Libraries and information services, like many other community and professional services, have been affected by the requirements of a pandemic environment. They have provided valuable information to help services better respond to the crisis. There have been requirements not to open facilities, to aid people obtain vaccination passes, and to monitor the vaccination passes of people entering facilities. 

We’ve all been required to become more digitally responsive, and libraries have grasped this need by finding new ways to reach their communities. They have had an important role during this time of uncertainty – creating a sense of assurance and continuity and combatting misinformation. ​

Yet requiring vaccination passes has been a difficult position for many librarians because it breaches the principle of equal access for all. This access issue is a strong prompt for diversifying service delivery to keep access ways open.
In some libraries vaccination pass requirements have put library staff in a difficult position. Protestors outside the Takaka Library in the Tasman District Council offices wrote slogans on the footpath and spat on the windows. Staff retreated into a back room for safety after protesters entered the building. A similar situation occurred in Featherston, in the Wairarapa, on 20 January.

In some libraries vaccination pass requirements have put library staff in a difficult position. Protestors outside the Takaka Library in the Tasman District Council offices wrote slogans on the footpath and spat on the windows. Staff retreated into a back room for safety after protesters entered the building. A similar situation occurred in Featherston, in the Wairarapa, on 20 January.

THE PRACTICE OF BOOK QUARANTINING
During the first lockdown in 2020 most libraries were quarantining returned books as it was unclear if COVID was spread by contact with surfaces such as books. However, come the second lockdown in August 2021 reports from overseas were that very few, if any, libraries were now quarantining returned books. The focus had moved on to keeping people safe – hand washing, mask wearing, social distancing.
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Libraries Connected in the United Kingdom in consultation with Public Health England, and in line with guidance published by the government, issued Public Library Service operational guidance in mid-July, 2021. This guidance included the information that there is no longer any requirement to quarantine returned books and library resources, or to wipe down their surfaces.

New Zealand libraries soon followed suit.

AUCKLAND LIBRARIES EXPERIENCE 
Auckland Libraries have 56 community libraries and recently completed a restructure within the Customer and Community Services directorate to combine libraries, arts and culture services, community centres and events (council, community and partner-run). They were combined into one very large Connected Communities department and 2021 lockdown had its challenges.

“2020 definitely prepared us for the 2021 experience. We didn’t have the same sense of not knowing what we were up for. However, we didn’t expect that on August 17 we wouldn’t be coming back into libraries and other community facilities for three months – it wasn’t the short and sharp lockdown we thought it might be, “says Catherine Leonard, Head of Library and Learning Services at Auckland Council.

“What was different this time was that while we had the framework from the government for the whole country, Auckland was a bit different. For example, when the additional steps were introduced into Level 3, Council had to determine and agree what they meant for all our services. For libraries, could we do click and collect, what other risk assessments and controls were required, what did the physical distancing really mean in terms of space for staff and then for customers, how could we offer an equitable service across a very large region when we had staffing pressure points and very different customer needs? Comparisons with what other services in other parts of the county were doing, weren’t always useful.”

Catherine says they were very conscious of communicating services clearly for customers while still working the processes out. The council policy on vaccination passes was another deliberation. 

“There wasn’t a detailed rule book for all situations or all categories of service. Council had to consult and then decide what was best for staff and for customers. The consistent message has been that the health and safety of our staff and of our communities was the priority. Thinking about our communications was of upmost importance, both for staff and for customers. We learnt that sharing as much as we knew with staff, even if we didn’t have all the answers, was reassuring for everyone. For customers, we decided on some principles: keeping it simple, being sure that what we offered was clear and could be consistently delivered. Being a new department, we had to think about how this applied across all our facilities, services, events, and programmes.  We had a lot of people to communicate with but also a lot of support from the council communications team.”

“We know our customers missed access to physical books during the lockdown and we were all very happy when we were able to offer a click and collect service.  But that access alone doesn’t provide the community and social connection – the regular visit, the conversations, participation in events and programmes, and the other in-person experiences people enjoy in our libraries. Our staff and our customers became increasingly aware of what we weren’t able to do and missed it.”

