St John's College was founded by Bishop George Augustus Selwyn at Te Waimate, Bay of Islands. Selwyn brought with him a collection of books which had been given by friends and well wishers for the College, and which he housed in an upstairs room of the Stone Store at Kerikeri.

The College was moved to Auckland, the books being housed in Bishop Selwyn's own residence and later, the end of the dining hall.

The Kinder Library building was built in response to the gift of 3,000 volumes from the library of Dr John Kinder, a former Master of the College. It appears that there was little money to add to the collections, but bookplates show evidence of donations from various people over a period of time.

Responsibility for rearranging the library was given to a member of faculty, and with student assistance, the whole collection was arranged according to the Library of Congress Classification system. Money was allocated for book purchases, and the collection was added to, mostly from British sources.

The library collections from Trinity Methodist Theological College were incorporated. Also donated at this time were the collections of Vicesimus Lush, and part of the Nelson Diocesan Library. The first library for Methodist theological training was formed at the Methodist Theological Institution, Three Kings in 1876, from donations and bequests. In 1929, a library building was part of the new Trinity College buildings. It was added to over the years, with some of the significant donations being the biblical and classical library of Dr Harry Ranston, principal 1931-1940; Percy Paris books relating to St Francis, and the Baumber collection. The library held around 12,000 volumes at the time of amalgamation with the Kinder Library. Its strengths were Methodist history and biblical studies.

A new library building was opened, with space to develop manuscript and archive collections. Following a resolution of General Synod, the Anglican Church Archives Collection came on site.

The Wiremu Netana Panapa Maori Collection was established as part of the commitment to the three Tikanga Anglican Church.

The book collection numbers over 85,000 volumes together with more than 500 periodical titles in print and electronic forms, archives, CD, DVD, video and audio resources, and is at a level to support all undergraduate and post-graduate studies in conjunction with the University of Auckland Library.