Kia ora koutou

It’s so great to be back fulltime again now after my extended absence of late for health reasons.  On which note, I’m really delighted to report I have the all-clear for both breast and skin cancer, and no further treatment is required.  Needless to say, celebrations and gratitude have been the order of the day! And this extends to you all, for your wonderful collegial support, well-wishes and willingness to take care of lots of pieces of work on my behalf, as I went through this journey.

Since coming back, I’ve been focussed on getting up to speed again, noting some constraints now in place for our budget.  This means we need to re-scope some of our planned activities and initiatives for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, in particular the implementation of our Library Review priority recommendations.  I’m working with Library Managers to put some shape around this, and to identify together what *is* possible. It’s also great we have Dale in post and well underway with our Strategy and Vision work, to give us a framework and mandate for our future.

We’re seeing illness (Covid and flu in particular) cut a swathe through our teams just now, so I urge you all to take care and rest up as possible while winter does its wretched thing.

On a brighter note, I’m aware there have been some great training & development opportunities take place, or about to take place, for many in our teams.  I’m looking forward to share-backs and learning more about these experiences in due course!

For now, happy and safe weekend all,

Kat