A broad range of digital services was consistently available. We knew to expect an immediate and ongoing increase in demand for eBooks and digital resources, based on the 2020 experience.  In 2020 Auckland Council Libraries was one of only two library systems in the southern hemisphere to lend over two million eBooks. In 2021 over 3.5 million eBooks were borrowed. 
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“We hit the three millionth check-out on our Overdrive platform during the 2021 lockdown – over one million e-checkouts during the lockdown period alone. We were watching demand all the time and saw early in the 2021 lockdown that children’s material was particularly popular,” said Catherine.  “Check-outs increased by over 100%. We’re assuming parents were keen to use our resources to help children stay entertained and engaged with reading. Lockdown also included a school holiday period this time round so sources of entertainment were probably very important for parents. We also saw that weekends were the busiest time for check outs – both these trends were different from the lockdown in 2020.” ​

On introducing the requirement for customers to have vaccine passes to enter facilities, Catherine says there was some anxiety from staff initially related to managing difficult or aggressive customer reactions and behaviour. “The reality has been in line with what the whole country has seen – a small but vocal minority who disagree with the vaccine pass requirement and may behave in confrontational and offensive ways. This is hard, but I think staff are doing a great job in managing and generally coping well. Council has been providing resilience training and launched a “No excuse for abuse” campaign in 2021, making it really clear that staff do not have to take abusive behaviour.”  

Thinking about what we are heading into with Omicron, Catherine feels we need to be adaptive and bring a mindset to our work that continually challenges what and how we “dial-up or dial-down” services depending on circumstances.  
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“We need to adjust quickly and think about a sophisticated combination of offerings that’s not solely dependent on being either open or closed. Our customers are reflecting expectations they see based on a whole variety of different sorts of services and adjustments from other businesses. We still have some work to do here on how we make the most of the great talent and examples of locally created content (56 community libraries means 56 Facebook pages) on our regional platforms, and vice versa.  We also need to think about great online experiences alongside making it attractive to customers to come back into the library when the doors are open, and programmes and events are on offer. Of course, with each COVID variant, there’s something new and unpredictable to think about so we’re planning now for what significant staff shortages will mean for our service offer.”

WHANGAREI DISTRICT LIBRARIES
Glenn Davidson, Outreach Services Team Leader at Whangārei District Libraries, says “Vaccine passes are a difficult part of this recent COVID period. We’ve trained our whole working lives to be welcoming to everybody in libraries and it’s hard to get used to not doing that.” 

To be as inclusive as they could, Whangarei District Libraries kept their branch and mobile libraries vaccine pass free and set up a click and collect service for people who could not come into the Central Library. Because the Central Library is a multi-purpose building vaccine passes are required. 

“The 2020 COVID period has almost blurred into 2021. We were more prepared the second time around though it still wasn’t easy. But the transitions were.”

When COVID cases started appearing in the Northland area the library went mad. “So many people were coming in the few days before lockdown. I’ve never seen it so busy.”

“We did have an increase in eResource use and continued our Preschool Funtimes online.

We heavily promoted the availability of our 24/7 library service and digital resources. Even my 70-year-old dad learned how to download an eBook.”

While there were many people engaging with the Preschool Funtimes in 2020, the audience dropped off in 2021. “There was a lot of chopping and changing of in-person versus virtual events, and we set up scheduled Facebook live events. We had our main followers but not in the numbers of 2020.” 

ROTORUA LIBRARY TE AKA MAURI – INNOVATION AND EXPANSION
2021 brought positivity to the team at Te Aka Mauri, having emerged from the COVID lockdowns of 2020. New services were launched including Whakapuāwai, an employment literacy programme delivered by the new Community Learning Co-ordinator role funded by the NZLPP. People visited Te Aka Mauri for support and staff visited marae and community centres assisting with CVs and cover letters. Programmes for children were back in full force and community groups made use of the many spaces on offer.

“COVID returned with another curve ball called Delta and once again we closed our doors and returned to working from home. On reopening there was still uncertainty about when we could host events, so we put on our thinking caps to come up with alternative ways of delivering special programmes. Poems that would normally scroll across our screens instead became a free eBook reaching an even wider audience. The launch of our 6th edition of local history stories became a pre-recorded video with contributors reading their stories to an audience three times the capacity of our event space,” says Joanne Dillon Marketing, Communications and Events Lead.

He Kete Rau Mahara - Local Heritage Week went ahead in November 2021 as a virtual programme which was highly successful. These and story times made use of the YouTube platform and Facebook to engage with the local community and wider New Zealand. Popular YouTube videos during the week have been: Waiata mai, Living Book with Reverend. Tom Poata, Daughters of the Land Nga Uri Wahine a Hinehuone, and local stories such as Hoha te Taniwha. 

“When we couldn’t hold school holiday programmes, the Youth and Early Learning Team developed a series of holiday programmes in a bag for families to take home. These Busy Bags contained instructions and stationery needed to enjoy a range of crafts. Children made friendship bracelets, puppets and brightly coloured flextangles. From this idea came the Bigger Busy Bag which were put together to be delivered to children living in emergency housing, thanks to funding from Friends of the Library. They included more fun craft projects but also glue sticks, coloured pencils, and children’s scissors – items that weren’t always at hand in motel rooms. Most recently we have assembled Big Busy Boxes which are being distributed by health outreach services to children who are having to isolate due to contact with COVID. We just had a request for 76 Big Busy Boxes for children isolating for 10 days in one motel complex. Each activity in the Big Busy Box is not only fun but also creates opportunities for language growth and learning.”

PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY SERVICES TE RATONGA WHARE PĀREMATA
Parliamentary Service Te Ratonga Whare Pāremata were involved with accessing information and research from overseas to tackle misinformation and keep members of Parliament (MPs) up to date with COVID research. It became an important part of their library service work and included the provision of research on COVID timelines, legal changes and definitions, support for the cross-party Epidemic Response Committee, and providing details of COVID resources available for MPs and their electorate and community office staff. 

The Manager of Collections and Information, Brent McIntyre, said the number of COVID related questions coming to the library staff proved how critical the role is. 

“Boy, did 2020 change how research and education services are provided at Parliament.” 

“We found that once lockdown occurred there was a growing need for media reports on the ​pandemic and we had to support this need.”

The experience of working through a pandemic also helped during a recent restructure of the library and research team especially around remote working and support for select committees, while for Education it meant more online delivery of educational experiences to encourage engagement with Parliament.

Manaakitanga of staff was crucial across both teams. People were juggling different commitments and supporting staff mental health was important. Teams found ways to connect and add variety to the workday through activities such as daily staff quizzes and check-ins. 

The pandemic brought with it many challenges, which took new ways of working and thinking to deal with. Though both teams had to make some big changes to the way they functioned, ultimately, increasing access to services online was a positive step forward.

AT THE COALFACE: THE ROLE OF COUNTIES MANUKAU HEALTH LIBRARY 
During the first days of the pandemic, Counties Manukau Health Library decided to close their physical library early and offer a purely virtual library service.

“In many ways we had anticipated this shift long before it become a matter of necessity. Our large collections of journals and clinical texts were digital. Our systems for access and management of our collections are cloud based. We have had in place for several years digital communication channels for both the request and delivery of services such as literature searching, evidence synthesis and interloan. We have long ago enabled remote access to collections, resources, and services to all our staff and to our partners in primary and community care,” says Peter Murgatroyd, Library and Knowledge Services Manager and Convenor of the LIANZA Health SIG.

“The demand for our services during the COVID-19 pandemic was higher than ever. Responding with urgency to literature search requests from across the organisation cast a spotlight on the expertise and dedication of our library team.”

During the pandemic the team provided staff with twice-weekly COVID-19 evidence updates that included the latest research and clinical guidance from a broad range of sources. Members of the library team were embedded in projects and initiatives to roll out new service responses and to create frameworks for monitoring and evaluating the impact of new initiatives.

The application of technology to work both remotely and collaborate across multiple teams and initiatives proved to be highly effective and set the way of the future. 

“I believe that in times such as these we must throw off the shackles of the past and embrace the opportunities to reimagine the value we can add and the contribution we can make to our organisations and communities. In the face of massive disruption and uncertainty the role of librarians as highly skilled and trusted knowledge navigators has never been more relevant or valued.” 

“In the ensuing two years, as we entered and exited various alert levels, light settings and lockdowns, the demands on our library service to provide research and support for our response to the COVID pandemic has continued unabated. We continue to curate and disseminate the latest evidence and respond to urgent requests for literature to guide our response and planning. In such a dynamic and fast changing information landscape, our library team remain an essential service.”

INFORMATION SERVICES - DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS ARA POUTAMA AOTEAROA
A new service was provided to Department of Corrections staff during the COVID 19 lockdown between March and May 2020.  An incident team was implemented to coordinate the Department’s response to the pandemic.  It needed to protect those on custodial and community sentences and their whanau as well as 10,000 staff nationwide.

The team needed a regular current awareness service to supply vital information about hygiene, PPE, managing visits and other critical information to assist with managing a novel disease outbreak.  Information was sourced from the World Prison Brief, an online database providing free access to information on prison systems around the world. The format designed aimed to be read easily with links to information from each jurisdiction.  Information was used by the policy team who were tasked with providing advice to the incident team.

Jennifer Klarwill, Principal Adviser Information Services at the Department of Corrections says that this work was valuable to the policy team who were the principal advisors to the incident team during the early days of NZ’s epidemic response when information demand outstripped supply. “They used this information as background research for informing their key decision-makers. It saved them a lot of time by not having to do the literature searches,” she says.

VIRTUAL STORYTIMES
Many public libraries over the country engaged with their communities by offering virtual storytime sessions. Virtual story times were made possible by a unique agreement between publishers, authors and libraries coordinated by the Coalition for Books. LIANZA approached the Publishers Association of NZ (PANZ) and Copyright Licensing NZ (CLNZ) the week prior to libraries being closed for Level 4 in 2020. The aim was to enable New Zealand public libraries to provide virtual story times during the pandemic, while ensuring New Zealand’s copyright laws were not breached. This was achieved two days before the lockdown.

There were over 400 public library virtual storytime’s registered in 2020 and 100’s registered for sessions in 2021.

Waimakariri Libraries serves communities in Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Oxford across the rural plains of North Canterbury.  Paula Eskett, District Libraries Manager says the libraries started recording virtual storytimes almost immediately during the first lockdown of 2020. Virtual Babytimes Preschool Storytimes and Toddler Times sessions were very popular with 11,900 engagements for the preschool first session alone. 

Another popular resource was the Samoan language lessons with Beth and Silika Tavui and their dog Joey, who got 1,300 views on Facebook. 

Virtual Storytimes have continued over 2021 for Waimakariri Libraries with strong connection from audiences both online and in-person. Copyright exemptions were provided by some of the smaller publishers or by using material outside of copyright requirements. These virtual and in-person events have a well-known and experienced team able to provide the in-library experience from either home or at the library. The success of their 2020 online events was carried through with a children’s craft group created (in person and sometimes online) and a new Lego group in Rangiora. 

GOING VIRTUAL: PILOTING A VIRTUAL READING ROOM AT THE TURNBULL LIBRARY TE PUNA MATARANGA O AOTEAROA
In June 2020, the Alexander Turnbull Library, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand, began a pilot project to offer secure remote access to selected digital archives via a virtual reading room, working in collaboration with Auckland City Libraries. The intention was to provide greater access to collections to people who could not go to the library in Wellington where most collection material was available – the need for this was made starker by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic lockdowns.

A virtual reading room is a way to provide digital access to digital collection items in a controlled environment. Researchers had to request access and agree to terms and conditions before being given access to the items they had requested from the library. 

The main lessons Alexander Turnbull Library learned from the pilot says Valerie Love, Senior Digital Archivist at Alexander Turnbull Library, was that users during the pilot project have overwhelmingly appreciated having a virtual option for research, and that it helped to address equity of access issues for people not able to physically get to the library. The library is currently working to implement a sustainable, longer-term service.

ARCHIVING COVID: ONE PUBLIC LIBRARY’S EFFORT TO DOCUMENT THEIR COMMUNITY’S PANDEMIC EXPERIENCE
In early March 2020, as the COVID-19 situation worsened and the prospect of lockdown appeared imminent, the Upper Hutt Libraries Heritage Team began collecting content for a pandemic-related local history archive. Despite the trying circumstances, they felt it important to create an archive of these events as they were going on to ensure what was happening locally was documented as well as possible. As one of the team members, Reid Perkins, commented during his presentation at LIANZA 2021: “Public library collections need to capture their own community’s experience of major national and world events, otherwise the local perspective is lost.” 

The team began by collecting photos capturing the disruptions to everyday life caused by the pandemic, such as closure signs outside schools, queuing at supermarkets, empty motorways, etc. They also added pictures documenting acts of community solidarity and connection that arose during lockdown, such as chalked messages, street art and teddy bear displays (determining just how many of the latter to collect posing something of a quandry). 

In addition to the photo archive, over a dozen oral history interviews were conducted via Zoom with Upper Hutt residents talking about their lockdown experiences while they were still undergoing it. Along with the photographs these interviews were made publicly available through the Library’s Recollect local history website. The team was aware of potential objections to their approach, such as the relatively poor quality of Zoom interviews and insufficient planning time creating ethical risks. On balance, however, they felt these objections didn’t outweigh the benefits of capturing something of the immediacy of their community’s lockdown experience. You can view their collection here.
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Omicron is at our doors as I write this article, and we are now preparing for the eventuality that many of us may go down with it. It’s another challenge to face. But what I’ve learned is, that while the pandemic has exposed gaps, it has also accelerated change and innovation within the sector. We are more resilient than we thought before all this.

As the pandemic persisted in 2021, librarians and educators enabled readers worldwide to borrow 506 million eBooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines, a 16% increase over 2020. With a focus on equity of access to books for all, libraries achieved all-time records for circulation while lowering the average cost-per-title borrowed. 2021 also produced a banner year of book sales and earnings to the authors and publishers who supply digital books to libraries. Data was reported by OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for 76,000 libraries and schools in 94 countries worldwide.

