The very first library in Auckland, known as the Auckland Mechanics Institute, was created in 1842. By 1880, the Institute was in deep financial difficulties, so it was taken over by the local government. Seven years later, Sir George Grey (who had twice been governor of New Zealand, as well as its 11th Premier) donated eight thousand books to the library, ostensibly doubling the size of the library. At that time, the library was housed in what is now the Art Gallery, which also included the “Old Colonist Museum.” Shortly afterwards, a new building was constructed for the library and the art collection. The current, stand-alone central library building was opened in 1971. By 2010, seven separate councils in the Auckland region merged. As part of that merger, the Auckland public library system was created. Prior to this merger, the city libraries were a conglomeration of 17 separate libraries, along with a mobile unit, all of which were controlled by the city council. Today, with fifty-five branches, this is the largest public library network in the Southern Hemisphere. This network is home to a number of heritage and research collections, including a large microfilm collection of heritage newspapers, as well as a “...comprehensive collection of Maori, family history and local history published material.” The most important of these are the Sir George Grey Special Collections. Among its rare books is a 1623 copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio and Alexander Shaw’s “A Catalogue of the Different Species of Cloth Collected in the Three Voyages of Captain Cook” (aka “The Tapa-Cloth Book”) published in 1787. In addition, the most extensive Alexander Dumas collection outside of France was donated to the Auckland library by pharmacist, Frank Reed. Libraries are a great window into the life of a community. That’s why we love to visit them in each city to which we go. While not the single most impressive library we’ve visited, the Auckland Library surely was a wonderful find.
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