Librarians offer online banking lessons
Taranaki’s librarians are running lessons in online banking to people stumped by the loss of cheques.
From next month, the major banks are phasing out cheques, meaning many people who have not previously used internet banking may need to learn how, South Taranaki District Council Ha¯wera branch librarian Ann-Louise Vonk said.
‘‘People that are not confident in digital banking could get left behind,’’ she said. ‘‘Having digital competency in today’s world is most important.’’
Libraries from South Taranaki District, Stratford and New Plymouth District are using a programme developed by the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa (DIAA), which aims to help everyone participate in the digital world.
The DIAA’s mobile learning centre is travelling around New Zealand giving the sessions but is not coming to Taranaki, so the region’s libraries are holding free sessions instead. In South Taranaki, sessions are being held at all the libraries and will be repeated each week, or two weeks at some libraries, between April and June 30.
Participants can attend as many of the free sessions as they want to, Vonk said.
‘‘The big thing about this is to give people confidence, it’s all about confidence.’’
Devices are provided for people to use and the sessions include information on various aspects of banking online and also how to keep safe from scams.
The sessions are purely informational and the librarians who present them are information specialists not banking specialists, so people will need to visit their bank afterwards to set up their own banking, she said.
Those wanting to attend can contact their local library for times or register through the Stepping Up website.
Puke Ariki has sessions at the Inglewood library on April 16 and May 11, according to its website, while Stratford library has session dates on its Facebook page.