Dorothy Neal White

Dorothy Neal White (Mrs Ballantyne 1915-1995)

The Dorothy Neal White Collection, opened in 1980, is named in honour of Dorothy Neal White, an outstanding contributor to the development of children's librarianship in New Zealand. Dorothy Neal White spent most of her long career at the Dunedin Public Library, after studying at the Carnegic Library School in Pittsburgh in 1937. Under her leadership the provision of children's services in Dunedin became a model for libraries in other areas of New Zealand. She reached an even wider public through her two acclaimed books About books for children published in 1946 and Books before five published in 1954 by the NZCER.

Greater biographical detail of Dorothy Neal White is available in the
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography