John Kinder Theological Library

Last Friday, we celebrated 50 Years since Judith Bright started at the Kinder Library.

It was a lovely morning of stories from friends and colleagues, of recognising the immense work that Judith does in Theological libraries and archives for the Anglican and Methodist Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.

The library space has seen many changes over the years - moving the collection multiple times, renovations and building projects, and technological changes, to name but a few! - and Judith continues to navigate it all with impeccable strength and leadership.

As the current library staff, we want to say thank you to Judith for all she does and continues to do in this role.

Thank you to St Johns Theological College for co-hosting this morning with us.

Catalogue Update: On Tuesday 24th March, from about 4pm onwards, the catalogue will be unavailable as the system is undergoing an update. Thank you for your patience.

If you're in the library this afternoon, feel free to ask us for help finding books.

In our display cabinet at the moment, you'll find some letters, diary entries, record books, photographs and artefacts on the Southern Cross, the Melanesian Mission ships.

We encourage you to have a peruse when you're in the library next - just head to the back left corner of the building.

Not coming in any time soon? We've also written a blog post about Captain Martin Huggett and the Southern Cross IV, which you can read here.

https://www.kinderlibrary.ac.nz/captain-martin-huggett-southern-cross-iv/

Please note that we will be closed on Friday 6th of February for Waitangi Day.

We will be open as per usual on again on Monday 9th Feb (8:30am - 5pm).

Remember, you can still access eBooks, eJournals and our online archives website.

With Waitangi Day happening this Friday, we wanted to draw your attention to our latest display in Te Puna Atuatanga, John Kinder Theological Library.

It showcases Te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Treaty of Waitangi, as well as some letters of interest from the book 'Te Wiremu, Henry Williams: Early Years from the North'.

Alongside the main display, we have pulled out some of the books from the collection about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and you can find those on the ends of the bookshelves.

Just a reminder that we will be CLOSED on Monday 26 January for Auckland Anniversary.

You can still browse ebooks, journals, and physical books on the catalogue and put reserves on the latter. We'll put those through for you on Tuesday 27 January when we open again from 8:30am.

If you're in the Auckland region, we hope you have a nice long weekend.

We're back!

We hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year break. The library is open for 2026, with our Summer Hours as follows:

Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 5pm

Saturday opening hours will kick off in February.

Meri Kirihimete from all of us here at the John Kinder Theological Library - Te Puna Atuatanga.

We hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year, and we'll see you back in the library from Monday 5th January 2026.

Our Christmas and Summer hours!

With just over a week until Christmas, we wanted to share with you our Opening Hours for the next few weeks.

CLOSED from Wed 24th Dec - Sun 4th January 2026.
OPEN again on Monday 5th January.

Monday - Friday: 8:30pm - 5pm

We'll let you know in the new year when our Saturday opening hours begin.

Today is Parihaka Day.

If you're in the library today, be sure to pause and take a look at our mini-display, showcasing some of the books in our collection on Parihaka.

A reminder we will be CLOSED on Monday 27th October for Labour Day. We hope you have a nice long weekend.

Open as per usual for the rest of this week (Thurs - Fri from 8:30am - 5pm) and then reopen on Tuesday from 8:30am.

Last week, for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, the library put together a challenge for staff and students at St John's Theological College. We were a stop on an Olympic Games-style event around the campus, where teams partook in various reo challenges.

When they arrived at Te Puna Atuatanga, they were given a question in Māori, which they had to use the catalogue to find the answer to. That answer then led them to a block of chocolate hidden in the library shelves.

We loved seeing everyone's team spirit (and dress-ups!), and applaud their participation in the challenge we set for them.

Nā reira, e mihi ana ki ngā kaitākaro katoa.
"Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu."