LIANZA recently shared news about the NZ Government’s first Voluntary National Review – our Government’s first progress report on the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals that will be made at the United Nations in July.

Our government is expected to report at least twice between 2015 and 2030. That’s not much opportunity to share the essential work of libraries in helping our country achieve the UN 2030 Agenda. So let’s take this important opportunity to provide evidence and stories that demonstrate the essential role of  libraries in delivering the SDG’s.

Hui E! Community Aotearoa are supporting work to produce an independent and community-driven report on New Zealand’s progress towards achieving the UN 2030 Agenda.  This report will complement the government’s voluntary progress report and is supported by a number of organisations including New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women; IHC New Zealand; Victoria University of Wellington; Māori Women’s Welfare League; New Zealand Post Primary Teachers Association; Oxfam New Zealand; Transparency International New Zealand; E Tū; and Volunteer Service Abroad.

The report is being compiled by Dr Gill Greer and will be presented at a side event at the United Nations, made public globally on Action 4 Sustainable Development and distributed widely in New Zealand.

We call on libraries and librarians to make a contribution to this independent report by responding to the following survey.

The survey asks questions about your organisation, the challenges it faces, your awareness and familiarity of the Living Standards Framework (LSF) and Dash Board, your awareness and understanding of the SDG’s and which SDG’s are relevant to your work.

You may not know all the answers, but responses from across the diverse library sector would  contribute meaningfully to this first NZ independent report.

LIANZA is calling on its members and the wider library sector to complete the survey by Friday 7 June, 5pm.
 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SDGs_Aotearoa
 
Let’s show how libraries deliver across the Sustainable Development Goals!
What fantastic library advocacy!
 
What’s next for libraries and how can you be involved?
LIANZA will be focusing on the impact of libraries on sustainable development over the next couple of years.  If you are interested in helping deliver LIANZA workshops on SDG’s to  LIANZA regional or special interest communities or want to attend a workshop – be in touch !
Just drop a line to [email protected]
 
Check out:
https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/10546 and https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

Look out for the next issue of Library Life where you can read about LIANZA President Paula Eskett’s recent experience  at the i-IKM 2019 Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The international conference focused on the Sustainable Development Goals. 
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LIANZA is pleased to see significant allocations in the 2019 budget investing in the GLAM sector.

Funding of $35 million has been provided to continue  the Preserving the Nation’s Memory programme, including initial work on new infrastructure for the National Library Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa and Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, to ensure the nation’s archival and library materials are preserved.

Additional funding of $53 million has been provided to address the increasing cost pressures facing these two institutions in order to maintain public access to, and use of, our country’s documentary heritage materials and public accountability of government.

The provision of funding to Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision to enable the digital preservation of the audio-visual archive is also very positive.

LIANZA looks forward to supporting the National Library Communities of Readers initiative, supported by the $1 million fund announced pre-Budget announcement.
 
It is disappointing that, after nearly a year, there is no specific provision for National Archives and Library Institutions (NALI) in Budget 19 or an  update on the next steps for NALI, which aimed to strengthen the contribution of our national archives and libraries to New Zealand’s culture and democracy. 

As a stakeholder in this work, on behalf of the library sector, LIANZA looks forward to a conclusion to this work and decisions that will set a path for the future, give these institutions the independence to play a leadership role and champion cooperative national initiatives. NALI services to the nation and society are vitally important to well-being outcomes across literacy and life-long learning, digital citizenship, cultural identity, innovation and new knowledge and ensuring freedom of access to information for an open democracy.

Conference Theme -- Our Families, Our Communities, Our Libraries! 

Preparations are well underway for LIANZA Conference 2019. We have an amazing line-up of keynote speakers and, as with any conference, these speakers receive a fee.

However, two of our keynotes have asked us to do something different for their speaking fees, resulting in challenges that we hope LIANZA members will help us meet! Both challenges are sure to engage us with our conference theme and to test us – as Patrick Ness says, Librarians are tour-guides for all of knowledge!

Are you up to the challenge?         

Kia hiwa ra!
Kia hiwa ra!

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa is seeking nominations for the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award.

Poetry is a quintessential part of New Zealand art and culture, and through the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award the government acknowledges the value that New Zealanders place on poetry.

The Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library will appoint the New Zealand Poet Laureate after reviewing nominations and seeking advice from the New Zealand Poet Laureate Advisory Group.