“Public and school librarians delivered extraordinary results for readers and students this past year through curation to specific audiences and data-driven purchasing,” said Karen Estrovich, OverDrive Senior Manager for Public Library Content. “Top performing libraries utilized simultaneous access, cost-per-use and community reading programs to maximize access by increasing the number of available books in their collections. The success of library programs was aided by the Libby reading app’s custom local library guides, skip-the-line feature for high-demand titles and dramatic interest in diverse content including digital graphic novels and magazines.”

OTHER DATA FOR 2021 LIBRARY AND SCHOOL DIGITAL USAGE INCLUDE:

• Libby added new users at a record pace in 2021 and now accounts for 60% of how readers enjoyed ebooks, audiobooks and magazines borrowed from public, academic and corporate libraries.
• School circulation of digital books with the Sora student reading app grew by 65%.
• Public library digital collections enabled 4.7 million books to be borrowed by students for self-selected reading on the Sora app, an increase of 117%.
• 121 public library systems (+19%) in seven countries achieved 1 million or more digital book loans, while four school systems in two countries reached this milestone.

OverDrive has been serving Australian and New Zealand libraries since 2005, now with a dedicated local team of experts.

“Library staff have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to adapt their services to meet their communities changing needs, and we’re proud to have played a part in helping them provide so much of what borrowers want,” said Mal O’Brien, OverDrive Regional Manager for Australia and New Zealand. “People discovered their libraries’ digital collections for the first time during lockdown – and we’re seeing that their use of online services is continuing to grow even as library branches have been able to reopen.”

Want to boost circulation and attract new users to your digital collection? Contact O’Brien at mobrien@overdrive.com and visit Resources.OverDrive.com for marketing material, training videos, book recommendations and more.

Great progress has been made on the new tertiary grants scheme which will provide people working in, or new to the library and information sector, with funding towards the costs of a library and information tertiary qualification. The first funding round opens in early March 2022 with another funding round in October 2022. From 2023 the annual funding round will be held in October.
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A workshop to develop an evaluation framework for the funding resulted in the advisory group developing key outcomes to measure the success of the project. These outcomes will help guide the development of the selection criteria and applicant eligibility. The following eight outcomes were identified:

1. People increase their knowledge and skills in the library and information profession
2. People have increased/improved career and/or leadership opportunities
3. People are empowered to undertake further study and feel pride in gaining a qualification
4. Researchers are inspired to be responsive to the needs and interests of the sector
5. People have financial barriers to study reduced
6. Partnerships are developed and strengthened
7. People feel there is value in organisational membership and registration
8. People have increased awareness that librarianship is a profession.

 
The tertiary grants funding is open to all students seeking a library and information qualification. Funding priority will initially be targeted and based on the current demographic needs of the sector. These are the aging workforce and the need to enable the sector to better respond to the different communities they serve. Hence, priority for the March 2022 grant round will be for applicants who are:

• under 35 years
• Māori or Pasifika
• seeking a new LIS qualification.

 
Perpetual Guardian has been appointed as the funding agent to manage the grants process. This funding is due to a $1.5 million grant to a LIANZA and SLANZA partnership from the Department of Internal Affairs New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme (NZLPP).

Information will be provided in late February, through sector-wide emails, social media and on this website and Perpetual Guardian websites.

IFLA’s World Congress 2021 was held for the first time virtually from 17-19 August. Let’s Work Together for the Future saw libraries united both in the numbers able to attend and in their current and future approaches to library life during a pandemic. This blog post has been written by Dee Atkinson, Outreach Librarian at  WAIPĀ DISTRICT COUNCIL.

Libraries agreed on the importance of sustainable development goals, the importance of expanding their roles, being custodians of wellness and putting customers at the centre of everything they do. While almost everything went virtual as much as it could, this new world has created concerns for the environment, deepening inequalities and the need for diversity to be taken seriously.

Researching the past appears to show that the response of governments and libraries today is not too dissimilar from that of the past.

In the United States during the influenza pandemic in 1918, many public libraries temporarily closed. Closures were decided upon by each library system rather than a national mandate and these depended on local transmission levels. Libraries removed fines on books and some libraries allowed books to be returned. For libraries that remained open there was high demand particularly in areas where restaurants and theatres shut. The Library of Congress remained partially open accessible to members of parliament and to some government officials who had the right documentation.

Some libraries had policies to deal with materials and to quarantine patrons. Previous policies which allowed ill patrons to browse and borrow books were quickly rescinded and never readopted. Social distancing and closing public venues, including libraries, came into force from the early 1920s and masks were also mandated in public spaces. In many cases the Government provided these. Programming was limited, but libraries made every effort to get materials to patrons whose demand grew while they were housebound.

