Auckland City Library, Parnell Branch

Wellington Central Library

There's a new library building to the left of this one. Inscriptions above the windows list all the subjects that were housed in the building, science, philosophy, literature, fine art and so on.

Parliamentary Library, Wellington

This building is stunning, inside and out. The parliament building is next door to the library. The interior was completely renovated back to the original plans a few years ago. The tour guide said that the architect felt that you can design libraries, and then you can design churches, holding library design in greet esteem. This building has a lot of church-like features in the architecture and design, and the architect then went on to use the parliamentary library as a portfolio for church design work. The library is still actively used by all members of New Zealand's national parliament.

New Zealand National Library, Wellington

The library has a wonderful collection of ephemera, and had a great exhibition on political newspaper cartoons when we visited. They also have an automated document retrieval machine, which picks up books from the stack and whizzes them around on ceiling tracks to the information desk. Very cool.

Around the block is the National Archives which is well worth a visit if you want to see historical documents on New Zealand's founding or the petition that led to New Zealand's women being the first in the world to get the vote.

Non-photo of University of Otago Information Service

I wish I'd taken pictures of Otago's interiors. It's an amazing library, only built in 2001. It's full of high-speed cable, laptop ports, reading alcoves, and light! In an academic library! This library has been winning lots of design awards lately. The university has a page of recent photos.

The photo to the left is one Pete took of the administration building. The whole university is beautiful, very English in design. There's even a stream running right through the middle of Dunedin campus.