LIANZA Centennial Conference

At the Edge -- Te Matakāheru
LIANZA Centennial Conference
28 Nov – 1 Dec 2010
Dunedin, New Zealand

 The Conference Programme, the Conference Registration Brochure, and the online registration form are available on the Conference website – http://www.conference.co.nz/index.cfm/Lianza10 or at http://lianza.org.nz/ (click on the Conference logo).

The Centennial Conference theme is ‘At the Edge - Te Matakāheru’. This allows us the freedom to celebrate the many aspects of librarianship including history, innovation, space, integration and people. Matakāheru is the face of a Maori digging tool and the term is used figuratively in much the same way as the English ‘cutting edge’, particularly in relation to knowledge.

One hundred years ago the Libraries Association of New Zealand was formed. The Centennial Conference celebrates both our history and looks forward to the profession forever being at the [cutting] edge of the developing information landscape.
 
I have copied the above information from advertising for the LIANZA Centennial Conference but I did want to add a personal note.   I was a member of the Otago-Southland Branch of LIANZA (or NZLA as it was then), in the 1970s and 80s. Through that membership I became familiar with people such as Ada Fache, Dorothy Ballantyne, Mary Ronnie and Jock McEldowney.   All of them contributed so much to librarianship in Dunedin and in New Zealand.  I gave my first ever conference presentation at a LIANZA conference in Dunedin - on collecting posters in libraries.  My focus was of course on the Hocken Library collection which is where I was working at that time.  Michael Hitchings, who died earlier this year, was so encouraging and supportive of my efforts.  This paper was later published in New Zealand Libraries. 
 
 I am sure the Centennial Conference will be a superb event for everyone.

LIBRARY WEEK 2009

A young information trade professional! But it did get your attention... LIBRARY WEEK 2009 runs from 10th to the 16th August in New Zealand.
The theme this year is ESCAPE, EXPLORE, DISCOVER Ki te whai ao, ki te ao marama. ESCAPE from your office - EXPLORE this blog and some of the international trade libraries and information services that have been featured. and DISCOVER all the information that is available through these services for the trade professional.

If you are interested in Library Week and what happens go to:
www.libraryweek.org.nz But here are some ideas youcould try in your organisation:

1. Run a quiz based on your catalogue (with prizes of course - fair trade products for example)
2. Suggest some useful YouTube links for your colleagues
3. Get your colleagues to nominate their best international trade book giving 5 reasons. Make these into a short bibliography for everyone in the export section.

Enjoy Library Week 2009!

LIANZA meeting at the New Zealand School of Export

18 members of the Ikaroa Region ventured out to Aokautere Park on the evening of Tuesday 19 August, 2008 to visit and hear about the Library & Information Service (ELIS) run by the New Zealand School of Export.

The Director of the School Dr Rom Rudzki enthusiastically shared his story and the story of the School. This fitted the Library Week theme for 2008 What's Your Story Nou te Korero admirably. The Head of Marketing, Alison Vickers outlined the marketing efforts being made by the School to get exporters for the Diploma course and also delighted librarians with her prizes!

I finished the evening by talking about ELIS and the usefulness of my attendance at VALA 2008 (sponsored by Hydestor through the Ikaroa Region) - where I learned about the 23 things and came back with 50+ things to do!

As a result of the meeting and sharing between friends and colleagues, I now have a quick way to check all my website links using a Firefox add-on (Googled 'link evaluator firefox), and have added a Site Meter (www.sitemeter.com/) to this blog. Thanks to Barbara and Judi.

And thanks for organising it: Jane, Rom and Alison.

Graeme