The State Library wants to be Melbourne's hottest new dating venue and it's kind of working.
State Library Victoria is throwing itself into the dating ring with Love in the Library, a three-part series of events running from March to June that swaps swiping for actual face-to-face conversation.
The Love in the Library program kicks off on 26 March with This Is Why I’m Single, a comedy night dedicated to dating disasters and romantic trainwrecks. Hosted by Bad Dates of Melbourne creator Alita Brydon in partnership with Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the evening features Diana Nguyen, Peter Josip and Urvi Majumdar sharing their worst encounters on stage.
Love in the Library
- This Is Why I’m Single — 26 March, State Library Victoria
- Speed Dating at the Library — 28 + 30 April, State Library Victoria
- Date My Mate — 4 June, State Library Victoria
- 328 Swanston St, Melbourne
- Event details and tickets available here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Things get properly interactive across two nights in April when Crush Club takes over the library’s heritage rooms for Speed Dating at the Library on 28 and 30 April. Expect conversation prompts, bells, drinks and separate sessions tailored to different dating preferences — no algorithms, no profiles and absolutely zero chance of being left on read.
The series wraps on 4 June with Date My Mate, a format where friends get five minutes and a PowerPoint presentation to convince a room of singles that their mate is the ultimate catch. It’s essentially a pitch night for the romantically available.
The whole program leans into a pretty specific cultural vibe — the collective exhaustion of app-based dating, group chats dissecting every text message and the growing sense that being single is less of a waiting room and more of a lifestyle. The library is positioning itself as somewhere those conversations can happen offline and in person, set against the backdrop of one of Melbourne’s more unexpectedly atmospheric buildings.
The events sit alongside Rebel Heart: Love Letters and Other Declarations, a free exhibition in the Keith Murdoch Gallery exploring centuries of passionate and defiant love stories drawn from the library’s archives of letters, diaries and rare manuscripts. The exhibition runs until 27 January 2027.
For more information, head here.
