Coronation Library — Gore, New Zealand
Posted by: 
Dunbar Loop
S 46° 05.876 E 168° 56.761
59G E 341237 N 4893020
The Coronation Library is one of eighteen libraries to have been built in New Zealand receiving funding from the Carnegie Foundation. No longer in use as a library, today it is open to the public as the Eastern Southland Art Gallery.
Waymark Code: WM7H9C
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 10/26/2009
Views: 5
New Zealand received funding to help build eighteen libraries under the Carnegie Foundation. Today there are twelve structures still in existence throughout the nation.
The Gore Borough received a £2,000 grant in 1907 to replace the existing athenaeum. This helped building the Gore Coronation Library, which opened on September 1st, 1910.
Interestingly, according to Kerry Rodgers:
From the very outset, the Gore library management ignored Carnegie's standard grant conditions, although the it received frequent reminders from local residents as to what these were. Access to the reading room remained free to all, but borrowing was for pay subscribers only. Perhaps this contributed to low usage, which by 1913 average only 10 patrons a day.
The building ceased to be library in 1983 when a larger and more modern structure was built next door. Today the Coronation Library houses the Eastern Southland Art Gallery with an impressive collection of artwork.
Source: "Carnegie's Legacy" by Kerry Rodgers. New Zealand Geographic.