When I joined the LIANZA National Council last year, we set two strategic priorities - Communication and Advocacy. My first year as the Te Upoko o te Ika Councillor has been focussed on the first of these, particularly in getting out into the wider Wellington region to see library and information staff. As an Association, we haven't always done well at communicating all of the activities that we get up to, and yet we do so much. In going out to the region, I wanted to both let people know what we were doing and find out what members wanted us to do on a local level.
Over the first year, I visited the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Whitireia, Paraparaumu, Otaki and Waikanae libraries, as well as a couple of trips across to the Wairarapa to see librarians from across the district. In all my visits, I was heartened by the amount of goodwill that there was, and their interest in what LIANZA was doing.
While on these visits, I talked about having different areas of the region running their own events with LIANZA Te Upoko support. The philosophy of the current regional committee has very much been that we receive a capitation for all of our regional members, and we want them all to have the benefit of that money. There is a lot of knowledge waiting to be shared in the regional communities, and we want to enable that. Partly, this is pragmatic - we are not an association (or a profession) with scads of cash, so we must group together and learn from each other where that knowledge exists. Also, we are largely an association of volunteers, and as such we all have a limited amount of time and energy. In other words, in learning from each other, we make the most of the association that we're part of.
The Wairarapa group has been proactive in making this happen. They approached the regional committee about forming a 'sub-group' based on geography, in recognition of that need to get together as a group and develop professionally. They're now planning a weekend school for the region next year, and looking forward to the opportunity to both bring great speakers into their area, and showcasing all the best things about the Wairarapa to others.
Over the past year, I've seen the Association involved in a huge amount of "business as usual" including Professional Registration, Conference, Library Week, the LIANZA Children's Book Awards, Press Releases, calls for awards and committees (and facilitating those committees), and CPD as well as submissions on copyright, the Super City and National Archives. Then there are the one-off aspects such as the Centenary publication and events, MOUs with affiliated organisations, and the new Website.
Perhaps the biggest lesson for me as part of the National Council, is how much LIANZA manages to do with so little money, but with so much goodwill from those people who put in their time. During the early part of this year, I initiated a proposal to introduce a volunteer award, which I hope will be introduced next year. My hope is that we can recognise this work, and highlight to people that being a volunteer is rewarding personally and professionally.
In the coming year I hope to continue to visit libraries, particularly to talk about LIANZA's new strategic plan. In our more fiscally constrained times, it's essential that we identify what the most important things are for the profession and concentrate on achieving them, rather than spreading our resources too thinly over a large number of areas. I do think it represents a change for the association, but a positive one and a big step forward that I hope we can all embrace.
Best wishes,
Laurinda
Laurinda Thomas ALIANZA, RLIANZA
Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Regional Councillor
