HISTORY CORNER
RESPONSIVENESS TO MĀORI
Before the 1960s, Māori communities were poorly served by New Zealand’s libraries. The New Zealand Library Association (NZLA) set out to change this in 1962, with the formation of a Māori Library Services Committee.
Working with the Māori Education Foundation at the Department of Māori Affairs, the aim of this committee was to encourage Māori to use public libraries more often, and to consider librarianship as a career. They identified a series of barriers to entry for Māori library patrons and set out to try and remove those barriers.
The committee’s biggest achievement was the creation and distribution of a pamphlet titled The Public Library is for everyone in the community. Written entirely in English, the black-and-white illustrated pamphlet was distributed nationwide and proved to be hugely popular. Another achievement for the committee was the introduction of a bursary for Māori students to study at the New Zealand Library School in Wellington. The Māori Library Services Committee went into recess in 1967.
Although the committee was short-lived, this early attempt at inclusivity sparked a more conscious drive within the library profession to do better for Māori patrons. Renewed focus on the Treaty of Waitangi and revitalising te reo Māori in the 1970s and 1980s caused the library sector to rethink our roles through a bicultural lens.
Throughout the ‘90s, the NZLA worked to proudly and publicly embrace te ao Māori and honour Te Tiriti. In 1991, the N-strategy Steering Group commissioned the ‘Te Ara Tika - Guiding Voices’ project, to investigate progressing biculturalism in the library and information sector.
Several major changes, including rewriting LIANZA’S constitution, incorporating the treaty in the association’s mission statement, and changing the association’s name, took place over the decade.
In 1992, the first Te Rōpū Whakahau national hui was held. Te Rōpū Whakahau set out to provide professional and cultural support to Māori working in libraries, and a voice for Māori to inform policies and practices relating to library and information services. After becoming an incorporated society, Te Rōpū Whakahau signed a formal partnership agreement with LIANZA in 1995.