National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa)

Overview

The National Library of New Zealand, known in Māori as Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa ("the wellspring of knowledge, of New Zealand"), is New Zealand's legal deposit library, headquartered at the corner of Molesworth and Aitken Streets in Thorndon, Wellington, near Parliament. It operates under the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003 and, since 2011, is integrated into the Department of Internal Affairs alongside Archives New Zealand.

History

The Alexander Turnbull Library, one of the National Library's founding components, was established from the 1918 bequest of Wellington businessman Alexander Turnbull, whose collection numbered about 55,000 volumes. The National Library Service was established in 1945 with four divisions, including the Country Library Service and School Library Service. The National Library Act 1965 brought together the General Assembly Library, the Alexander Turnbull Library, and the National Library Service to form the National Library of New Zealand, with operations commencing April 1, 1966. Construction on a new purpose-built headquarters began around 1970-1975 but was suspended between 1976 and 1981 due to fiscal constraints; work resumed and the building, centralizing staff and collections from 14 sites around Wellington, officially opened on August 5, 1987. In 1988 the library became an autonomous government department, separate from the Department of Education, and adopted its Māori name. The General Assembly Library separated from the National Library in 1985 to become the Parliamentary Library. In 2011 the National Library was integrated into the Department of Internal Affairs alongside Archives New Zealand.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The library's holdings are organized into General Collections, the Schools Collection, and the Alexander Turnbull Library collections, encompassing books, newspapers, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and the Archive of New Zealand Music, established in 1974 at the suggestion of composer Douglas Lilburn. The Alexander Turnbull Library holds one of the world's finest collections of works by John Milton. Since 2017, the library's He Tohu exhibition has displayed New Zealand's three founding constitutional documents: He Whakaputanga (the 1835 Declaration of Independence), Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi), and the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition, transferred from Archives New Zealand under strict security.

Access and Usage

Ground-floor exhibitions and the He Tohu document room are free to visit, and general reference access is free; the Alexander Turnbull Library's research collections and reading rooms are open to the public, with advance contact recommended for specific archival material.