Last Tuesday we had our third visit from Riccarton High School’s Pacific Studies students. They are researching a range of topics relating to the Pacific region for their NCEA assessments at Level 1, 2 and 3 under the guidance of the teacher, Angela Bland.
The students come up with the topics themselves, and they are often very well thought out and interesting. They bring with them a wealth of cultural knowledge, which when enhanced with what they discover in the collections, can result in powerful learning outcomes. We hope some of them might come and study at UC, and be our future Pacific scholars! See the October issue of Chronicle for more.
Remediation of the MB side of the warehouse is beginning on 26 June and will continue until about the end of August. The purpose of this is to improve insulation and therefore improve environmental conditions for the collections so we are very pleased that this is happening.
The work involves installing ceiling lining and filling gaps and cracks in the walls . It is being managed by Gary Busch from FM and the contractors are Hush interiors. They will mainly access the building from the emergency exit that opens on to the contractors’ carpark during the day, but will enter through the main entrance in the mornings. The usual rules around security will be in place – you should not let people in to the building if you don’t know who they are or whether they are authorised to enter. It is up to the contractors to liaise with FM to ensure their staff have access as needed so if there are any problems so please should check with security if you’re unsure.
Also during this time there will be limited access to some MB collections including archives, newspapers, Māori Land Court minute books (except for South Island) and some special collections. I have sent a message to the Library Liaison officers to inform academic departments.
“Baby and I have finally left the hospital just over a week after we were admitted. So glad to be home, although its still a way to recovery for this mama bear. Other than that, she is a delightful wee poppet, and her big sister is adapting well although is still quite possessive of Ricky!
Here’s some pics of baby, she finally has a name.
Presenting Te Wehengarua Rangimaria Winitana.
Te Wehengarua is one of the original names for what is now known as the Matariki Māori New Year. It is the period just as the old year concludes and the new solstice or year is due.”
I thought I’d share the happy news from Waitangi that I received last night:
“Just had baby this arvo 🙂 No name yet. 7.10oz, 56cms. Bubs is doing real well. I’m in recovery but sooo stoked”
Awww! The MB team are also pretty stoked to welcome another baby to the world as apparently there has been one born to a MB team member every year for the past decade.
We hosted our second visit for the year for 15 Pacific Studies students from Riccarton High School. They came to work on NCEA assessments on various self chosen research questions which we helped them find resources for. There were a wide variety of topics, from the Fijian coup, to the dawn raids to making Te Reo and Samoan language compulsory in schools.
The MB team always do a great job of pulling a wide range of resources together, and this year we were also joined by Dave C who did some of the research and helped students on the day (thanks Dave).
The students are always a pleasure to host. They seemed very comfortable visiting MB and were very engaged with their topics so we’ll look forward to welcoming them back in August for their third visit.
As many of you will know, Waitangi will soon be leaving us temporarily as her new baby will be arriving. Her last day will be 26 May and she will return to work on 4 September 2017.
Due to the relatively short period of time of her leave, and the specialist skills required for this mahi, we will not be recruiting for a full time replacement during that time. Matua Nekerangi has kindly agreed to pick up the specialist student support mahi, particularly for the Hoaka Pounamu programme. Fiona, Kathryn and Kim will be able to provide additional reference support and Kaitiakitanga for the Māori collections at Education Library.
Athough we will not be able to cover all of the mahi that Waitangi would normally do, it is hoped that these arrangements will lessen any impact on students and staff. Please feel free to contact me in the first instance if you’re not sure who to pass something on to.
Thanks to everyone who has agreed to provide support during this time. We are excited to be awaiting the arrival of yet another library baby!
The MB lift is currently out of action. This means there will be no disabled access to MB library until it is fixed. I’ll advise ASAP when this is done.
Unfortunately we had an incident whereby two students were stuck in the lift. They were able to call security on their mobile phones and were released after 30 minutes.
MB Library and the Library Warehouse will be fumigated after we close on Thursday 13 April for the Easter break. We will need to open up the drawers of the architectural drawings cabinets so please take care when re-entering the building after Easter as these could be a trip hazard. MB staff will come over to close the drawers as soon as we can.
There’s a leak in the MB side of the warehouse. A small amount of water is leaking down the internal wall opposite compactor A40 and the interior wall lining has absorbed alot of water and is bulging. I’ve put in a BEIMS but I imagine they won’t look at it until the rain clears.
At this point it’s not threatening collections but we’ll keep an eye on it.
I am delighted to announce that Lyn Gifford has accepted the fixed term role of Research Services Librarian at Macmillan Brown Library. Lyn currently works for Christchurch City Libraries and we have made an arrangement to have her seconded to the role four days per week, while remaining in her CCL role on Fridays. This arrangement will be until the end of December 2017, after which Caroline Syddall will return to the role. Lyn has many years extensive experience working with New Zealand resources in the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre (having trained many of the current MB team who have worked there in the past!).
This is an excellent opportunity for collaboration and information sharing with our colleagues from CCL and I’d like to thank Anne for arranging this with CCL Manager, Carolyn Robertson who has been very willing to help us out.
