Australian Veterinary History Society.

The size of the Max Henry Memorial Library has grown slowly through the donation of books and some purchases made by the Australian Veterinary History Society.

By 2000 the library contained about 1000 books and manuscripts and was housed in a lock-up storage unit in Canberra, which meant access was limited.

Thanks to the efforts of the Honorary Librarian, Dick Roe, the executive of the AVHS and to the goodwill of Professor Ivan Caple, the collection was leased to Melbourne University for 15 years from 2007. It was transferred to the university's veterinary precinct in Parkville and is housed with the pre-clinical veterinary students' Gilruth Library in the old VRI building.

The librarian of the Gilruth Library manages the collection. Valuable books are kept in a locked cabinet and are not available for borrowing but may be read in the library. All other books may be borrowed by those who have paid an annual subscription to the university. The university has appointed a part-time librarian, Dr Nicki Mock BVSc, for the Max Henry Memorial Library, who has catalogued the collection. This catalogue is accessible. Visit the catalogue Login using the following: Username: guest, and Password: guest. There are several links (buttons) in a menu located down the left-hand-side of the screen. The catalogue button links to the lists of the collection.

Dr Tom Hart tomhart@tpg.com.au is the MHML Honorary Librarian His primary functions are to liase with the university and facilitate communication between the university, the AVHS and AVA members.