New Zealand Library Week

Page 1 – Introduction

The first public library
The first public library

Library Week began over 35 years ago to honour the important role libraries play in our community. Many professions rely daily on a library or information centre - from lawyers to historians to healthcare professionals. Still more rely on libraries in their communities as a source of information for work or play.

To celebrate Library Week (last held nationally in 2010) we produced stories of some of our libraries and librarians. Read about New Zealand's first public library and its librarian, Frederick Knox, about Andrew Carnegie and his 'free' libraries, or just have a chuckle at library fashions of the past

Librarians are encouraged to test their knowledge in our quiz. Just how much do you know about the history of your profession?

How to cite this page

'New Zealand Library Week', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/library-week, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 5-Aug-2014