Find organisations, clubs, courses and more
New settlers
Kia ora and welcome to Christchurch. We have a good range of resources and services on offer to new residents. Christchurch City Libraries has a network of community libraries and a team of helpful librarians.
This page in:
Join the library
It is free to join the library
- Most items are free to borrow
- We generally charge for lost or damaged items
Bring some:
- Identification e.g. passport, driver’s licence
- Proof of Address e.g. bank statement, telephone bill etc
- Membership form to fill out in advance
Useful resources
- Books in your language
- Bi-lingual resources/dictionaries
- ESOL resources and easy reading novels, grammar, vocabulary and spelling guide books, English dictionaries, language courses - CDs and books, IELTS practice material
- World music on CD
- Study guides for high school
- World language collections
- Mango Languages - Mango is an online language learning system that can help you learn a variety of selected languages. It also contains instructions on how to learn English if you are a native Korean, Japanese or Mandarin speaker.
- Road to IELTS: General - Road to IELTS is a course of self-study to help you prepare for the IELTS exam. The General version focuses on basic language survival skills and is aimed at people who plan to do secondary education, work experience or training programs.
- Road to IELTS: Academic - the Academic version of Road to IELTS is for people who want to study at an English-speaking university.
Our services 
- CINCH: a list of clubs, organisations and education providers around the greater Christchurch area
- Free Internet access
- Links to websites for new migrants
- Links to ESOL education sites
- Links to news websites by country and language
- Access to word processing — other language fonts available
- Activities for children and their parents
- Free tuition in use of catalogue, email, Internet searching
Read and listen to your language
Explore the World languages collection.
Links to our catalogue for books, DVDs, CDs and audiobooks in:
- Afrikaans
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Dutch
- French
- German
- Japanese
- Korean
- Persian
- Russian
- Spanish
- Thai
- Vietnamese
Links to our catalogue for children’s stories in:
- Afrikaans
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Dutch
- French
- German
- Japanese
- Korean
- Persian
- Russian
- Somali
- Spanish
- Thai
- Vietnamese
Bi-lingual dictionaries
Donations of adults’ and children’s books in your language are very welcome.
Learning to drive
The Road Code is the official guide for learning to drive in New Zealand. It is a high demand item and you may need to go on a waiting list for this. Ask at your nearest library. Libraries have a copy available for reference.
