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Kindness in the library

19/8/2021

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This past week, LIANZA Ikaroa held their Library Experience Day in Palmerston North. The day was filled with engaging workshops, timely presentations and talks, and interactive components which left the attendees buzzing with excitement and inspiration. 

Cath Sheard presented on resilience, wellness, and well-being within the workplace, and with a nationwide level 4 lockdown recently, this is an extremely important topic. Cath explains her role within her library and how she is there to manage people's "buckets" to make sure they're not overflowing, and if they are, how best to help with that situation. 


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Cath Sheard at the LIANZA Ikaroa Experience Day. Photo credit: Ana Pickering
When we look after ourselves in these seemingly small ways they add up, and what they add up to is better overall wellbeing and a bit more resilience. Resilience that means when a customer loses the plot, we can mentally take a step back and think “It’s not about me, this is someone who is having a hard day”.

As a manager one of my key roles is to protect people’s buckets. Let me explain. I think our lives are like a bucket of water. Some of the water is our out-of-work lives – and the amount of water this creates varies. When our homes lives are going well, the water might only be half a bucket. When we have vet bills to pay, a sick child or spouse, or are trying to sell our home, the bucket might be 80% full.

Some of the water is our day-to-day work and some of the water is extra tasks we are given. Sometimes the water in our bucket is sitting right at the top and it only takes one drop – an extra task, a printer that won’t print, or a customer that’s being difficult – for our bucket to overflow. For some people that overflow is physical, with hot tears of exhaustion or frustration leaking out – unbidden and unwelcome.
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My job is to make sure people’s buckets have room at the top so one drop doesn’t cause them to overflow. That means individual staff are given more work, or less, depending on where the water level in their bucket is sitting. 

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Let’s start with the absolute basics of well-being in the workplace. Some of the advice I give people includes:
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  • Drink water. Or Diet coke or V. I’m not the drinks police. Just make sure you drink, as long as it’s not alcohol!
  • Take your breaks. If you’re a manager, take your breaks AND encourage staff to do the same. YOU set the standard, so what is the standard you’re setting?
  • Turn push notifications off. Seriously. Unless it is role dependent, we do NOT need to know everyone time we get an email, a social media comment and so on. Constant notifications create a false sense of urgency.
  • If you need a two-second breather, take it. Tell someone you’re unavailable for two minutes and walk fast to the end of the building and back.
  • Take your annual leave. We have allocated leave because it is GOOD for us. I don’t buy the idea that we can’t leave our roles for a week or two. If I got run over by a bus tomorrow work would miss me, I hope, but they’d cope. Last year I was off for two weeks when I had a knee replacement and, in March, I was off for three weeks after my stomach ruptured. Did work fall apart? Of course not! My staff are amazing, and no one is irreplaceable.​
  • Don’t get into the habit of working extra hours. You need to be at your desk and ready to work by your start time. When you always start early you are actually lowering your hourly rate. Yet if I suggested lowering your rate you’d be horrified.
  • Consider taking work emails off your phone. Again, I appreciate this is role dependant.  I mentioned to Rachel Esson once that it 'probably isn't a fire' - and she looked at me and said 'actually it is a fire - in the basement!"

Cath Sheard is the Libraries & Cultural Services Manager at South Taranaki District Council, and has an Advanced Diploma of Arts & Creativity (Honours). A wonderful supporter of LIANZA and libraries for many years, Cath was the chair of the LIANZA Professional Registration Board for several terms, before stepping down in 2020. Cath is also an artist and inspired by the local landscape, much of her work leans toward abstraction. Cath's art can be found in galleries, exhibitions and private collections, primarily in New Zealand and the USA.  Visit Cath's blog here: https://cathsheard.wordpress.com/​ 
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NZLPP Communities of Practice Launched at National Library

17/8/2021

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Libraries are vital community hubs, where people can get practical help during tough economic times. This is why the Government delivered the funding package of $58.8 million to enable librarians and library services to play a key role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the recovery from COVID-19. The Government is entrusting the National Library to lead and support this mahi through the New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme (NZLPP).
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Image credit: National Library, Mark Beatty
Since its inception, the NZLPP has committed to fund and support people working in libraries and ensure free and easy access to the internet and library digital services. We now are supporting over 160 people working in libraries through the programme with 30 more expected to join over the coming weeks.

The foundation of the programme’s deliverables are the six focus areas identified by our stakeholders.

These are digital inclusion; library workforce development; community engagement and supporting community recovery; Reading for pleasure and supporting wellbeing; te reo and mātauranga Māori – supporting local iwi; along with content creation and curation.

Communities of Practice have been set up for each of these focus areas for the duration of the programme and these were launched at a series of hui at the National Library in Wellington May 25-28.

Each NZLPP seconded staff member is working on one or more of these focus areas; the week was about connecting them with people working on similar projects and creating a network to share experiences and learn from each other.
Secondees spent their day with their focus area facilitator working on how their community can connect, sharing stories and bouncing around some of the great ideas people in the groups already had. The intention was for attendees to leave with something new to think about, or even better, something new to try.

Rashmi Natarajan, Digital Engagement Coordinator at Rangitikei District Council, said of her hui “We engaged in some deep conversations about digital inclusion. Loved it! Thanks to facilitator Fran Hoover for all the amazing activities you had planned for us. Most of all, you were very engaging, and you probed us to think. The Communities of Practice Hui was perfect for people keen on sharing some of the best practices carried out in their libraries and coming up with solutions on their challenging aspects together as a team.”

Sian Torrington, Facilitator for the Community Engagement group, said “In our hui we shared experiences, tips and questions, building the foundations of our Community of Practice. The energy was warm, encouraging and enthusiastic! With a room full of people who are passionate about their communities, it wasn’t surprising that they brought a deep desire to listen to and connect with diverse communities, to ensure that programmes are right for them.

