National Children’s Collection

The National Children’s Collection (NCC) is the National Library of New Zealand’s largest collection of books written for children and young people.

It’s based on the collection built up by the School Library Service which, from its establishment in 1942 until 1993, selected a range of books from publishers in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, the Pacific and New Zealand. From mid-1993, additions to the NCC have focused on New Zealand and Pacific children’s books and a smaller selection of overseas titles.

The NCC is mainly an English language collection but is also strong in books in Māori and Pacific Island languages.

The NCC contains approximately 124,000 books that are available for interlibrary loan.

Highlights of the Collection

• Most of the children’s books published in New Zealand in English and Māori
• Significant number of Pacific Island language books published in New Zealand
• Strength in books from the United States published in the 1930s and 1940s

Purpose of the Collection

• To support scholarly research on literary and historical topics
• To support the study of children’s literature
• To support other New Zealand libraries’ collections, through interlibrary loan