Vandalism and damage to new pipes last year have caused issues for the Kolovai library. This is not the first-time damage has occurred to the plumbing. Water was blocked from the volcanic eruption two years ago. The damage to pipes is almost $2000 and vandals have also been capping the water.

Kahoa Corbett, Kolovai Library's founder says:

"Who would do this to a library that is there for the community and has had a lot of money and effort invested in it over the last six years - mostly by only the founders."

With only one volunteer working two days a week, Kahoa is putting the call out again for volunteers to support the library.

Volunteer with the Kolovai Public Library in Tonga
 
Come and enjoy working in the friendly TONGAN LIBRARY. Help encourage children, youth and adults to join up and borrow books or try your hand at cataloguing. Organise reading programmes, and different activities eg. art day, weaving day, cooking, and crafts 
 
Kolovai Library's Ben and Kahoa Corbett can offer you free accommodation, free WIFI and computers and 10 laptops already in the library, landline and mobile phone to use, free coffee and tea, lemon grass drink available fresh from the garden, lots of beaches and fresh fruit nearby and bicycles to use. It's 10-15 minutes biking to any of those beaches locally in Kolovai.
 
The library is very well secured and people of Kolovai and nearby villages are popping in and out to Kolovai Public Library Monday - Saturday. 

​"My experience working in the first Tongan library in Kolovai was extremely rewarding. I met some new friends and was able to contribute to this incredible initiative by Kahoa and Ben. I assisted categorising books ready to go on shelves and developed some signage for the new library. It was an interesting experience meeting other volunteers and locals. I look forward to helping out with the next Tongan library." Janine Gillions volunteer

• Email [email protected]

• Register to be a member nor donate to Kolovai Public Library

• Support Kolovai Public Library by making a donation www.kolovailibrary.wordpress.com
• People can also donate towards the Tongan library projects via the library's Kiwibank account 38-9000-0114295-01
•  find them on Facebook facebook.com/kolovailibrary

 
The Kolovai Library has been supported with donated goods and service from Auckland City Council, Auckland Libraries, Sky TV, Bunnings Mt Roskill, and Catalyst NZ. All of the books and equipment are shipped for free by Onehunga-based Freight Company CFR Line NZ.

Background 
​
In 2018 Mangere Bridge local, Kahoa Corbett, and husband Brendan, established the Kolovai Library,
 
The very first public library in the Kingdom of Tonga. Since then, it has been packed with books donated from Auckland Libraries. Now that they are well-stocked for books, Kahoa would love to have more volunteers to help at the library, offering free accommodation near the library for people able to stay for several months or longer.
 
Volunteering includes cataloguing and shelving books, running activities like reading programmes, and helping with registering new customers especially children, mothers and babies, people from all walks of life.
 
The idea was borne from the devastation of Cyclone Gita in 2018, when Kahoa and Brendan were in Kolovai, Kahoa's home village, and saw that local schools needed books. They began to collect and donate books to the schools and when they discovered an unused whare ( fale ) in the village of Kolovai, it sparked the idea to turn it into a library.
 
Kolovai library was officially opened in 2019 by the New Zealand Acting High Commissioner Peter Lund and Prince Ata, the youngest son of the current King of Tonga.
 

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) delivered an engaging and very full programme that I attended in Adelaide from May 6 to 9. It was an opportunity to meet with my Australasian colleagues and to learn from Australia’s library and information experts and practitioners. With the strong theme of ‘Truth and Dare’, here’s two of the top sessions I attended.  

Alison Hamilton from Northern Beaches Library Service delivered an engaging presentation on their library's 24/7 branch service. The library implemented this service to offer a space for library users to work and socialise at no significant extra cost. It resulted in a 45% increase in visits compared to the previous year, with 20% of visits occurring outside regular staff hours. The service attracted new members and provided an innovative way to connect with the community. 
 
New features, such as a touchscreen OPAC and noise requirements, were introduced to manage the extended service effectively. Safety and security were paramount in the design, incorporating measures like low shelving, secure work rooms, CCTV, and duress buttons.  

While unauthorised access has been the primary ongoing issue, the library has addressed this through inductions, feedback channels, and follow-up on reports of inappropriate behaviour.  

Despite minor challenges, such as people attempting to sleep in the library and higher-than-expected popularity, the library has not experienced any theft or property damage. The presenter stressed the significance of risk assessment, appropriate building location, and fostering a culture of shared responsibility among members to ensure a successful 24/7 library service. 

Lydia Hartwig, La Trobe University's Bendigo campus, delivered a thought-provoking presentation on participatory design and its potential to enhance social design through participatory frameworks and initiatives in academic libraries.  

