Marie-Louise Ayres

Marie-Louise Ayres is a librarian whose work has centered on providing digital access to cultural resources throughout Australia. She was the Director-General of the National Library of Australia from March 2017 to April 2026.

Early life and education Marie-Louise Ayres was born in 1963 in Perth, Western Australia, and moved with her family to Canberra in 1967. She attended St Clare's College and Stirling College. She received a doctorate in 1994 from the Australian National University, writing her thesis on Australian women poets Dorothy Auchterlonie Green, Rosemary Dobson, Dorothy Hewett, and J. S. Harry. and her biographical entry in a book of Australian writers.

Library career In 1994 she became the curator of the Australian Defence Force Academy's collection of Australian literary manuscripts.

Her work continues to focus on providing access to the cultural history of Australia and addressing the challenges of preserving born-digital content.

Believing in the importance of the legal deposit system as a way to capture the country's identity, Ayres has presided over the building phase and launch of NED, the National edeposit service whereby publishers submit their digital publications directly via a website to fulfill their legal deposit obligations. The nationwide service went live on 30 May 2019, and was formally launched by the Arts Minister Paul Fletcher, on 16 August 2019.

In 2025, Ayres announced her pending retirement, confirmed as 8 April 2026. Her successor, Alison Dellit, was announced in March 2026.