Libraries were responsible for disseminating public information and ensuring against misinformation – much like they still do in today’s circumstances.

The question of whether books were carriers of disease was the subject of constant debate. Some considered books to be extremely unlikely to be carriers, while other libraries destroyed books from households who had the flu strain. Decisions were made by public officials not the libraries themselves.

What appears to be consistent is that libraries focused on what they could do to serve their communities whilst still  minimising risk. Safety was a priority for patrons and staff.

Libraries are now being seen as places, community places, with the most successful being those that operate as a community centre and where people can spend several hours there. For the future, the people-centred concept is deeply rooted in library design and the focus is on service.

Going forward, the catch phrases that caught my attention were:
The future is digital.
The hybrid is the mainstream.
The library is a place.

Dorothea Brown was a major influence on librarians in the Canterbury area between 1976 and her retirement in 2004. She was generous with her support and was said to have a wicked sense of humour. Dorothea was the first woman to be appointed city librarian in Christchurch. She died on 30 September at the age of 83 and will be remembered for her impact on the library sector.

Sue Sutherland​, was deputy city librarian to Dorothea for eight years, she described her as “very, very passionate about the role that libraries play in a society. She was quite a formidable woman. If you were going in with a proposition you had to be pretty sure of your facts because she was always on top of the information.”

Dorothea’s early years
Dorothea Jongejans was born in the Hague in Holland in 1938. During the war her family moved to Utrecht where she went to school. As her family could not afford to support her at university, she was faced with the choice of either office work or emigrating to New Zealand. She says, “New Zealand sounded more fun”. 

After a long sea voyage, she arrived in Christchurch in 1957. She had a married sister living in Christchurch who arranged Dorothea’s first job in New Zealand at a soil testing laboratory. She was laid off after a few months and approached Vocational Guidance. They suggested that with her background in languages she might enjoy library work.

​Waimairi District Libraries
In 1976 Dorothea was appointed Waimairi District Librarian. The Bishopdale Library had just been built but had not yet opened. While still working out her notice at the university library she had to interview and appoint staff for the new library. She had nine years working for the Waimairi District Council and found, especially after her university experience, that it was a relatively small and innovative organisation to work for. It also gave her the experience of working with politicians. She began to regularly attend council meetings. In this job she was responsible for the Fendalton, Redwood and Bishopdale Libraries and a mobile library.

​Dorothea and LIANZA
Dorothea was a strong supporter of LIANZA and served as the president from 1982-83. She was often a speaker at conferences in the 1980’s and gave one very spirited address to the Local Authorities Division session at the February 1988 conference in defence of free public libraries. 

E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea
I will never be lost, for I am a seed sown in Rangiātea
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Te Wānanga o Raukawa is a tikanga Māori tertiary education provider based in Ōtaki. Hailed at the time as the 'smallest university in the world' Te Wānanga o Raukawa was established by the Raukawa Marae Trustees in 1981 with only two students (ākonga). Now with over 5000 ākonga, more than 70 courses are provided. Two of these are the Heke Puna Maumahara (Diploma in Information Management) and Poutuarongo Puna Maumahara qualification (Bachelor of Māori and Information Management).
The Puna Maumahara programme not only gives students the ability to champion a Māori perspective in the information and library sector but provides them with the tools they need to build expertise and knowledge within the industry.

Over the course of the three-year degree, ākonga develop a sound knowledge of the concept of Māori autonomy in relation to intellectual and cultural property rights. Filling their kete (basket) with the tools to apply preservation techniques and strategies for the care of taonga (treasures). Ākonga come from museums, libraries, archives, or from within iwi, hapū and marae. And it’s not just Māori attending. Maria Collier (Te Rarawa,Ngāti Whātua,Te Aupōuri, Ngāpuhi) kaihautū (manager) of the programme says it is for everyone, but the kaupapa (agenda) is Māori. “We want others to see the world through Māori eyes.”

Raymond Peeti (Te Ātihaunui-a-Paparangi, Nga Paerangi) is a kaiako (tutor) in Te Reo Māori at the wānanga. Originally a student in the He Puna Maumahara qualification, he graduated in 2018 with the undergraduate degree. He joined the programme after helping with the archives and preservation of his hapū’s taonga tuku iho (heirlooms) at his marae, Kaiwhaiki in Whanganui.

“I wanted to develop a robust archival system for my hapū. What he puna maumahara offered was the ability to do the course on my marae. It not only developed me but also my whānau, hapu and iwi, as the guardians of our taonga tuku iho.”

