Hamilton City Libraries is the city-council-owned public library system of the city of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The library lends

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

and

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

(for all ages),

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s, and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s. From November 2016 to 9 July 2018, a substitute library compensated for the temporarily closed Central branch, and the libraries closed for over 2 months for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in 2020.

Waikato District Waikato District is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority of New Zealand, in the northern part of Waikato region, North Island. Waikato District is administered by the Waikato District Council, with headquarters in Ngā ...

residents living close to Hamilton City can freely use the Hamilton libraries.

Public library history

In 1871 Hamilton Institute appointed a librarian, with support from

Auckland Provincial Council The Auckland Province was a Provinces of New Zealand, province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Area The province covered roughly half of the North Island of New Zealand. It was the largest of the ...

. By 1874 its reading room had 209 books and 72 subscribers, but, although its books were largely saved from a fire, the secretary then decamped with the funds. A poll under the Public Libraries Act 1869 rejected a rate to set up a library by 17:7 in 1883; without a council decision, the Act required at least 10 ratepayers to request a poll. Next year a new library was established by subscriptions in the Union Bridge toll house, tolls having ended in January 1883, and it was officially opened on 10 October 1884. A new building at the south end of Victoria Street opened on 22 April 1899.

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

library, designed by Rigby and Warren, opposite Garden Place, was opened by Sir

Joseph Ward Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, (26 April 1856 – 8 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930. He was a dominant figure in the New Zealand Liber ...

on 17 February 1908. By 1928 it had 892 subscribers and 10,000 books and, by 1948, 2,344 subscribers and 130,674 books. In June 1960 a new council building opened on Worley St and the library moved from the Carnegie site, which was sold. The Carnegie Library briefly became a Lions opp shop, before being demolished about 1961. In 1968 it moved to William Paul Hall, formerly the Waikato Winter Show building and has been in Garden Place since 20 March 1993. Frankton Library officially opened on 22 September 1923 and in 1950 became a branch of Hamilton Public Library. , Hamilton had one of the country's largest public libraries.

Branches

There are seven current branches:

References

External links

Hamilton City Libraries website

history of Hamilton libraries from 1870
an
1980-2009
https://web.archive.org/web/20161012035637/http://ketehamilton.peoplesnetworknz.info/documents/0000/0000/0070/Hamilton_City_Libraries_1980-2009_a_brief_history_working_draft_Oct_2009.pdf (archive link)]
photo of Carnegie Library about 1910
Buildings and structures in Hamilton, New Zealand Culture in Hamilton, New Zealand Tourist attractions in Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton City Libraries Education in Hamilton, New Zealand 1870 establishments in New Zealand {{Library-stub