Colonising the library

I've been thinking

That title for this blog post didn’t quite come out as expected but being a kākaho for the Whiria te Tangata project has made me think about a few things.

One of our first learning modules was about Mātauranga Māori and the state of our library when it comes to things like… How well do you know Te Tiriti o Waitangi? Do you even think about it on a daily basis? So you have to ask yourself. Am I engaging with our national document? Am I an embodiment of the perfect citizen of Aotearoa New Zealand? Am I embracing two cultures partnership? Do I even care? Should I care? Does my library reflect this partnership?

As a librarian of Māori descent what does this mean to me? I look around, I see a library institution moulded from European roots. The solid masonry building, the linear rows of books, a traditional scene. Here and there you see where modern society has made its mark. There is coffee, computers, break-out spaces etc. but still essentially European in nature. Here and there a dent made by Māori culture, usually a beautiful artwork or bilingual sign.

I realise libraries are a visible manifestation of colonisation in our country. Nowhere to be seen are the embedded knowledge repositories of iwi. No longer used or appreciated are the information management practices of Māori peoples. I feel a bit sad and a bit left out too.

Te Tōtara — Workforce capability framework

So anyway, I open up Te Tōtara the Workforce capability framework. The first thing that leaps out at me are these words…

• Rangatiratanga

• Kotahitanga

• Whanaungatanga

• Ūkaipōtanga

• Kaitiakitanga

• Manaakitanga

• Pukengatanga

All are words from a Mātauranga Māori knowledge base. These words are at the roots of the framework to guide and inform our daily practice and our librarians' skill set. Not to be the skill but to be the means by which we interpret the skill from our unique Aotearoa New Zealand perspective. A perspective that began to be formed at the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Working towards re-indigenisation of libraries

Yep it needs refining. I’ll admit I don’t totally agree with everything in the framework but at this point I’m smiling. I’m smiling because I see a time where quietly Māori culture begins to colonise the library through the assimilatition of European culture into a Māori way of thinking and of doing things.

I love the thought that practices that came with colonisation could in their turn be colonised. Perhaps in the future, a new type of library will evolve that we can’t even begin to imagine.

That's my thought anyway.