Nominees must have made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand poetry, and be an accomplished and highly regarded poet who continues to publish new work. They must also be a strong advocate for poetry and be able to fulfil the public role required of a Poet Laureate. The role includes engaging with a wide range of people and inspiring New Zealanders to read and write poetry.

Candidates are expected to reside in New Zealand during their tenure as Laureate.

The term of appointment for the next Poet Laureate will run until August 2021.

• Download the nomination form (doc, 90KB)
• Download the background information (doc, 60KB)

Nominations close on Wednesday, 24 July 2019 at 5pm.

Please email your nomination to [email protected]
Email is preferred, but you can also mail your nomination to:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Attention New Zealand Poet Laureate Award
PO Box 12349
Wellington.

Send any enquiries about the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award can be directed to [email protected]

At its heart, Out on the Shelves is an online resource that helps rainbow young people find stories that mirror their identities in positive and affirming ways. The resource collects books with rainbow themes and characters, and encourages young people to participate by writing reviews.
 
Our campaign week is an opportunity for our schools and community libraries to promote more visibility and increase awareness. During this annual event, we encourage libraries to build and promote their rainbow collections, celebrate rainbow stories and help connect rainbow young people with these stories and with each other.
 To support your involvement, we are publishing a free Out on the Shelves libraries' resource and creating suggested event guidelines, both of which will be available on our website soon. We hope you will order sets of free bookmarks (available soon!)  with our recommended book lists and participate in our campaign week display competition. You can also book InsideOUT for a staff training on sexuality & gender diversity, and inclusion at your library or school!
 
We have a lot a planned for this year's event and would love to help your library take part. Visit: outontheshelves.insideout.org.nz for more information, or e-mail [email protected] to connect with our Campaign Coordinator. ​

Are you a Christchurch librarian or archivist? Do you work in the heritage sector? If so, this talk is for you. 

Wikipedia results and previews dominate Google Search results. Organisations whose mission is making information accessible need to understand Wikipedia and have a plan for engaging with it and the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who write it. The image-repository Wikimedia Commons and the open structured database Wikidata are equally important for heritage organisations, and libraries need to be aware of the new project Wikicite, which aims to create a Wikidata object for every publication.

Dr Mike Dickison, New Zealand’s first Wikipedian-at-Large, will present an overview of Wikipedia, and discuss some possible engagement strategies for heritage organisations.
 
When: Wednesday June 5, 2019
Time: 6pm  (doors open 5:30pm)
Venue:  Hao Room at Te Hāpua Halswell Centre, 341 Halswell Road ​

We are especially keen to hear from those who may not consider themselves to be a law librarian but who undertake legal/Government enquiries as part of their role.
 
If as part of your role you assist with legal research and/or work with legal information we want to hear from you!
 
The survey should take around 15 minutes to complete and all questions are optional.
 
The survey is anonymous and the raw data will not be made public.
 
Collated data will be released in a presentation to the 2019 NZLLA Conference and be published in the New Zealand Library and Information Management Journal.
 
The survey is online here: https://t.co/rehxKcMsTX?amp=1
 
Please complete the survey by Friday 31st May 2019.
 
If you have any questions about the survey please contact:
Nicky Rawnsley [email protected]
or Theresa Buller [email protected]
 
Thank you for your participation and support.
NZLLA National Executive

A review panel  was established and has been gathering initial feedback from a wide range of health and disability sector participants around the country. The review panel chair, Heather Simpson explains that the focus of this review is to ensure that recommendations for change which will improve the equity of outcomes. ‘We are also charged with looking to the future to ensure that the system is able to meet the technological, demographic, workforce and other challenges that will confront the system over the coming years’.

There are two opportunities for submissions to this review. Phase 1 submissions can be made online at https://systemreview.citizenspace.com/review/health-and-disability-system-review/ by May 31 or you can submit a written submission to [email protected]

The submission has been sent to LIANZA Health SIG members who are also encouraged to make their own submissions by May 31. There will also be an opportunity to provide feedback on the interim report due to be completed in August 2019.

Many thanks to the following people for their work on the LIANZA Health SIG submission; Megan Clark, Peter Murgatroyd, Janet Arnet, Maryann Cowgill, Julie Milne and Raewyn Adams.