The woman who read Auckland: Janet McAllister visits the Highland Park and Howick libraries

The exterior of Highland Park Library. Photo: Jay Farnworth

Before I cycled out East (via Tamaki Estuary's commendable Rotary Walk) on my on-going pursuit of Hercule Poirot across Auckland's library shelves, I associated "Highland Park" solely with Orkney whisky.

But now I also think of Highland Park as a surprisingly humane shopping centre with an unexpectedly busy library and - shockingly - two Countdown supermarkets. My gast is flabbered.

Also unusually, for relatively recent Auckland institutions, both Highland Park Library and nearby Howick Library are red brick jobs. The Howick exterior gives off a Baptist church vibe (thanks to its circular Fencible Lounge appendage), but Highland Park (circa 1987) feels more modernist London-satellite. It might be a stretch to say it shares architectural DNA with the British Library, but it could pass for a slice - a nice slice - of shopping centre in Slough.

It boasts a small courtyard; in summer, the kids draw taniwha in chalk and, on superhero day, they plaster supervillains with slime. Its glittery Diwali display includes a graphic novel I can recommend: Sita's Ramayana, a classic epic retold from the point of view of a woman character.

And all the Highland Park library assistants seem wonderfully cheery. HP sauce! One was being teased because he was excited to find a roll of sticky tape. "Well it is exciting!" he countered. I can relate. Happiness is a stash of adhesives.

One patron, Rui, tells me she's borrowing books in Chinese for her five-year-old son - it's much easier than tracking down books online and getting them sent from China. One in five Howick residents are of Chinese heritage and Highland Park holds roughly one third of Auckland Libraries' whole Chinese collection - more than 9000 books (the Korean collection is also large). For herself, Rui chooses books "on how to keep young and pretty, and cook healthy food".

Multi-lingualism flourishes. Like many libraries, Highland Park also runs extremely popular ESOL classes. Often the "Fun with English" attendees are older people who would otherwise be rather isolated, at home with the grandchildren. But at the library classes, they find each other and make friends.

Meanwhile, three kilometres away, Howick Library (circa 1997) is rather like a paua shell - at least, the interior is rather more attractive than the exterior. It's a light white airy room with a high-pitched ceiling and intriguing wall displays.

Posters of Sue Gee's oral history of New Zealand-born Chinese are poignant and humorous ("I was a slave to the bean sprouts," says the reluctant gardener wife of one restauranteur). A presentation of Young Adult books arranged like a rainbow, is glorious. "[I]t's ok to read them even if you are no longer young," reassures the poster above. "In fact you'll find they often have provocative themes and complex characters that are the equal of most of the books you'll find on the adult fiction shelves these days." These days!

I even found a poster suggesting other writers one might like if one reads Agatha Christie. Nice try, Howick Library, but there's no substitute for Christie's so-far elusive sleuth.