The Jedi Archives, also known as the Jedi Temple Library, was the Jedi Order's repository of knowledge on Coruscant, rumored to hold the sum total of all galactic knowledge. They were overseen by the Council of First Knowledge. The Archives housed incredible amounts of data are stored electronically and holographically, making them very possibly the single largest source of information in the galaxy. It was here that Jedi of nearly all ages would come to learn new information, whether it be for personal curiosity, studying for tests, or preparing for assignments. The Archives could also be used to search for specific members of the Order. Files, or profiles, were kept of each member, whether alive, dead, or if they left the order. These files included colon-labeled information giving the persons' name, age, species, home planet, and clan. Similar profiles were kept of known criminals, making studies for more dangerous missions all the more informative. Besides standard data tapes and holobooks, the Archives contained holocrons, which are polyhedral-shaped devices that could store phenomenal amounts of data. These were housed in a vault prohibited to non-Jedi.
Located in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the Jedi Archives was the largest repository of information in the galaxy.
Established in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant by the Jedi Order early in the Temple's history, the Jedi Archives held the few of the holobooks and artifacts that were evacuated from the Great Jedi Library of Ossus. The Archives, also known as the Jedi Temple Library, contained historical records dating back thousands of years; maps of the entire galaxy; scientific, mathematical and astronomical journals; engineering and technology documents; and Jedi records on the Sith. It detailed the geography and cultures of various planets and species across the galaxy, as well as their zoology and botany. Secrets about how the Jedi used the Force and biographies of numerous Jedi and their identification details were also housed in the Archives.
Built near the top of the Temple ziggurat, the Archives was a two-story cruciform chamber centered around a large rotunda. Four wings branched out from the rotunda and held tens of millions of books. The central reference desk was located at the heart of the Archives.
Obi-Wan Kenobi unsuccessfully searched the Jedi Archives for information on the mysterious world of Kamino.
The Chief Librarian, assisted by associate librarians and JN-66 and SP-4 analysis droids, administered the Archives. During the Clone Wars, it was overseen by Jocasta Nu, who assisted Jedi in finding the information they needed and also controlled access to the restricted Holocron Vault within the library. Before the Battle of Geonosis, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi tried to find information on the planet Kamino to find the bounty hunter Jango Fett. He and Nu discovered that there was no information on the system. Kenobi and Yoda deduced that a Jedi had erased the information on Kamino.
After the Jedi Order fell, the Galactic Empire took control of the Jedi Archives along with the rest of the Temple.
At some point during the Great Jedi Purge, Jedi Master Cere Junda witnessed the Jedi Archives burning while she was on the run. After the rise of the Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine allowed the Grand Inquisitor to study the records about the Jedi and their combat forms. It was at this time Nu, who survived the fall of the Temple, returned to the Temple. Unnoticed by the Grand Inquisitor, Nu entered a secret vault within the Archives, where she retrieved a list of every known Force-sensitive children, as of just before the purge. Though intent on leaving without conflict, upon sighting the Inquisitor again, Nu accosted him with her lightsaber, offended that he dared to read her books only to toss them aside. After a brief lightsaber duel Nu was bested, but as the Inquisitor prepared to deliver the final blow, he was interrupted by Darth Vader. On orders from Emperor Palpatine, Vader demanded her alive. In the confrontation that followed, Nu Force pushed the two and fled. Retreating to a computer in the library, Nu subsequently purged all the archive files. As Vader continued his pursuit, Nu retrieved a weapon stored in the archives that was capable of fighting Vader.
Later, the Emperor converted the Temple into his Palace. The Imperial Security Bureau took control of the remaining secrets within the Archives, removing all Jedi-related material and destroying much of their history in the process within a year of the library's seizure. The Jedi Archives would be restored in some form later, documenting various individuals important to recent galactic history, such as Luke Skywalker, in holocrons, much like the .
The Long Room in Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland
The Jedi Archives first appeared in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, the second installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The Archives are actually an almost exact digital reconstruction of the Long Room of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Its imitation extends to the busts of the Lost Twenty, which, in Trinity Library, are busts of alumni, including writer Jonathan Swift.
According to Pablo Helman, during the scene where Kenobi speaks to Nu, the room includes busts of himself, George Lucas, Rob Coleman, and John Knoll.
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