With a price tag of more than $100 million, an R-rated section and original handwritten David Bowie lyrics, MONA's half-underground extension contains far from your regular library.
The new library of Hobart's often-controversial museum and gallery opens on Sunday after four years of construction and the excavation of eight Olympic swimming pools' worth of rubble.
It is the brainchild of MONA owner David Walsh, who grew up in the city's surrounding northern suburbs with a library card as his "best friend".
Named Phrontisterion - the Greek word for place of thinking - it contains 30,000 books from Walsh's personal collection, including some from his childhood.
It operates like a reference library, where visitors can peruse and read but nothing can be borrowed.
