LIANZA

IT SEEMS AS IF WAYNE BROWN DOESN’T KNOW WHAT A LIBRARY IS!

This opinion piece written by Anne Goulding originally appeared in Newsroom on March 19. It has been reprinted here with permission.

The Auckland Mayor’s comments belittle the skills, expertise and commitment of library staff and undermine the library profession more generally. Volunteer-run libraries for Auckland have been proposed by Mayor Wayne Brown as a cost-cutting measure that could help the council address the spiralling costs of the City Rail Link project and recovery from weather-related damage.

Volunteers play a vital role in communities and have been used in libraries for years to extend services and to connect with hard-to-reach groups. But they are not a substitute for trained and qualified librarians and library assistants.

Brown’s comments highlight a lack of understanding of the extent of library staff responsibilities and the role libraries play within communities. In an interview on RNZ’S Morning Report he focused solely on the borrowing of physical books, noting the decline in books issued and young people “taking their stuff digitally”.

He seemed unaware of the vast collections of e-books and e-resources that public libraries make available for viewing and borrowing, not to mention the programmes, events and support Auckland’s librarians provide to individuals, groups, and communities within the city.

The move from a transactional model of public library service focused on the issuing of physical, printed books to a programmatic model supporting creativity, inspiration and connection seems to have passed him by. These developments are far more demanding of staff time and expertise, and it is doubtful that they could be maintained by volunteers.

A quick glance at Auckland City Libraries website shows the breadth of libraries’ services and facilities focused on learning, knowledge, information, and community building, all of which contribute to the wellbeing of individuals and the city. None of these run themselves, and though volunteers provide invaluable help in libraries, lessons from overseas tell us that volunteer-run libraries often have trouble finding enough volunteers or funding to maintain services, especially in lessaffluent communities.

In the UK, where more than 780 libraries have closed since 2010 with the loss of 10,000 staff, the number of volunteer-run (or “community-managed”) libraries has increased as local councils look to divest themselves of the responsibility and cost of running libraries. Although there have been success stories with opening hours and usage increasing in some cases, very often services have declined with huge variability in the quality of provision and unresolved questions about accountability, liability, and longterm viability.

A recent report I was involved with evidenced how libraries are essential social infrastructure in our communities, true “Palaces for the People” as described by the sociologist Eric Klinenberg. Open to all, libraries provide the resources that can help communities recover and adapt to changes brought by Covid-19, providing space for interaction, connection and support and helping address the isolation experienced by many in a progressively asocial society.

Within libraries, trained staff are essential to connect people to the information, materials and support they need for their learning, leisure, and wellbeing and to help them navigate our increasingly complex information and digital eco-system. Brown’s comments belittle the skills, expertise and commitment of library staff and undermine the library profession more generally.

Brown’s interview also included dangerous talk about “nice to haves” although he did not explicitly include libraries in this category. Library spaces that are free, open and accessible to all are not just “nice to have” but meet a range of important community needs, supported by dedicated and skilled library staff. Besides, “nice to haves” are often the things that attract people to cities and encourage people to spend time (and money) in places away from their homes.

There was one point made by Brown during the interview that I do agree with. He suggested that central government should be directly funding more of the services and programmes provided by local councils.

Public libraries and their staff have expanded services in response to social, political, and technological developments, often the result of government policy and actions. They have become, for example, the goto place for help with digital government services and technology skills support.

Although central government has provided funding for some initiatives, including staff digital skills training, these programmes are invariably one-offs and the prospect of long-term, sustainable funding is unlikely. Libraries’ and librarians’ expanding roles will not be resourced effectively by shortterm grants.

Ultimately, it is not a question of whether public libraries employ trained and qualified staff or use volunteers. Libraries need both. There is no doubt volunteers add enormous value to public library services. They undertake work that library staff would be hard pressed to do – given their other duties and the minimal staffing levels many libraries operate on – and they build important links within communities. They are a welcome and invaluable supplement to a trained, skilled workforce – not an alternative. is Professor of Library and Information Management in the School of nformation Management at Victoria University of Wellington.

Mary Ronnie QSO was an astute and capable leader in the library world.

Active in the profession, she started work at Dunedin Public Library when she was fifteen years old and became the Dunedin City Librarian in the 1960s, later Auckland City Librarian, the first woman to be a National Librarian (1976-1981), she later taught at Monash University in the Graduate Department of Librarianship, Archives and Records from 1989 to 1992. In her retirement Mary was an active LIANZA Murihiku committee member and writer.

Mary was a New Zealand Library Association (now LIANZA) president from 1973 to 1974. She wrote the Dunedin Public Library centenary publication in 2008 ‘Freedom to Read’ in her 80s for which she received the John Harris Award. Mary became a

LIANZA Fellow in 1975 and was made an Honorary Life Member in 1986 in recognition of her distinguished service to the association.

Mary was a crusader for libraries, believing they needed to be made more attractive to all sectors of the community and she had no time for the librarian who hid behind a desk and piles of books.

She used these words on the centenary of LIANZA in 2010 using a comment from her presidential address in 1974: “It seemed clear then, and still does, that “unless the librarian is accepted as an authoritative professional figure, freedom to act will be restricted to the most trivial matters rather than extended to areas where knowledge and experience have outlet”.

And a word of warning from a Luddite – don’t get too firmly behind a computer screen or your muscles might atrophy. People are better understood when visible and audible. Energy is still essential.”

Mary Ronnie will be remembered as a pioneer in the library world.

Allison Dobbie read a eulogy at Mary’s funeral service on March 24 (which can be read in full here). In it she commented that Mary, “implemented clear succession plans for the future. She had a clear vision and a powerful ability to communicate and persuade. Town clerks and councillors were in awe of her and thought her formidable. She was mischievous and canny, and irreverent when necessary. At her farewell before leaving to take up the role of National Librarian, she said of the public

service ‘there is only one rule, and that is don’t read the rule book.’ A practice I have tried to follow but largely failed.

I wanted to paint the picture of these strong characteristics of her leadership that I experienced at Dunedin Public Library because they are evident throughout her career. Along with dedication – total dedication and love for the role and the people she worked with.”

Rachel Van Riel, Director of Opening the Book UK, sent this tribute about Mary.

“Mary was my friend, my cousin and my inspiration. I knew her from childhood as my mother's cousin. When I made a career working with libraries, I connected with Mary on a whole new level.

Everything I was trying to change; she saw it too – the great strengths of libraries and some of their weaknesses as well. If I could be transported back to another library age, it would be to Mary Ronnie and Archie Dunningham in Dunedin Public Library in 1946. They threw out Dewey, created browsing collections and put the readers first. Her tales of politicking at the National Library were hilarious too but it was that unmatched idealism of creating the best in post-war Dunedin that I never forgot.

Mary was always open to new ideas. In 1999, I was running a three-year project with 33 library services across England and Mary, already in her seventies, asked if she could join in. She took the train to a workshop from where she was staying in London, participated in all the group work and charmed the UK librarians with her tales of libraries past and present. In 2006, I returned the courtesy when I made my first visit to New Zealand, staying with Mary in Dunedin, giving a workshop in the Dunningham Room at the library and visiting libraries as well as family-related spots. Over the next years, whenever she was in the UK or I was in NZ, we visited libraries together and discussed them - I remember moving bookcases and furniture on a visit to Port Chalmers! Some of my best library conversations late into the night were with Mary - she could out-talk and out-drink anyone! Her open values, commitment to the highest standards, wit and grace made her a wonderful representative of the library profession across the world. I feel honoured to have known her. "

PITOPITO KŌRERO

en-nz

2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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