Aucklanders book themselves in for sale

Book lovers on the hunt for a bargain flocked to Central Library in October, for their first book sale in nearly two years.

Central's Senior Librarian Jenny Cutting said she and her team were delighted with the enthusiastic response from customers, as the four day sale saw a flood of extra visitors coming through the library's doors.

"We were so pleased with the sale. Due to a number of factors, like refurbishment of our goods lift and public toilets, and the redevelopment of our children's area, we haven't been able to have a big book sale since November 2013," she said.

"We know this is a very popular event and it was great to see that despite the delay, Aucklanders came out in their droves to support us - and nab themselves some great reading material too."

Over 8,500 items were on offer over the four day period and included a mix of adult fiction, adult non-fiction, musical scores and CDs.

Ms Cutting said sale goods ranged in condition from “used to good or very good”, and each item had been checked for sale worthiness. They were all older or less popular items, had been replaced by updated material or were unneeded duplicates: their sale would make room for new stock to hit library shelves, she added. See Auckland Libraries' collection assessment policy for more information.

"There was nothing in the sale priced over two dollars, so it really was good value for people. We saw lots of customers leaving with heaving backpacks and bags full of books to take home and enjoy. It's great that these items can have a second life," she said.

All funds raised from the sale will be used for special projects at Central Library. The small amount of unsold material will be donated to a local charity, or the library may provide small "free" trolleys at the library in the coming months.

Into the River and Banned Books: a conversation with the Office of Film and Literature Classification

Libraries all over the world will be celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week at the end of September. This is especially topical in New Zealand right now, with the controversy surrounding Kiwi author Ted Dawe's award-winning young adult novel, Into the River.

We sat down with Michelle Baker, Acting Manager of the Information Unit at the Office of Film and Literature Classification, to find out more about Into the River and "banned books" in New Zealand.

Auckland Libraries: What’s the story with Into the River?

Classification Office: Into the River, published in 2012, was the winner of the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award at the 2013 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. Under New Zealand's Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993, books don't have to be classified before they are supplied to the public (in the way that films are). Instead, books are usually classified as a result of a submission from a member of the public, or enforcement action by Police, Customs, or the Department of Internal Affairs.

The organisation Family First made a complaint to the Department of Internal Affairs about the book, and as a result it was submitted to the Classification Office. It was classified using the criteria set out in the legislation, and was classified M (unrestricted, anyone can access it, but it’s more suitable for mature readers).

25,000 Customers APPreciate Libraries app

With 25,000 downloads in the first six months, Auckland Libraries' customers are relishing the new app.

Auckland Libraries Digital Services Manager - Customer Interaction, Barbara Garriock, is pleased with the uptake, developed in response to strong customer demand.

"We are delighted the app has been so popular. We knew there was a growing expectation from customers that they should be able to access our services from a platform on their handheld devices - and according to our app provider, 69 per cent of library customers use mobile apps to access information. So we clearly needed to be in this space.

We also have  a commitment to make access to services and content as easy as possible for all customers.  Providing an app is part of that commitment," she said.

The sweet sound of success at Central Library's music month storytime

A string quartet is more at home performing as part of Central City Library's Thursday Lunchtime concert series events than a children's storytime. But a bright idea from staff saw a regular Saturday programme turned into a celebration of song, story and dance for the central library's youngest customers.

Part of May's New Zealand Music Month festivities, the event was the brain child of Music Library Assistant Owen Gordon. Together with musicians Ainsley Murray, Kate Walshe and Ginny Hopkins who generously loaned their time and skills for free, the quartet incorporated music into every facet of the progamme, including the regular welcome song. They also provided special sound effects to stories The Toymaker and the Violin by Pamela Allen, and Willbee the Bumblebee by Craig Smith, The quartet particularly shone between stories with dance breaks, getting the whole audience on their feet.

Guest post: Ian from Public Libraries News interviews us about Devonport Library

Ian Anstice is a passionate librarian from the North West of England. When he's not at his day job, he's busy running esteemed library website Public Libraries News.

Recently Ian interviewed Auckland Libraries regarding the newly opened Te Pātaka Kōrero o Te Hau Kapua - Devonport Library. He's kindly allowed us to reproduce his Q&A here.












Hi Auckland Libraries!

I come across some marvellous stuff while doing Public Libraries News. Devonport's new library caught my eye, not least because of the specially installed cat flap. Sadly, I'm not able to get to the other side of the world to see the lovely new building myself - would you kindly answer my queries?

Ian Anstice: Where was the funding obtained from the new library and what happened to the old one?

Auckland Libraries: The Devonport Library project was a $7.8 million Auckland Council-funded project. Auckland Council is a largely ratepayer-funded local government organisation. Some elements of the project were funded by supporting organisations, such as Te Rongo Kirkwood’s glass artwork in the foyer and the lights that hang in the Matariki (Pleiades) formation in the library which were funded by the North Shore Libraries Foundation.

The old library was demolished.

IA: Is it normal to have such add extra aesthetics - artworks, lovely ceiling, etc - to a library in Auckland?

AL: Auckland Council is a champion for quality urban design in the Auckland region, it sees good urban design as critical for enabling Auckland to become the world’s most liveable city.

A New Zealand first: Auckland Libraries launches Chinese language Facebook page

Lunar New Year is known as an auspicious time for beginning new endeavours, and it was 19 February 2015, the dawning of the Year of the Ram, that Auckland Libraries chose to launch an exciting new initiative: a Chinese language Facebook page.

Manager Inclusive Service Design Abigael Vogt says with 39 per cent of Aucklanders now born outside of New Zealand, and with a significant Chinese population growing in the city, there is a clear need to connect with Chinese speakers in the social space.

"According to the 2013 census of the 54,000 Aucklanders who don’t speak English, 24,993 of them identify as Chinese. Facebook allows us to work in a language other than English and to be in conversation, reaching Chinese-speaking Aucklanders and beyond," Abigael says.

"Those who engage with us via the Facebook page may not traditionally be able to communicate easily with all staff or share their library experiences with ease. This is one way Chinese-speaking Aucklanders can do this, communicating in their own language and accessing the wide range of Chinese-language services, staff and materials that Auckland Libraries has to offer," she added.

The Facebook page is almost totally written in Mandarin, with three staff, all native Mandarin speakers, managing the page and writing content in simplified Chinese. It has a regionwide approach, sharing events and activities from across Auckland Libraries, as well as highlighting new items in Chinese that have been added to collections, as well as reading recommendations.

Unitec students commemorate fallen soldiers through an interactive history experience

A collaborative multimedia exhibit revealing tales of home-grown war stories has inspired a new reciprocal relationship between Unitec and Auckland Libraries. 

The More than a War: Remembering 1914 – 1918 exhibition was produced during a series of workshops run by Auckland Libraries to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. It included a story of love and loss recreated from love letters from the war years, accounts of women working on the home front and the war efforts put in by Kiwi kids.

Students were encouraged to use a variety of media to tell their stories, including audio-visual production, a digital touchscreen, video looping and blogging.

The exhibition was produced as a labour of love by Unitec Communication programme Leader Dr Sara Donaghy and Libraries Oral Historian Sue Berman.

The project was set as an assignment for the programme’s first- and second-year students, and encouraged them to make their own connections with what was happening in New Zealand during the war - miles away from the battlefields.

Sara says they wanted the series of projects to focus on stories from the home front, teasing out forgotten pieces of history and cultivating cultural responses from her students.

“We wanted to not just create awareness of World War One content, but to also bring a youthful dimension in reimagining and reinterpreting the war in a way that speaks closer to the students and their peers,” says Sara.

Craft and companionship forge closer community connections

As their fingers knit and purl beautiful woollen creations, something else is woven among the men and women who attend Auckland Libraries’ knitting groups – friendship.

As Monica Foster from Orewa Library explains: “We get together to knit, but it’s all about the yarn.”

Knitting clubs warmly welcome all attendees regardless of ability, age, gender or language. 

Monica’s group formed at the end of 2013 as a one-off Christmas decoration project. It quickly blossomed into a regular group that meets every Thursday morning for a cup of tea, a bikkie or two, and several hours of companionship and craft.

For the Orewa knitters, it’s also about charity: they use donated wool to create blankets, jerseys and slippers for Operation Cover Up, an initiative from Mission Without Borders, which sends these items to orphanages and the needy in Eastern Europe.

Although it started off with crafty origins, Monica says it is really all about the people.

“Our group has evolved and is now mostly attended by older women who may be widowed, unwell, lonely or depressed. Our weekly get-togethers are therapeutic - a reason to meet others, share and care, and keep minds (and hands) active,” she says.

More than just buildings: public art in Auckland Libraries

Two brand-new library buildings at Waiheke Island and Ranui are home to the usual things you'd expect to find in a modern library - books, magazines and DVDs for all ages, public-access computers and free wifi. 

But they are also home to unique and beautiful art works created especially for their people.  

Locals gather at dawn around the pou at Waiheke Library.
The pou are named Tikapa (front), Putiki O Kahu (centre) and Piritahi (back).

Opened in July 2014, the new Waiheke Library building features three works of permanent art that evoke the island’s distinct stories and character.

Auckland Libraries' Pou Whakahaere, Service Innovation Māori, Anahera Sadler says two of the artworks were developed in partnership with Ngati Paoa, mana whenua, or traditional owners, of Waiheke Island.

The unique motif that wraps around Waiheke Library is
based on Taratara-ā-Kae, a crescent wave and whale motif.

One of these artworks is called Waiheke Pou Whakara. Created under the direction of head carver Chris Bailey (Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Hako,Te Aupouri, Ngāti Porou), the three pou whenua and a navigation stone command the knoll on the uppermost northern edge of the Artworks precinct in which the library sits at Oneroa.

Also created in conjunction with Ngāti Paoa is the dynamic graphic print that wraps the library building's exterior and interior glass surfaces. Titled Ngaruhora by Lorna Dixon-Rikihana (Ngāti Paoa), it is based on Taratara-ā-Kae, a crescent wave and whale motif.

The third artwork is part of the library itself. The phrase "Lots of rain, lots of sun, lots of wind, lots of day, lots of night" is embedded into the walls of the new library building and took artist Kazu Nakagawa six months to create. The piece is titled Forty Nine Letters and pays tribute to Waiheke's changeable weather, which Nakagawa, as a long-time resident of the island himself, is very familiar with.

Meanwhile, etched into the building’s concrete floor with overlapping calligraphic script are the words 'whenua', 'land', 'hau' and 'wind' to form a lyrical pattern of repeating text. 

Partnering for success: Auckland War Memorial Museum + Auckland Libraries

One of the biggest philosophical dilemmas facing libraries today is: how do we make our heritage collections accessible to the public while also protecting them for future generations? 

Kids are given the chance to directly interact with taonga from
Auckland War Memorial Museum at their local library. 

This problem is also faced by museums, art galleries and myriad other public institutions, and historically the answer has been to err on the side of keeping our taonga under lock and key, rather than placing them in the hands of the people.

However, this could all be changing with the implementation of the collaboration between Auckland Libraries and Auckland War Memorial Museum (AWMM).

As part of Pacific Language Weeks 2013, Auckland Libraries piloted a programme in partnership with the AWMM that saw staff from the museum bringing historic artefacts to libraries to deliver interactive storytimes and workshops on Māori and Pacific arts.

“Focus area 4: Priority- Work in partnership with Pacific people to develop programmes that are culturally relevant” - Te Kauroa.   

After evaluation of the 2013 programme, it was decided to extend the workshops and make them available to all 55 library branches throughout the year. Every library in Auckland was given the opportunity to participate and a toolkit of resources was made available to librarians who were interested in partnering with museum staff to deliver a workshop.

Movie night at Parnell Library spotlights exciting local talent

Parnell manager Laura awards first prize for the
library's movie trailer competition.

Parnell Community Library manager Laura Caygill writes about the successful school holiday movie-making programme her staff ran and the smash-hit movie night they hosted as a result.

It’s 6pm on a Friday night in July. Normally the team at Parnell Library are tidying the shelves and making sure everything’s ready for tomorrow’s patrons. But tonight they’re setting up armchairs, checking equipment and preparing the library for a night of movies, pizza and celebrating the creativity of local kids.

Parnell Library’s Mini Prasad came up with the idea when thinking of ways to promote the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards. Her idea was this: kids could use iPads to make trailers for their favourite finalists in the awards and we, the library, could screen them before playing a movie.

With Hell Pizza generously sponsoring the awards, it seemed a no-brainer.

Mega Matariki storytime offers collective storytelling experience for kids and whanau

Matariki is celebrated every year at Auckland Libraries with a month-long festival of events that also incorporates Te Wiki o Te Reo.

Kids and parents enjoy a mega Matariki storytime
at Otara Library in South Auckland.

This year’s Matariki celebration was something a little bit extra special due to the addition of a new event: a regionwide storytime, where libraries all across the Auckland region read the same story aloud simultaneously.

The story chosen for the mega Matariki storytime was Tāne and the Stars / Tāne me ngā whetū by Ron Bacon, illustrated by Manu Smith, which retells the traditional Maori tale of how Tāne, seeing the night sky so dark, made the stars and scattered them across the sky.

Pou Whakahaere (Māori Advisor) at Auckland Libraries, Anahera Sadler, coordinated the event and says this story was chosen because it includes Māori traditions and the seven stars of Matariki feature in the narrative.

But there’s also a more solemn reason why this particular book was an appropriate choice, she says.

Central City children's area redevelopment has the "wow factor"

A forest has sprouted up in the Central City Library, complete with stream and a friendly taniwha - it’s the magical new children’s area.

The new children's area is located on the ground floor of Central City Library. 

The revamped ground-floor space was developed in direct response to the growing needs of those living in Auckland’s central city. A survey of inner city residents and children in 2013 identified the need for a clean, safe, fun and accessible kids-only space within the CBD. The Central City Library junior area redesign flowed out of this. 

The striking and unique design includes a wooden reading tree in its centre with a hut or pā structure around it, through which children can climb and explore. A forest adorns one wall while the ceiling features a canopy of leaves. Blue twinkling lights symbolise the ancient Waihorotiu Stream, now hidden under Queen Street, while a shelving system in the shape of a friendly taniwha (that includes cushioned reading nooks) wraps around the area, creating a feeling of warmth and inclusion.

Reading with Roo: a tail-wagger of a success story

A special four-pawed member of staff at Otara Library is helping young children boost their reading confidence.

His name is Roo and the retired champion racing greyhound provides a safe, accepting and non-judgemental ear for young people as they practice their reading skills.

Young reader Yasmin with Roo, whose couch potato manner
makes him the perfect dog for the programme.

The project is the brainchild of Senior Children and Youth Librarian Pritcilla Meikle, who was inspired to create a reading dog programme for her library after researching greyhounds as pets for her own family.

"I came up with the idea after researching greyhounds as a breed of dog as our family was looking at adopting one, especially after all the greyhounds we had met were just such calm and laid-back characters – and really good looking too!

"I found that many greyhounds in the UK and the US were not only pets, but also ‘reading dogs’ – helping kids gain confidence in their own literacy skills and creating a positive relationship between communities and local libraries."

As well as their calm, gentle “couch potato” manner, greyhounds also have a low shedding, low-allergy coat, and they are often used as therapy dogs here in New Zealand as well as overseas.

Makerspace pioneers a whole new way of imagining library spaces

Central City Library is hoping to redefine the way we think about library spaces, services and communities with the establishment of its very own Makerspace. 

A 3D-printed Yoda figure atop a robotic car. 

The term “makerspace” is tricky to define – a makerspace can be a workshop, a technology suite or simply a meeting area. It often contains tools of some type, but these can include anything from knitting needles or bandsaws to 3D printers. Others constitute simply a space in which to meet and collaborate.

When the establishment of a makerspace was suggested at Central City Library in 2013, the widespread response was “What’s that?” Even tech-savvy librarians Hamish Lindop, Penny Dugmore and Baruk Jacob, who were asked to spearhead the project, admit they had no idea what they had been tasked with.

"We didn’t know what a makerspace was,” says Digital Outreach Librarian Baruk Jacob. “I’d never heard of it before. But the best way to find out anything is to start asking questions.”

On the list of community groups to talk to and engage with were members of the Tangleball “hackerspace” collective, technology agency Mindhive, mobile app developer App la carte, digital education specialist Mindlab and Vivenda, a 3D printing business. After several weeks of emails, phone calls, head-scratching and spit-balling, a vision for the Central City Makerspace started to materialise and the team decided they wanted this makerspace to be digital.

Youth Gaming Club a huge success for Manukau Library

Big screens, Xboxes and teens whooping it up: it’s not your traditional library vignette but the scene you’ll find every second Sunday afternoon at Manukau Library.

The Youth Gaming Club was immediately
popular

That’s when the Youth Gaming Club meets. This event is the brainchild of Library Assistant Joseph Tarrant who, as a heavy gamer himself, understood gaming was a great way to break the ice with youth and encourage them into the library space.

“I began the event in September last year with the intention to make a time just for teens, where they can relax, enjoy the library and play some games with their friends. The event is informal and held in the Youth section itself. It helps our young people claim the section as their own and it’s awesome to see our youth enjoying themselves in a safe environment,” Joseph said.

The club has proven to be instantly popular, with around 10-15 young people taking part each session. Joseph said he constantly sees new faces each month, including the first girl gamers recently joining the fold. While the number of attendees means there is some wait time for everyone to have a turn, this hasn’t been an issue so far.

“I’ve seen with the youth that have been coming to play that they really enjoy playing in a group, because if they aren’t playing themselves, they can still cheer their mates on,” he said.

Focusing the lens on youth at Auckland Libraries

Getting youth behind the lens and learning about the power of imagery was the aim of Auckland Libraries’ May school holiday photography programme.

Images from Waiheke Library's workshops.

Participating libraries across the city held free workshops for young people aged 11-14 years  in conjunction with the Auckland Festival of Photography.

Libraries Youth Adviser Wendy Dreadon said the sessions had two aims: to teach visual literacy - the ability to read, understand and question the meanings of images, and to teach digital literacy - the ability to use tools and technologies to create, select and evaluate images.

“The focus of the workshops was not so much in teaching young people 'how' to use cameras or other digital devices to capture images - but to offer visual and digital literacy as an experience," she said. "Our young people explored stories, messaging and concepts through imagery, before planning and capturing their own photos.”