Changes to collection access
You can visit us in two locations in Wellington: our reading room at 77 Thorndon Quay and at Archives New Zealand at 10 Mulgrave Street.
At 77 Thorndon Quay you can access the National Library General Collections, including family history and New Zealand, Pacific and Maori materials, along with some Alexander Turnbull Library copied material.
At Archives New Zealand you can access selected Alexander Turnbull Library collections and materials, including manuscripts and rare books as well as selected maps, photographic collections, oral histories and publications.
Visit us at Archives New Zealand, Wellington
Visit us at 77 Thorndon Quay, Wellington
More about the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library collections
Before your visit
There are a number of things you can do before you visit us that will help you make the most of your research time.
Find material in advance
Use our online catalogues to find out if we have what you’re looking for.
Search for books, newspapers, rare books, maps, magazines or journals using the National Library Catalogue.
The National Library Catalogue contains records for publications and items from the Alexander Turnbull Library special collections.
For manuscripts, photographs, drawings, prints, cartoons, ephemera or maps, search TAPUHI.
You can find out more about the collections in our Collections A-Z.
View our digital collections
Many collection items are available online. For example:
- Papers Past contains over one million pages of selected 19th and early 20th century New Zealand newspapers
- Timeframes contains about 60,000 images from the Turnbull Collections of photographs, drawings, prints, paintings, posters, cartoons, maps and manuscripts.
- Manuscripts & Pictorial contains the digitised Manuscripts and Pictorial Collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, including the Sir Donald McLean papers.
View all of our digital collections
Plan your visit
There are a number of things you can do to streamline your visit.
Order material in advance
To order material from the General Collections you need to register as a user.
More about registering as a National Library user
Reading rooms
The Library has a reading room at 77 Thorndon Quay, Wellington and some collections are available through Archives New Zealand, 10 Mulgrave Street, Wellington.
Travel information
The National Library is close to public transport, including the railway station and the Wellington bus station. Check the Metlink website for train and bus timetables. There is metered parking outside the Library building.
Locations of the National Library buildings in Wellington
Facilities available at the National Library buildings in Wellington
