Standing order of books

Helping small schools access quality books

The 2-year programme, starting in 2024, aims to make it easier for small schools to refresh their library collections and encourage reading for pleasure.

How it works

The process is very simple — designed to help busy school staff.

1. Complete our online subscription form, letting us know what types of books your school would like — fiction or non-fiction, or a bit of both.

2. We send 1 or 2 boxes of books to you twice a year — for the start of Term 1 and Term 3.

3. Each box includes prepaid NZ Post courier tickets to cover the cost of returning the books to the National Library.

4. Return the books to us when they're due back.

You can subscribe to this offer as well as use our other options for borrowing books.

What you can borrow — our borrowing options

The books you'll receive

Our expert librarians will select high-interest books based on the information you provide when you subscribe to the programme. The books come from our Schools Lending Collection.

The number of boxes of books we'll send you twice a year depends on the number of students in your school:

• fewer than 50 students — 1 box (approximately 50 books)

• 50 to 100 students — 2 boxes (approximately 100 books).

You can choose your order to contain either:

• 50% fiction and 50% non-fiction

• 100% fiction

• 100% non-fiction.

When to expect and how to return books

Your books will arrive at your school in time for the upcoming school terms.

Keep aside the boxes and the NZ Post tickets we've packed with the books, ready to use when you return the books. Don't worry if you lose your tickets. Call us if that happens.

Due dates for books

Returning our books

When our books are due back:

• pack them back in their box

• attach an address label and NZ Post ticket

• organise for the box to be delivered to your nearest National Library collection centre.

Return addresses

• Return address labels Auckland (pdf, 59.2KB)

• Return address labels Christchurch (pdf, 159KB).

Auckland centre:
National Library of New Zealand
8 Stanley Street
Parnell
Auckland 1010.

Christchurch centre:
National Library of New Zealand
7/150 Cavendish Road
Casebrook
Christchurch 8051.

Overdue, lost or damaged books

We don't charge if books from the Schools Lending Collection are overdue — but do send them back as soon as possible.

We understand that books can sometimes get lost or damaged, so we won't charge you if this occasionally happens. Send us an email explaining what's happened and return any damaged books.

Subscribe now

Subscribe as soon as you can (there's no deadline). We'll send your first box of books once we receive your subscription.

Subscribe to a standing order

To stop your order

To stop your standing order, email servicestoschools@dia.govt.nz.

Have some questions? Contact us

Freephone: 0800 LIB LINE 0800 542 5463

Email: schoollibraryadvice@dia.govt.nz