“We did learn the Dewey Decimal Classification System, archival and conservation techniques, but everything we learned we learned through a Māori lens. Our kaiako , Hinureina Mangan,  challenged us to see the Western constructs in museums, libraries, and galleries. She taught us to look deeper and use Māori eyes. “What do you see when you look at a wharenui,” she’d ask us. Some of us would say a house – but she challenged us to see the carvings, and ask who carved them, the tuku tuku panels and the stories they told, the photos and the wealth of knowledge in that whare. Everything came back to mātauranga Māori and who had the knowledge. We discovered how to take care of these taonga. It was ground-breaking stuff.”

Hinureina Mangan and Ani Pahuru-Huriwai were part of the team that designed and set up the programme in the late 1990s. They were both former tumuaki (presidents) of Te Rōpū Whakahau, and integral in forming the Tiriti partnership relationship with the then NZLIA, now LIANZA. Over the years the qualification has been supported by many kaiako who offer their time freely as kaiawhina (helpers) because of their commitment to this mahi (work). They include Vicki-Anne Heikell, Bernard Makoare and many others around the country.
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The theory of Nga Puna Maumahara - Marae-Based Repositories (MBR), comes from Marae-Based Studies (MBS). It supports the idea that "for our long-term survival as a people every marae, every hapū and every iwi must have some of their people taught right at home by people from home" (Mangan N; ARCHIFACTS; 2005, p91).

PUTTING THE TOOLS  BACK INTO THE HANDS OF THE COMMUNITY 
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The Alexander Turnbull Library outreach services team supports the library’s public events programme. The team includes a field conservator, who advises community groups on care of collections, and two oral history advisors. Vicki-Anne Heikell (Te Whānau-a-Apanui) is the field conservator in the team. She talked to Library Life editor Angie Cairncross about her work and how she loves putting the tools of conservation into the hands of the community.

Mai i taumata ō Apanui ki Pōtaka
Ko Whanokao te maunga
Ko Mōtū te awa
Ko Whakaari te puia
Ko Te Whānau-a-Apanui te iwi

Vicki-Anne Heikell grew up in Gisborne/Tairawhiti on the East Coast. As an undergraduate she had a summer job with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust doing desk research at Antrim House before the Māori heritage team went out onto marae. As she was from the East Coast she got to spend a cool and hot summer at Porourangi Marae, Waiomatatini with the team doing practical stuff like removing old paint layers from poupou and cleaning down. She  worked with Cliff Whiting, Jack Fry, Ben Pewhairangi and two conservation students Ben Whiting and Nick Tupara. 

She had specialised in paper conservation and wanted to see what was happening in North America. She visited the U’mista Cultural Centre in British Colombia- to see what they were doing. She met with conservator Miriam Clavir who had previously visited Aotearoa to interview Māori conservators for her book ‘Preserving what is valued’ and visited the Ghetty Museum a few weeks before its opening in December 1997.

“When you’re working with taonga it’s about keeping yourself safe. I’m always guided by the people I’m working with and who’s taonga I’m working on to see what’s appropriate.”

When asked about her feelings on receiving a New Year’s honour earlier this year she said it really made her think about all the wāhine toa of the library and museum sector.

“I want to acknowledge those wāhine toa of the library sector who nutured and challenged us younger ones as we came through. They worked really hard. They supported and cajoled Māori into the sector and encouraged Māori as users of libraries to get organisations and initiatives up and running. These include Miria Simpson,  Ann Reweti,  Haneta Pierce, Hinureina Mangan, Meri Mygind, and my contempories who I continue to work with like Ani Pahuru-Huriwai, Cellia Joe Olsen and Hinerangi Himiona.

“Getting awards like an MNZM - I see this as a potential way of elevating important discussions.”

For more information on Vicki-Anne’s work and conservation resources explore the following:

• Caring for taonga - photographs (natlib.govt.nz)
• Caring for your collections – photographs 
• Caring for your collections - audio-digitisation 
• Caring for your collections – family collections 
• Caring for your collections – te reo Māori 
• Caring for your collections – Samoan 
• A sunrise at mitimiti blog (After Hone Tuwhare) 

Award-winning authors, librarians, a children’s bookseller and reviewer, as well as respected proponents of te reo and te ao Māori, make up the two panels of experts selected to judge entries in the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
 
Educationalist and author Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith, who was a judge in the 2021 awards, will convene the English language panel in 2022. She is joined by acclaimed author Kyle Mewburn, public librarian Laura Caygill, children’s bookseller, reviewer and author Adele Broadbent; and Poutiaki Rauemi/National Manager Māori for Services to Schools at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand, Ruki Tobin. Ruki was on Te Kura Pounamu panel in 2021, and for the 2022 awards brings his deep knowledge of te ao Māori and te reo Māori to both judging panels.
 