It was inspiring to hear about projects across the country and create an encouraging space where we can share what works and learn together from our ‘fabulous flops.’ Themes included: how might we value the informal customer research that can happen in libraries, leading to co-design of ideas that really reach our local people? How might we work together, and keep encouraging the seeds of ideas, because from small things, great things grow. The quote I’m left with is: “Without the community we have no purpose”. These are focus groups who are bringing dedication and passion to both supporting each other, and their communities to grow. Ka rawe!”

It was also great for the NZLPP team in the National Library office to connect with secondees they had previously only been in contact with via phone or email. Krista De Guzman, NZLPP Programme Coordinator, said “It was so good to finally be able connect with the secondees face- to-face. I could truly feel their passion in making a positive and lasting impact in their communities."
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Image credit: National Library, Mark Beatty
Imelda Castillo, NZLPP Team Coordinator, said “In each of the hui, I observed the genuine enthusiasm that each individual brought to their focus groups. They were eager to connect, share, and contribute to building a solid Communities of Practice. Also, making me realise the positive impact of NZLPP to the future of the libraries sector, as a whole, by providing them with a platform.

The final word comes from Selena Pirika, Cultural Diversity Advisor at Upper Hutt Library, who is part of the te reo and mātauranga Māori community of practice: Ko te whakawhanangatanga , te taikura o te whakaaro marama – Inclusivity is the key to understanding

Helen Heath; is based in Wellington, New Zealand. She received her MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, at the Victoria University of Wellington. In 2017 she was publishing programme leader at Whitireia Publishing (part of Whitireia Community Polytechnic). She was the LIANZA Communications Advisor from 2018 to 2021. Helen has moved to a new role as Senior Communications Advisor at the Department of Internal Affairs
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Featured Library: Te Aka Matua Research Library at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

17/8/2021

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Did you know Te Papa Tongarewa has a library? The Te  Aka Matua Research Library has  supported the research output of the museum since 1867. It is classified as a special library but is more akin to an academic library in scope. Te Aka Matua is an integral part of Te Papa’s Knowledge and Information offering, which includes library, archives, records management, media assets, intranet, general enquires via the Te Papa website and more. A team of nine information professionals support this mahi. The library itself is staffed by three full-time librarians.
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Te Papa Open Day Rare Book collection tour, 2015. Photo by Michael Hall. Te Papa (25412)

The library’s name, Te Aka Matua, also supports this knowledge kete approach. Te Aka Matua means the parental vine. The aka is the vine that connects Rangi-nui, the atua of the sky, to Papa-tū-ā-nuku, the Earth mother.

It was the aka that Tāne, one of Rangi and Papa’s children, climbed to make his journey to the heavens. From this journey, Tāne brought back to earth Ngā Kete o te wānanga — the three baskets of knowledge containing the traditional wisdom of Māori. For us, the aka symbolises the quest for knowledge, growth and strength.

​The library started as a science library in 1867 and has evolved as the museum has. In 1993 the National Art Gallery library was added to the mix (part of the merger of the National Museum and National Art Gallery to form the Museum of New Zealand). This strengthened the New Zealand and international art aspects of the library and brought with it an important art resource, the Art and Exhibition ephemera files. The public can access an 
index of this  collection here.

The library is now a major research and reference resource, with particular strengths in general New Zealand and Māori history, natural history, art, photography and museum studies. The crown jewels of the library is its Rare Book collection, with the unique Carter Collection at its centre. It contains material on the early exploration and history of New Zealand and the Pacific ranging from the 1650s to 1890s. Charles Rooking Carter presented this collection to the Colonial Museum (now Te Papa) and the New Zealand Institute (now the Royal Society of New Zealand) from around 1870-1890. Carter intended it as a resource that could be used to write the ‘first history of colony’ and as a way for people to educate themselves, breaking down the class barriers of the time. Check out some of our library blogs to see some of these amazing objects.
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Carter Collection items (Rare Books collection) 2016. Photo by Rachael Hockridge, Te Papa (115118)
The library is open to the public by appointment, we have two Reading Rooms to host research visits. We break the visits up between our Cable Street and Tory Street sites depending on the subject. Most of our science visitors go to Tory Street while the humanities and botanical researchers we host at our Cable Street building. Our collection of 50,000 plus items is distributed across multiple sites as it is too large to fit into one space! The down side of this approach is the collection can’t be easily browsed by the public. Our catalogue is available via Te Papa’s website or Te Puna/ World Cat. The collection is available for interlibrary loan, and the Rare Books are also available for exhibition loans like the rest of Te Papa’s collections.

The library catalogue went online in 1991 and in 2018 moved to the wonderful Koha library management software. Internally an EBSCO discovery layer helps facilitate and maximise access to our digital subscriptions. The two systems form Tomokanga, the gateway for library staff to interact with the library collection.
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The LIANZA conference is happening at Te Papa Tongarewa this year, if you would like to come for a nose, please get in contact. Or I’ll see you at the conference!

​Martin Lewis (above) is the Liaison Librarian (Online) and Rare Books collection manager. He recently gained LIANZA professional registration and is a graduate of the Open Polytechnic library programme. He has been working in Wellington libraries since the mid-nineties, starting in the Wellington City Library system, then moving to the Teachers College Library (now part of VUW) and has spent the last 16 years at Te Papa. Martin looks after the intranet, Koha and Tomokanga, distributes the general enquires from the website and does multidisciplinary reference and research support. Working with the Rare Books collection has given him a bit of an obsession with historic marbling…
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