The Genealogical Society of Victoria was officially formed on 17 March 1941 and has moved from the handful of people to an organization of over 6,000 members.

During this development the service provided to members moved from a small group of volunteers to the employment of staff to assist the Society's growing needs. There are now six paid staff and over 150 volunteers assisting with the far ranging needs of the members.

Six decades of development have seen vast changes. More and more reference books, indexes, journals, microfilm and computer resources have become available.  The use of computers, and the technological changes they have brought, greatly assist researchers.

In 2003 the GSV became a Licensed Film Centre for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This allows the ordering of films from the vast collection of the LDS church to be ordered and viewed on our premises.

You can while away many enjoyable hours in the GSV Library. The massive collection contains approximately 18,000 books, 56,000 microfiche, 1,350 microfilms and many pamphlets, maps, periodicals, CDs and computer databases. The computerised library catalogue enables easy access to the collection and is also available online, Catalogue (Members) Catalogue (Visitors). Over 30 microfiche readers, 8 microfilm readers and 30 computers are available for library users.

In August 2001 the society felt the need to develop some guidelines to assist family historians in the collection and use of information collected. The result of this was the Ethics Policy, which we encourage all family historians to follow.