4 minute read
Chair's Overview
RETURNING CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND REP
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RETIRING UPPER SOUTH ISLAND
Lisa Peterson Christchurch City Libraries
OPERATIONS TEAM
Hilary Beaton, CAE Executive Director
Alan Collins Virtual Finance Tania DeJonge Virtual Assistant Paul Andrews Data Analyst Fiona Brooks Projects Coordinator
CHAIR'S OVERVIEW
It’s an honour to present Public Libraries of New Zealand’s (PLNZ) Annual Report for 2021-22.
2021-2022 has once again been a turbulent year dominated by Covid-19 and its aftermath including the national anti-vax rallies which unfortunately divided our communities.
Also, the motu has experienced supply chain issues, a tough labour market, fatigue from our front-facing staff and economic pressures. Consequently, many Councils are undergoing budget forecasts to accommodate the financial pain points and rate increases which may impact library services going forward. On top of this, we experienced national and international weather events and ongoing conflict in Ukraine. What a year!
OUR CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
In our professional environment, we officially farewelled NZLPP as the funding expired. Some libraries have been fortunate to retain secondees whilst others have returned to their normal workforce capabilities. Some of the strategic partnership grants have been extended including the grant to Taituarā and PLNZ. We trust you have been able to distribute the community survey across your district as the results will enable you to calculate how your library services contribute to your community’s wellbeings. Another continuing grant is the SLANZA/LIANZA grants to aid a qualification uplift across the library and information sector. The current round closes soon.
Even though NZLPP has officially concluded PLNZ is keen to continue to build on our strategic partnerships and work collaboratively across sectors. This includes our relationships with Local Government New Zealand (via the Library Policy Advisor, Marion Read), Taituarā, National Library and LIANZA. We continue to have regular hui with these organisations to focus on future directions and to act as a unified clear voice.
OUR CELEBRATIONS
PLNZ celebrated the collective gains we made this year including the tsunami of public libraries that are now Fine Free and the launch of the Fine Free website and Toolkit in May 2022. The Fines Free Campaign was a huge achievement, and we are anticipating many more libraries across our motu will succeed on their journey to becoming Fine Free by July 2023.
Also, several new library buildings/community hubs have been or are under construction and we look forward to openings over the next 12 months. This includes Hornby Library, Pool and Community Centre (Christchurch, Gore District Library and Blenheim Library and Art Gallery, to name a few.
The 2022 PLNZ Forum was once again a success, being oversubscribed, it included a strong line-up of presenters and a chance for public library managers to reconnect face to face after so long. Thanks to the Christchurch City Library and Te Ara Atea teams for hosting us and making us feel welcome over the two days.
Finally, PLNZ were agile and offered a range of online professional development opportunities including Taking Care of Business zoom forums as issues impacted our sector. These were extremely popular and often connected library managers and library staff working remotely or facing new opportunities to share and air concerns. I wish to thank the library managers who lead these Forums and share their expertise. Watch out for the data workshops across the motu in early 2023 featuring LibPAS and using your data to tell your story.
PEOPLE
I wish to farewell PLNZ Executive committee member, Sue Fargher, who has been acting in the role of the Central North Island Region Rep. Sue is well known across the library community and, we thank her for her input and energy and wish her all the best for her retirement. I would like to welcome our returning Board members, Chris Hay from Christchurch City Libraries representing the Upper South Island and Lois Haddon from HB Williams Memorial Library, Gisborne representing Central North Island. Welcome back! I will stay on as PLNZ Chair until mid-2023 (then Rob Baigent will take up the reigns) and Judy Ryder has agreed to a second term as Treasurer
It has been a challenging year. I wish to thank my colleagues across the motu and especially those, on the PLNZ Executive Committee, the Fine Free Aotearoa Committee and Brilliant Data Working Group for their continued focussed mahi. Also, thanks to the PLNZ Team ably led by Executive Director, Hilary Beaton.
SUMMARY
I look forward to the next year as we continue our efforts to help shape and strengthen the public library sector and to deliver programmes and services that support and provide value to our members and across our communities.
