Hints of a double rainbow from the 4th floor roof terrace at Tūranga. Getting all the weather today, Ōtautahi. ^MT pic.twitter.com/Di0FdcPdnW
— Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi (@ChristchurchLib) July 2, 2020
The Children's Holocaust Memorial being set up in Tūranga yesterday. This poignant display of 1.5 million buttons representing the children who died in the Holocaust will be opening shortly. Ky wrote about visiting the Memorial when it was in Wellington https://t.co/Lkfs4U3BIxpic.twitter.com/92peBv7rg2
— Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi (@ChristchurchLib) July 21, 2020
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If you are interested in how we derive our rankings, we measure page views on our website, organic reach for Facebook posts, reach for Instagram posts, and impressions for tweets.
Va is the space between, the betweenness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things. (Albert Wendt, a Samoan poet and writer who lives in New Zealand, retrieved from nzpec)
When I applied this profound concept, a lot of things shared at the LIANZA Conference 2019, held under the theme of ‘Our families, our communities, our libraries’, suddenly all made sense to me. “We’re LIANZA” – the conference began with a passionate cry of LIANZA president Rachel Esson. Behind her was a map of New Zealand and Pacific Islands. When seen from Va perspective, the oceans become thoroughfares connecting countries, instead of something that divides them. In a smaller scale, Va connects families with communities, and communities with libraries.
LIANZA president Rachel Esson
I could not help thinking this holistic approach of Pasifika is something that reinforces what we do in the libraries, and whether libraries can stay relevant in the future hinges on this. It was interesting to hear the keynote speech by Dr Monique Faleafa from Le Va, sharing the success of Auntie Dee – a free online tool for anyone who needs some help working through a problem, which was specifically designed for Pasifika youths. However, it turned out that the online tool was used more by non-Pasifika people, implying that there is a potential in adopting the holistic values in the libraries.
The topics presented at the conference echoed with the concept of Va, from which I identified three emerging themes:
Co-design
Diversity
Dialogue
Each of the theme is integral to each other and I’d like to share my thoughts on them.
Co-design
Mark Buntzen’s statement “It’s not about buy-in, it’s all-in” expresses the idea of co-design well. He facilitated co-design workshops at Christchurch City Libraries recently which brought lots of disruptions, in a good sense. My take on the whole idea of co-design is that it’s about flipping the conventional thinking of ‘libraries exist for the community’ to ‘libraries exist in the community’. In other words, we do not exist without the community – libraries are communities, and communities are libraries. If so, why are we not talking to them and finding out what they would like to see in the libraries, rather than providing what we think they want.
Hamilton City Libraries’ success with their ‘Kit’ collection was one excellent example of libraries evolving based on the changing needs of the community. The Kit collection includes, but not limited to, sewing machine, electric guitar, impact driver, telescope, coding robots etc. They have become their second highest turnover and highest performing pay collection.
Nelson Seed Library is another good example of library finding its place in the community, by accommodating the community resources within Nelson Public Libraries, which became the first of such initiatives. A mantra of ‘that’s what we have always done’ will put us in danger of being left behind by our communities.
Diversity
Our community is diverse. To embrace them, we have to be inclusive. The term diversity is often discussed around different races or cultures. At least for me, that was the case. The conference went beyond that. Rhion Munro in his Trans*and Gender Diversity 101 session taught the audience all the different terms used to describe LGBTIQ community. It was profound to learn the revered position held by Takatāpui within both the takatāpui community and wider Māori community as holders and transmitters of ancestral knowledge. Auckland Libraries have well-established LGBTIQ community among the staff, who are proactive in increasing the awareness and promoting related events.
South Taranaki Libraries are leading the way by organising Rainbow Storytime despite criticism. Cath Sheard, the Libraries and Cultural Services Manager, shared how the event helped her and the library team to go back to their whys – which was to provide a safe and welcoming space for people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and walks of life; to provide all who come through our doors without prejudice, free access to information and help, and a warm welcome.
Age diversity is another hot topic for me at the conference. I’m so proud of our own Steffi Marshall sharing about Gen Connect, a unique programme for a unique community at Upper Riccarton Library. More than half of the students at Riccarton High School are not New Zealand-born, suggesting that the majority of them do not live close to their grandparents. The programme presents them an opportunity to develop their empathy and connect with senior citizens, who are also feeling isolated. Recently the programme has been rolled out to another library.
Dialogue
Everything starts with dialogue. Talanoa is a Tongan/Samoan/Fijian translation of dialogue, and is considered a precursor to establishing effective and ongoing reciprocal relationships. Vaoiva Matagi from Manukau Institute of Technology shared how she and her staff used Talanoa to make Pasifika youth library users feel comfortable, so that they can approach staff and make enquiries.
Without that relationship, the youth customers would feel ‘out of their comfort zone’, as asking questions to a stranger is equal to admitting they are not smart enough. So they would avoid the interaction as much as possible by, for example, Googling their questions first. To overcome this, the staff embraced the concept of Teu le Vā – cherishing for the Vā, the relationships. Library staff are no longer strangers as they got to know the customers better by talking to them casually and maintaining the relationship.
“We can only travel at the speed of trust”, a quote shared by Dr Monique Faleafa resonates powerfully here – the speed of our improvement in library services is in proportion to the level of community engagement.
We all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and the same applies to our fellow human beings. The theme of dialogue was also incorporated in the conference through the Human Library. Participants can ‘check out’ a book for 20 minutes. The book I borrowed was titled A Colourful Life, and I was totally immersed in the richness of his life stories through dialogue. Read the full report.
Kia ora. Here’s our summary of the webpages, blog and social media posts that were popular from January to March 2019.
Website pages
There were 987,474 page views from January to March. The bracketed listing indicates the place the page held in the last set of statistics. The most popular pages on christchurchcitylibraries.com:
Follow us on Twitter. As at 1 May, we have 5110 followers.
We have lots of children from the climate change protest here in Tūranga. They – and all other customers – are being well looked after by staff. There are storytimes taking place, people playing video games, reading, and some watching Shrek. ^DR pic.twitter.com/Aswrbpz0bj
— Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi (@ChristchurchLib) March 15, 2019
If you are interested in how we derive our rankings, we measure page views on our website, organic reach for Facebook posts, reach for Instagram posts, and impressions for tweets.
There were 109,564 views in December on Flickr. It now has a total of 8,817,963 views.
Top on Twitter
Follow us on Twitter. As at 8 January, we have 5028 followers.
#ChristchurchAdventCalendar 24 Christmas images from the #DiscoveryWall. Sunday 9 Dec: @whatnownz Christmas, 24 December 1989. Simon Barnett, @MicheleACourt and Catherine McPherson. Christchurch Star archive. In copyright. CCL-StarP-01642A.
We have a position for a Community Learning Librarian open at South Library. Applications close Sunday, 6 Jan. #libraryjobs ^MT
The Best of 2018 – librarians pick their faves of the year. #lovelibraries #bestbooks ^DR
— Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi (@ChristchurchLib) December 4, 2018
Facebook favourites
Like us on Facebook. As at 8 January, we have 9027 likes.
#ChristchurchAdventCalendar 24 Christmas images from the #DiscoveryWall. Tuesday 13 December: Mark Nicholl with Christmas tree, 13 December 1980. A child, Mark Nicholl, on his bicycle carrying a Christmas tree in Sydenham. Christchurch Star Archive. In copyright. CCL-StarP-02309A.
All these things and more! ^Moata
#ChristchurchAdventCalendar 24 Christmas images from the #DiscoveryWall. Sunday 9 December: What Now Christmas, 24 December 1989. The presenters of What Now, Simon Barnett, Michele A’Court and Catherine McPherson getting ready for Christmas morning show by decorating a Christmas tree. Christchurch Star archive. In copyright. CCL-StarP-01642A.
“It is my first time to see Korean books in a library!” an elated Donggi Jun said when he saw shelves of books in his native Korean. Find out more about the World Languages Collection at Tūranga – it includes books & magazines in 13 languages.
If you are interested in how we derive our rankings, we measure page views on our website, organic reach for Facebook posts, and impressions for tweets.
Join the Library has become more popular in the last few months and more Tūranga pages are in the top 50 – meeting rooms and bookable spaces, café, transport, and floor by floor.
November’s popular blog posts
Popular blog posts published in November on the website:
There were 147,719 views in November on Flickr. It now has a total of 8,708,399 views.
Top on Twitter
Follow us on Twitter. As at 8 January, we have 5028 followers.
DiveDapper is the PoetryWorld equivalent of Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Comedians in cars getting coffee’ but at DiveDapper you hear 2 poets on top of their game. A good reason to go to @KavehAkbar in Chch Tues 6 Nov @WORDChCh & at @tweetlitcrawl. ^DR
I’ve picked my fave New Zealand book covers of 2018.
Xoe Hall – @TayiTibble Poūkahangatus
Kerry Ann Lee – @Helen__Heath Are Friends Electric? @VUPBooks
and Go GIrl / Oh Boy @PenguinBooks_NZ
All this & more FAB covers: ^DR
Did you know @rhysiedarby had written a kids’ book? Kim asked him about the book, cryptozoology, and the time he was a jelly at the Christchurch Christmas parade (!?). ^MT
DiveDapper is the PoetryWorld equivalent of Jerry Seinfeld's 'Comedians in cars getting coffee' but at DiveDapper you hear 2 poets on top of their game. https://t.co/YeNwTbNVsE A good reason to go to @KavehAkbar in Chch Tues 6 Nov @WORDChCh & at @tweetlitcrawl. ^DR pic.twitter.com/oEvPSAH4Ok
— Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi (@ChristchurchLib) November 1, 2018
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The Ballantynes’ Fire took place 71 years ago today. 41 people died, and the city mourned. ^Donna
The Audio Video Studio / Taupuni Oro/Ataata is now available for bookings! Open session times, when you can visit and try things out, are also available. See our website for more details. ^Moata
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of November in 1918, the First World War – ‘The War to End All Wars’ – ended; this day is known as Armistice Day. Today is the 100th anniversary of the Armistice. ^Donna
If you are interested in how we derive our rankings, we measure page views on our website, organic reach for Facebook posts, and impressions for tweets.
Christchurch City Libraries Bibliofile 