Look up! – See your library in a new way

One of the activities in our Summer Reading Adventure this season is the Upward Looking Urban Photographer, where we’ve challenged you to look upwards while out and about and notice details that you might have otherwise overlooked.

We’ve had a whole gallery of upwards-looking photos sent into us, and we thought we’d share some of our favourites with you. Maybe one of these photos was taken by you! One of these photos was even taken at one of our libraries. If you haven’t submitted a photo for this activity yet, there’s still plenty of time! The Summer Reading Adventure runs until the 31st of January.

  • What’s that perched atop the iconic Cuba St bucket fountain?
  • A familiar location for some of us! Can you identify which library this is?
  • An encompassing canopy of treetops.
  • You might need to take a second glance to see the floating sculpture here.
  • This building’s original owners may not still be here, but they made sure we’d know who they were!
  • Sunlight catching the edge of the clouds.

Inspired by this activity, we’ve taken our cameras around our libraries and pointed them upwards! In this selection of images you’ll find many artworks, interesting angles, library signage, and ceilings seen from a different perspective – it’s an exploration of library architecture!

We have many libraries scattered around Wellington and they all feature different designs and artworks. This challenge has given us the opportunity to look around our libraries with fresh eyes and rediscover the quirky and interesting parts of our spaces.

Can you figure out where the photo (or photos!) of your library was taken?

  • A rope bridge made of twine and popsicle sticks bridges the gap between two bookshelves.
    Arapaki Library
  • A plastic skeleton perches on a bookshelf with a sign reading 'Young Adult Fiction'. On the ceiling tiles above are movie posters.
    Arapaki Library
  • Spackled ceiling with inset boards meeting in a cross.
    Brooklyn Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Moe-rā
  • Vaulted ceiling with triangular recessed skylights pointing inwards.
    Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Korimako
  • Towards the library entry/exit, and internal five-sided window sits in the pointed ceiling.
    Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Korimako
  • A large red paper flower and strings of red beads and white shells hanging from a red library sign with 'Can we help" written on it.
    Island Bay Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Tapu Te Ranga
  • Reflection of the library in the round security mirror by the door.
    Island Bay Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Tapu Te Ranga
  • Three pictures in a collage. Top: view of the children's area and the coloured triangular pieces of sound-baffling fitting in with the three-pronged lights. Centre: Looking up towards artworks by Robin Kahukiwa and Melvin Day. Bottom: Woven harakeke artwork Whetūrangi on the wall above and below a long window.
    Johnsonville Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Waitohi
  • A spine-like plastic guard around power cables attaches into a ceiling tile.
    Kai Ūpoko | Library offices
  • Looking upwards at the vertical word 'Library' on a red background.
    Karori Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Te Māhanga
  • Three narrow windows in a white wall look out onto the street and blue sky. A conical light hangs on the left, the bottom level with the top corner of a narrow window.
    Karori Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Te Māhanga
  • Checkered glass tiles set in the corner of the building, photographed from the inside.
    Khandallah Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Tari-kākā
  • Natural wood balcony with stuffed aniimals liiking down, a skylight above, and long tapestry hanging to the left.
    Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Te Takapū o Patukawenga
  • Coloured paper letters spelling 'Children's Area' on the wall below small high windows with wooden blinds.
    Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Te Takapū o Patukawenga
  • A blue pillar with outreaching metal struts atop it, in front of a corner window.
    Miramar Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Motu-kairangi
  • A triangular internal window above a mural of a beach with swimming child, reading octopus, and books flying through the air. In the window, a silhouette of a librarian waves.
    Miramar Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Motu-kairangi
  • Wooden beams on the right angle up to the natural wooden ceiling. On the left a wooden taniwha attached to a colourful painted wall looks up towards the peak of the ceiling.
    Newtown Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Ngā Puna Waiora
  • A round, curved, three-dimensional artwork on the ceiling. Shades of blue, with koru like tentacles reaching out from the centre.
    Newtown Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Ngā Puna Waiora
  • The corner of the building. Orange-toned wood on the ceiling, with a large corner window looking towards a Pohutukawa tree with vibrant red flowers.
    Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Te Awa-a-Taia
  • Up past bookshelves of children's fiction are triangular fin artworks, then above those metal beams cross the wooden ceiling.
    Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Te Awa-a-Taia
  • Diagonal industrial beam cuts across decorated upper walls above fiction shelves
    Te Awe Library
  • Decorated 1900s eave overhanging the footpath, with a yellow 'Te Awe Library' sign hanging from it.
    Te Awe Library
  • A backless tall shelf of extra large books. Behind this shelf, seen through the gaps in the shelf, are yet more bookshelves.
    Te Pātaka Collection and Distribution Centre
  • Square windows, photo taken looking inside. A vase of roses, a succulent, and a yellow sign with the word 'hot' peak over the windowsill.
    Te Pātaka Collection and Distribution Centre
  • A spiral cord hangs next to a skylight with a red beam across it. Blue sky with fluffy clouds outside.
    Wadestown Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Ōtari
  • Diagonal angular ceiling line, with a square light in the ceiling and recessed skylight
    Wadestown Library | Te Whare Pukapuka o Ōtari

One of our other Summer Reading Adventure activities challenges you to go back in time using Wellington Recollect and find an image of your library taken in decades gone by. We find it very fascinating to go and look through the pictures and see the different library layouts and different buildings there have been over the years. Can you spot anything from our upward-looking-photos in the pictures of your library on Recollect?

Odd Stuff: deepest NZ cave found

Near Nelson a bunch of cavers have been busy – they’ve discovered the deepest cave in New Zealand and in the Southern Hemisphere.

The passage is about 10kms long and drops around 1200m down below the earth’s surface. Th discovery was made when a link between two previously known cave systems, called Stormy Pot and Nettlebed, was found. There was a problem however – the link had previously been used as a toilet for cavers exploring the area – yuk! The link was full of rubble, which took the cavers 2 days to remove.

They plan to return to the cave systems soon and explore the area completely. More information here.

New Zealand is full of caves, there are many places underground to explore. Find out more about caving in these books: