LIANZA TE WHAKAKITENGA AA KAIMAI LIBRARY ASSISTANT DAY

Over the years Te Whakakitenga aa Kaimai have offered many successful library assistant days. In September the region’s library assistant day was held at He Puna Manawa, the new temporary library space located in the heart of Tauranga. Library assistants from all over the region gathered for the first inperson networking event since before 2020, coming from as far afield as Ruapehu.

The morning started with a whakatau with Tauranga library staff gathering to welcome visitors with a local waiata. Refreshments after provided attendees with a chance to have a chat before a tour of the library space. This included a behindthe-scenes look into service delivery and collections and a chance to share the stories around the many significant Māori artworks located within the new library space. We then heard from Jessica King about her experience as a master’s student at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University and the opportunities available to study in library and information qualifications.

The lunch break allowed more time to explore the library including the in-built café area.

After lunch, we were truly honored to have several special guests join us for a panel discussion. These included LIANZA president Kim Taunga and president-elect Richy Misilei, LIANZA executive director

Ana Pickering and Lee Rowe, Knowledge and Information Services Manager at Te Pūkenga, Toi Ohomai. It was an incredibly informative and inspirational panel, as each presenter shared the story of their career journey and the bumps they faced along the way. When asked if they had any advice for those wishing to progress their career, Kim talked about the importance of taking up opportunities and giving things a go.

We then broke for refreshments and our icebreaker: social bingo! Guests were tasked with having to hunt down someone with a tattoo, someone with more than two cats, or someone wearing a cardigan, difficult tasks indeed in a room full of librarians!

For our final segment of the day, we heard from Jody Smart on her journey from library assistant to heritage specialist. Jody talked about her experiences through the New Zealand Library Partnership Programme and gave advice to those looking to join the heritage sector including volunteering with local heritage groups and digital upskilling. We then heard from some of the Tauranga Libraries programmes team including Shannon Pawhau (digital specialist), Lauren Jones (children and teens), and Tuoi Spencer (Māori programmes) about what an average day looks like for them, the challenges, and what they love about their roles. Their highlights included being able to dress up, being creative, and of course, getting to create awesome experiences for the community.

We concluded the day with a team Kahoot! This was heaps of fun and quite a challenge, with a team from the Wintec Library taking first place. After handing out prizes we concluded with a karakia.

A huge thank you to all those who attended library assistant’s day and all the people who made the day possible.

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi

Lisa Hayward is the assistant community library leader for Mount Maunganui and the Mobile Library. She is a committee member for LIANZA Te Whakakitenga aa Kaimai. lisa.hayward@tauranga.govt.nz