Unfamiliar readers may assume that the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) is a dusty, dense, traditional encyclopedia, its pages filled with dull entries on those whom posterity has deemed worthy of remembrance. Consisting of twenty heavy tomes (plus addenda), nine million words, and almost 14,000 scholarly biographies, it may seem like an unreadable piece of work that is of little relevance.

This could not be further from the truth. As the pre-eminent dictionary of Australian national biography, it is a vital historical resource for communities around Australia and abroad, with more than 1.2 million users annually. More than just a book, it is an increasingly vibrant and versatile digital research tool that is opening new avenues of enquiry into the nation’s past and, in so doing, prompting us to think hard about our present moment.