LIBRARY

The Glenorchy Library was first established in 1891 on the site of the Rees Valley School, about half way between Henny’s house and Hus’s deer yards at the top of Valpy’s Hill. By 1911 there were almost 1,000 items on the catalogue.

In 1952 the building was moved into town to the site on Islay Street, which was the second choice as it had been hoped to place the building on the school block.  However, for some reason the Ministry of Education opposed this plan and the Department of Lands and Survey gave the land the old library now stands on.

In 1996 the new multi-purpose community building on the section next door opened and the library is now housed in one part of this building along with the Museum and the medical rooms. The Glenorchy Library has 5,000 items on the catalogue, including DVDs, children’s books and plenty of fiction and non-fiction.
The library is open from 1:30pm to 3:30pm on Wednesdays and 5:00pm to 7:00pm on Fridays. 
As we are part of the wider Central Otago Queenstown Lakes library network, we can order in books held by any other library in the wider district and the website allows you to place holds from home and receive emails when they are received into the library here. You can also renew books by logging into the library website if you haven’t quite finished by the due date.

The old library was renovated in time for the 150th celebrations in 2012, with a perspex foyer installed so that visitors can actually step into what is probably the most-photographed building in Glenorchy!

You can email the Glenorchy Library and check out the new website or you can phone Leslie on 442 4378 during opening hours.