The ‘participatory library’ concept emerged in 2006 amidst the rapid growth of digital technologies. This concept involves engaging library users to influence the operation and collection of the library through their participation. Many libraries, particularly public libraries, still use participatory design principles as an integral component of user-focused action and impact assessment. 

Lydia emphasised the importance of defining the ‘library user’ and proposed a new definition that includes any person who interacts with the library in any capacity, such as patrons, students, staff, academics, industry partners, vendors, and the local community. By redefining the library user in this way, their value is no longer transactional, and they become an integral part of the library, actively influencing its physical and digital spaces. 

Lydia shared insights from La Trobe University Library's social initiative, the IDEA Network.  This initiative incorporates elements of participatory design to support and enhance Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility for all users. The network connects individuals and pre-existing support groups, highlighting the experiences of marginalised groups and informing library stakeholders about the issues they face. 

By incorporating participatory elements and bypassing traditional research hierarchies, the ISEA network fosters a co-design relationship with library users, actively involving them throughout the design, feedback, and implementation processes.  

Lydia concluded by emphasising that the movement towards user-centric and social design philosophies has laid the foundation for a new form of participatory design that re-examines the role and perceptions of the modern library user. By incorporating participatory elements throughout LIS research and design processes, libraries can build meaningful relationships and authentic actions, ultimately fostering a collective belonging that better reflects libraries as social institutions.

He kitenga kanohi, he hokinga mahara
A familiar face stirs one's memories
 
He kawenga mahara, he hāpori kitea
A collection of memories is a community seen
 
Aotearoa’s first Queer History Month, with te reo Māori name Pūmahara Ia Te Wā, is coming this July, breathed into being by Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa and the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. 

Around Papatūānuku libraries are queer people’s chosen whānau. This idea has a long history. We come to libraries seeking ourselves and our histories, seeking the manaakitanga to find our stories, seeking the affirmation that our memories and our communities are not only welcome but actively invited in and protected.

Our libraries and our communities throughout Aotearoa all hurt when we are intimidated and our basic rights to share our expressions, memories and stories, and to strengthen our communities, are threatened.

Learning about our queer tīpuna and our taonga affirms queer lives and is a vital part of the whakapapa of takatāpui and tāgata Moana in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Queer people always were and always will be.

We encourage libraries across the motu invite Aotearoa’s queer and takatāpui whānau – your whānau – into your whare this #QueerHistoryMonthAotearoa in July. Invite and show your manaaki for your local queer communities by holding space, planning displays, or simply having kōrero with your kaimahi and manuhiri about how you can help keep your local queer histories alive.

Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa (formerly the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand Te Pūranga Takatāpui o Aotearoa) and Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa are hosting an all-day hui, both in-person and live-streamed from the National Library in Te Whanganui-a-Tara on Tuesday 9 July 2024, 9AM to 4:10PM. The hui taumata will mark the passing of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in Aotearoa on 9 July 1986, and will stress the importance of preserving and sharing Aotearoa’s iconic yet undershared queer histories.

We have an incredible line-up featuring Aotearoa’s first queer Poet Laureate Chris Tse, the founder of the International Committee on LGBTQ+ Queer History Months Ronald C Wilson, mana takatāpui Elizabeth Kerekere, Kevin Haunui, Dr Clive Aspin and our stunning Tīwhanawhana whānau, as well as Kawe Mahara kaitiaki, and queer researchers Will Hansen, Rebekah Galbraith, Dr Welby Ings, Dr Patrick Thomsen, and Dr Ashwinee Pendharkar on why queer archives and queer networks are so crucial, yet so undervalued.

Inspired by the United States of America’s Black History Month (founded in 1926), the world’s first LGBTQ+ History Month was founded thirty years ago in the United States. It was established as an opportunity to highlight the long-neglected histories and experiences of queer people in the United States. Since its founding, eighteen other History Months have emerged, including most recently in Italy, Cuba, and Uganda. Aotearoa New Zealand’s history month will be the world’s twentieth. 
 
Read more about the event and register for the livestream here
 
Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa
Kawe Mahara Queer Archives is a rich pātaka of queer and takatāpui taonga and stories. ‘Queer’ is an umbrella term for people who identify with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and innate variations of sex characteristics, in acknowledgement of the fluidity of identities and the multiple acts of identifying and finding ourselves through time and space. Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa welcomes the many intersections with other identities, communities and politics that ‘queer’ holds.
Kawe means ‘to carry, convey, bear’ and mahara means ‘memory, recollection, knowledge’. Kawe Mahara stands for carrying the memories of all our takatāpui and queer communities in Aotearoa from the past, present and future, so that our communities can grow and thrive. Having survived an arson attack in the 1980s, and kept alive by volunteers through decades of discrimination, Kawe Mahara is a testament to the power of community archives.

