Kaiārahi Kohikohinga Māori Māori Reference Collection
Te Kohikohinga Māori, our Māori Reference Collection, is a reference-only (non-lending) collection of Māori books, microfiche, and microfilm, comprising more than 5000 items.
Since the closure of the Central Library in 2019, most of this collection is now held at our off-site storage location, Te Pātaka; with microfiche and microfilm held at Taonga Tuku Iho, our small heritage reference centre on-site at Cummings Park Library.
Interested in viewing a book? Collection items can be sent out on email request to any of our library locations for in-library use only (the material must be read or viewed on-site at one of our library branches).
These books can be identified in the catalogue as held at the 'Offsite Maori Collection', with a location of heritagequeries@wcc.govt.nz.
You can browse these books on our online catalogue, or search with your terms below:
Some titles with copies in this special collection, will also have normal lending copies that are available for borrowing:
If this is the case, you can place your reserve as normal for the lending copy — you only need to follow the steps further below to request to view a book in-library if there are no lending copies available.
Subject Headings are the very specific terms or phrases used by libraries to describe what a given book or article is about.
All the titles in the library's Kaiārahi Kohikohinga Māori are catalogued using two resources developed for Aotearoa New Zealand libraries that you can explore to aid your searching below:
Found an interesting title and would like to make a request to view a title on-site at one of our library branches? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at the address below to make your request and one of our team will retrieve it for you:
Email us — heritagequeries@wcc.govt.nz
Make sure to include:
You will receive two emails, one confirming we've received your request, and the second when the book has arrived at the branch and is ready for you to view (in-library only).
Most books will be available for you to consult for 3 weeks at the library branch you have chosen. If you don't need a title for three weeks, just let the staff in the branch library know and they will return the book for you.
If you need to renew the item for a further 3 weeks to consult on-site, make a request through the same email (heritagequeries@wcc.govt.nz) and the library team will check if there is another customer waiting and if the book can be made available for longer.
Te Whare Pukapuka o Korimako (Cummings Park Ngaio Library) is now also the home of Taonga Tuku Iho; a small heritage centre of reference resources to help with local history and genealogical research.
The centre also holds the microfiche and microfilm resources that were formerly part of Te Kohikohinga Māori at the (now closed) Central Library.
You can find a list of Te Kohikohinga Māori microfilm and microfiche resources held on-site at Te Whare Pukapuka o Korimako at the link above.
Interested in visiting Taonga Tuku Iho to research your whakapapa?
Here's a guide to getting started with your whakapapa research, and online resources that can sit alongside the resources at Taonga Tuku Iho:
Ngā rauemi whakapapa ahuwhānui
Have a question about the collection? We'd love to hear from you! Get in touch with our Kaimahi, Ratonga Māori, Ann Reweti below:
Email us — enquiries@wcl.govt.nz
Korero o te Wa I Raraunga I Rauemi I Te Whanganui a Tara I Whakapapa