New Zealand has a reputation as a remote, quiet kind of place: cute, quaint, it’s a country that keeps comedy gumboots in its national museum and gently mocks itself in shows like Flight of the Conchords.
But Kiwi librarians are showing the world what a 21st century library service should look like - whether it’s the incredible response of Christchurch Libraries to the earthquakes that struck their city, or the Auckland librarians who set up a citywide Comic Book Month and talked Bryan Lee O’Malley into letting them use Scott Pilgrim as a mascot.
As Corin Haines of Auckland Libraries put it, “We have a tradition of doing cool things!”
The latest surprise from the Kiwi librarians was a gig by the Dresden Dolls in the heart of Auckland Central Library.
Corin, Digital Services Manager at the Library, told me, “It’s important to create different experiences in the library, for those who might not normally visit our sites. If a visit by 100 people for something like this results in even one more person discovering what we have to offer then that is a good thing regardless.”
New Zealand Music Month has long been holding gigs in public libraries, broadening our understanding of them as a community space. Corin and the Auckland team have also been inspired by the UK project, Get It Loud in Libraries.
The idea for Friday’s show came when the Auckland team noticed Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls making an appearance with husband Neil Gaiman at Melbourne Library in Australia. The Kiwi librarians used the same chutzpah which got their comic book event an endorsement from Bryan Lee O’Malley to talk Amanda across the Tasman Sea for a ‘ninja gig’.
Corin said, “Raising awareness of music and musical experiences in the library is a good thing! It’s good for us to challenge the preconceptions of what a library is and isn’t, and what literacy is and isn’t.”
See more on New Zealand library events at http://matthewfinch.me/tag/libraries/
Photos:
Amanda Palmer crowd-surfs in Auckland Library - picture from @Auckland_Libs Twitter feed.
Scott Pilgrim promotes Auckland Comic Book month - picture courtesy of Auckland Libraries.