We are the LIANZA PIMN SIG.

PIMN stands for Pacific Information Management Network, which began over 20 years ago as a special interest group for LIANZA. We were set up to ensure that professionalism and networking in the Pasifika GLAM sector were given the attention that was needed. Our Pasifika communities were growing and there was a need to prioritise the appropriate and relevant services.

Over the years, there have been several gatherings, workshops, fonos, food sharing, and conferences. One of our proudest moments was holding the 2019 LIANZA conference with a fabulous Pacific flavour and theme throughout. The enjoyment and feedback following the conference was overwhelmingly positive. The success was a result of intentional collaboration, learning and leadership.

Other memorable moments include museum visits, talks, and receiving visitors to help increase our knowledge of the sector and be inspired by what is happening within our communities. The ongoing networking has enabled relationships to form and sustain PIMN to serve our people and communities better.

Due to COVID interruptions and various changes in the GLAM sector, PIMN is revisiting our kaupapa and vision to enhance and grow from where we had started. It is still of the utmost importance for PIMN to actively advocate for and improve the lives of Pasifika peoples. Mentoring and a Community of Practice will be vital to PIMN’s commitment to our people. Currently, we are working on how best to deliver this. Watch this space for our new plans and vision.

​MEET TRINA SCHUSTER AND SANA SALEEM 

Trina Schuster
Ko Fito tōku maunga
Ko Tofoa tōku waka
Ko Moana-nui-a-kiwa tōku moana
Ko Moata’a tōku hapu
Ko Ngāti Hāmoa tōku iwi
O lo’u igoa o Trina Schuster
Malo le soifua maua ma le lagi e mama.
I am the proud mother of four, aged 17 to 30.
I have been recently appointed and started in a new role for Selwyn District Council as Head of Arts, Culture & Lifelong Learning. I have been working in libraries for most of my adult life and am very passionate about serving our people & our communities. I believe that when we can bring our 'full selves' to mahi, our communities will receive the support they deserve from wide-ranging, diverse, and passionate people. I have loved seeing the changes within libraries over the years, how we are with people and how we serve and what we offer.
I am the current convenor for PIMN and have learned so much since being involved with this SIG. The people in this group are committed, passionate, and caring. They work hard to ensure Pasifika peoples receive the support, care, attention and alofa they deserve. Building up our knowledge base, our cultural capacity is important to me. Networking is such a strong way of ensuring we can all build the relationships we need to help us in our day-to-day mahi.

It’s great to be a part of this and enabling our people to shine. I am looking forward to the new and updated version of PIMN and would love to have you join us on the journey.

Elections for the president-elect and new LIANZA Council member have now closed. 

LIANZA is excited to announce that the following candidates have been elected to these positions. Mark Crookston has been elected unopposed into the position of LIANZA President-elect and, in a very tight vote with five others, Hana Whaanga has won the vote into the national council member position. ​

LIANZA PRESIDENT-ELECT 2024-2025 - MARK CROOKSTON

Mark is the Director Content Services at the National Library Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.  
​
Mark is a purpose-driven library and information professional and archival strategic leader. Mark’s passion is developing relationships, collaborations, teams, and systems that support social cohesion, people's rights, accountability, and scholarship. 
 
He has over 22 years of experience in library or archival roles, with the last seven being in strategic leadership of the National Library Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. He has been successful at building lasting relationships and securing funding for elements of this mahi.   

Mark says, “Relationships are at the heart of much of the LIANZA strategic plan 2023-26, and relationships are a strength of mine. I hope to learn from my predecessors on the key relationships in place and required going forward and representing the interests of members.” 
​

LIANZA COUNCIL MEMBER - HANA WHAANGA

Originally from Wellington, Hana lives in the Hawkes Bay and works for Hastings District Libraries.

Hana has been involved in and passionate about the library and information field since her first role as a library assistant at the Wellington Medical and Health Sciences Library in 2003. Hana has experience of different library roles from front-of-house circulation, acquisitions in university libraries, to programme planning and delivery at her current place of work.

She has an appreciation of the breadth and impact of the work of each and every library and information professional in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

She has volunteered with LIANZA through LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika regional committee from 2009-2013 and was a previous editor of Library Life from 2010-2011. Hana is professionally registered and was awarded her BLIS in 2023. 
Hana has experience in the running of a non-profit organisation and consensus decision-making through her involvement with Playcentre from 2013-2017. 
 
→ FIND OUT ABOUT OUR CURRENT LIANZA COUNCIL HERE