The library had stopped funding the digitisation of newspapers and other content in July, after cuts through the government’s efficiency dividend were announced in late 2015.

It had also relied on contributors to pay for the uploading of new documents if they wished to expose their collections through Trove, a Senate estimates committee was told.

But the mid-year budget review, released on Monday, included $16.4 million over four years for the library to digitise material and upgrade the Trove system.

The funding will be taken from the Public Service Modernisation Fund.

Liberal frontbencher Zed Seselja had been fighting for the investment.

“As senator for the ACT, former NLA Council member and son of an NLA employee of 30 years, I have been lobbying hard for this funding,” he said today.

In its annual report, the library warned sustaining the service posed increasing challenges.

Trove is the commonwealth’s fourth most heavily used website, behind the Bureau of Meteorology, Centrelink, and the Department of Human Services, with more than 55,000 visitors a day.

The 2015 mid-year budget review included an efficiency dividend for cultural institutions totalling $36.8 million over four years.

– AAP