OUR STORY

Harare City Library has been in existence for well over a hundred years, though under different names and in different places. A Reading and Recreation Society started a collection of books and newspapers in the early years of colonization and by 1893 it had developed into a small public subscription library. It had become known as the Salisbury Public Library by 1896, and in 1898 a library committee had been appointed by the Salisbury Town Council, as it was then.

The original Queen Victoria Memorial building, housing both a library and a museum, was opened in Moffat Street (now Leopold Takawira Street) on 28 February 1903 by Lady Eveline Milton, the wife of the Administrator. It had been constructed at a cost of £9,000 with money raised from public subscriptions, and books were donated by Lord Grey and the City of London.However, the building was apparently not well suited to function as a library and was demolished in 1963 to make way for a new school hall at the Girls' High School next door.

Salisbury City Council developed a new Civic Centre in 1960 comprising new library, museum, music school and law court buildings. The first of these new Civic Centre buildings, the Queen Victoria Memorial Library, was opened in August 1962 following an architectural competition for its design won by Montgomerie Oldfield, Architects. The architects received a bronze medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in recognition of its outstanding and innovative design. The Harare City Library building is therefore of architectural and aesthetic importance to the City of Harare, and in due course will be eligible to become a protected building in accordance with the Museums and Monuments Act. 

The land, building and other assets are vested in the Board of the Harare City Library Trust under the Harare City Library Act [Chapter 25:05], which came into force on 2 June 1961, replacing the Queen Victoria Memorial Act, 1951 (No. 38 of 1951).

The Library is governed by the Harare City Library Act [Chapter 25:05], and the property and assets are vested in a Board of Trustees ‘in trust for the people of Zimbabwe’. The Board of Trustees comprises ‘the Mayor of the City of Harare and the Master of the High Court or their successors in office, permanent or acting’.

The primary asset of the Harare City Library Trust is the land and building in Rotten Row (the former Queen Victoria Memorial Library). However, the Library also operates branch libraries in the low-density suburbs under an arrangement with the City of Harare. Mount Pleasant Branch was established first (in 1966), followed by Highlands (1968), Hatfield (1969), Mabelreign (1971) and Greendale (1976). The branch library buildings belong to the City of Harare, but Harare City Library owns the books, employs the staff, and operates a library service from them.

The "general direction and management" of the Library are the responsibility of a Library Committee established by the Act, which is made up of ten people, six of whom are elected by the Library's subscribers, three are nominated by the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, and one by the City Council of Harare.
Each year, two elected members, one member appointed by the Minister, and the member appointed by the Council retire, thus ensuring both continuity as well as "new blood" on the Committee.