Little River Library Te Kete Wānanga o Wairewa

Little River Library became part of Christchurch City Libraries when the Banks Peninsula District Council and the Christchurch City Council amalgamated in 2006. The library stands in the middle of Little River township and opens five days a week and Saturday mornings.

The library is located in the former Little River Post Office building which it moved to in about 2000. A legacy of those days as a full post office is a uniquely solid walk in safe which these days is used for storage. Today the building provides a range of facilities for the community – the library, council service centre, postal agency and offices for Environment Canterbury workers. The community connection is strong with volunteers coming in to run the library on Saturday mornings.

Little River Coronation Library

Before moving to this relatively modern building the library was called the Little River Coronation Library and occupied a handsome brick building in a corner of the Awa-iti Domain. The library was built to commemorate the coronation of King George V in 1911. The two-room building featured a distinctive porch with white pillars and a large bay window.

The library has served other functions. In 1939 the school at Cooptown burnt down and the library was used as a replacement school. The seniors were in one room, the infants in another. The school stayed there for about a year before it was forced out by flooding. In the 1950s the building was also used by the Plunket nurse. Little River was served by the Country Library Service for many years and when the van visited, the librarian sometimes stayed overnight on the site in the van.

Today the building is used as the office during the A & P Association’s annual show and the local toy library is based there.