The panel judging the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written or translated into te reo Māori for 2022 is convened once again by Anahera Morehu, Tumuaki Tuākana/Immediate Past President of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA). Alongside her is communications specialist Te Amohaere Morehu; Online Content Service and Rauemi Developer – Te Ao Māori at the National Library Horowaitai Roberts-Tuahine; and Ruki Tobin. Te Kura Pounamu panel is appointed by Te Rōpū Whakahau, the national body representing Māori within the library and information profession.
 
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) will become the naming sponsor of the prize for the best first book at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
 
Submissions for the 2022 awards are now open to books published between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. The first deadline, for books published up to 30 November 2021, is Tuesday 14 December 2021. More details about how to enter can be found here.
 
Category finalists will be announced on 2 June 2022 and the awards ceremony is due to be held in Wellington in the first part of August 2022, preceded by a programme of finalist author events under the Books Alive banner.
 
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are made possible through the generosity, commitment and vision of funders and sponsors Creative New Zealand, HELL Pizza, Wright Family Foundation, LIANZA, NZSA, Wellington City Council and Nielsen Book.

Three new members have been accepted to the LIANZA Standing Committee on Copyright (LSCC). They are Lee Rowe, Bridget Knuckey, and Rose Beasley. LIANZA was delighted with the number of expressions of interest received. The standing committee will now have 10 members, with balance of representatives from across different library sectors.

​Lee Rowe of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology has an interest in the ethical issues around the sharing of human expression and the knowledge that it encompasses. She believes there is a need to balance the rights of creators with the rights to use and share knowledge that benefit society.
She has been working at Toi Ohomai since 2008 where she manages copyright policies and procedures for the team there. This has resulted in her becoming knowledgeable about copyright legislation, copyright licenses, Creative Commons licenses and open access publishing. Lee has increased her understanding of Matāuranga Māori and indigenous knowledge over recent years and helped provide training in this area.

LIANZA members recently voted to pass a new constitution, which comes into effect from April 1, 2022. The association has been working since February 2020 to review its strategic governance leadership and organisational structure. Governance, advisory and organisational changes were been proposed and aim to position the association and its members for the future.
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Two working groups, five in-person regional meetings, and three online member consultations over July-August 2021 and two member surveys contributed to the development of the proposed organisational structure and new constitution.
 
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the review either on a working group, attending a hui or responding online. Thank you also to all members who e-voted over the month prior to the AGM.
 
The draft minutes of the LIANZA 2021 AGM are available to read here and the new constitution is available here .
 
This constitution will be sent to the Registrar of Incorporated Societies prior to it coming into effect on April 1, 2022 and the LIANZA Code of Practice will be updated by early May, 2021.
 
New council roles
Under the new constitution there will be four elected councillors and two appointed councillors on LIANZA Council. The transition plan means that the three regional councillor roles for LIANZA Te Whakakitenga aa Kaimai, LIANZA Ikaroa and LIANZA Murihiku will cease from June 30, 2022.
 
Nominations for the first two elected councillors and one appointed councillor will be sought in early April, with elections closing in early May, 2022. The three regional councillor roles for LIANZA Hikuwai, LIANZA Te Upoko te Ika a Maui, and LIANZA Aoraki cease from June 30, 2023. Nominations for the next two elected councillors and one appointed councillor will be sought in early April, with elections closing in mid-May, 2023.

The Te Rōpū Whakahau Tumuaki will cease to be an officer of the Association from June 30, 2022 and the Te Rōpū Whakahau councillor ceases to be a councillor on that day too. The new constitution requires that one of the two appointed councillors has skills in Tikanga and Mātauranga Māori knowledge and allows for one appointed councillor to be sought from beyond the library and information sector.
 
If you have not checked out the summary of the governance, advisory and operational changes proposed by the review of LIANZA’s strategic leadership governance and organisational structure can be found here.
 
Future incorporation
This governance review has also been conducted to ensure our Association is prepared for the introduction of the new Incorporated Societies Act.  LIANZA is currently incorporated under the Library Act (1939). The new Incorporated Societies Bill has not sought to ‘repeal’ the Library Act (1939), but has made provision for our act to be amended. LIANZA members supported the remit for LIANZA to take legal advice about whether to remain incorporated under the New Zealand Library Association Act 1939 or whether to incorporate under the new Incorporated Societies Act, when it is passed into legislation.