Nau mai, haere mai, whakatau mai!


Te Rōpū Whakahau is the leading national body that represents Māori engaged in Libraries, Culture, Knowledge, Information, Communication and Systems Technology in Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Rōpū Whakahau is a Māori association guided by the whakataukī waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa and is founded on four core values: Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga, Kaitiakitanga and Te Reo Māori. Te Rōpū Whakahau supports practitioners and their organisations to empower whānau, hapū and iwi by providing development opportunities, indigenous and multicultural partnerships, and championing best practice around services, cultural responsiveness and accountability within the profession.
We are a Māori national association.

Mission & Vision

Succeeding as Kaitiaki.  Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.

Background

Te Rōpū Whakahau was established to provide professional and cultural support to Māori who worked in libraries throughout New Zealand. As part of this, there was a need for Māori to have a voice to inform policies and practices relating to the care of Māori material in libraries and archives, and the provision of library and information services generally.
Te Rōpū Whakahau was officially launched in 1992 as a formal network and ran as a special interest group of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand – Aotearoa (LIANZA) and in 1995 entered into a formal agreement with LIANZA and became an independent incorporated society the following year.

Activities

Since 1992 Te Rōpū Whakahau has created and participated in initiatives of its own and with strategic partners to achieve long and short term goals relating to the recognition and implementation of the te reo Māori and the Tiriti o Waitangi in the information industry, relating to the improved taonga Māori; Māori client access and services; and improved work place culture for Māori.
Te Rōpū Whakahau runs annual hui; maintains listserves; and connects through the website and social media. It has run seminar programmes; made policy submissions; participated in research projects; and produced several publications. In partnership with Te Wānanga o Raukawa, in Ōtaki, it jointly delivers Māori information qualifications.

Values

What are the values or behaviours we want to demonstrate, refine and develop as a collective whānau?

  • Whanaungatanga
  • Manaakitanga
  • Kaitiakitanga
  • Te reo Māori

Whanaungatanga

What do we do to demonstrate that whanaungatanga is important to us?

  • Commit to developing and maintaining positive relationships, personal and professional
  • Commit to taking care of ourselves, and increasing our knowledge of who we are, and where and who we come from
  • Commit to taking care of people and getting to know them better

Manaakitanga

What do we do to demonstrate that manaakitanga is important to us?

  • Commit to doing our utmost to care for people in our personal and professional lives
  • Commit to taking care of ourselves
  • Commit to taking care of people

Kaitiakitanga

What do we do to demonstrate that kaitiakitanga is important to us?

  • Commit to caring for taonga in the most informed and appropriate way possible
  • Commit to increasing our knowledge, understanding and application of kaitiakitanga
  • Commit to looking after ourselves
  • Commit to taking care of people

Te reo Māori

What do we do to demonstrate that te reo Māori is important to us?

  • Commit to pronouncing the Māori language I know correctly
  • Commit to increasing my level of Māori language
  • Commit to increasing my spoken usage of te reo Māori at work and at home
  • Advocate for and encourage the correct pronounciation of te reo Māori in my workplace and at home

Te Rōpū Whakahautanga

These values can be used as potential drivers in:

  • our own professional development
  • the creation, development, or evaluation of work
  • the development of Te Rōpū Whakahau organisational culture

These values were developed in 2004 by Ngā Kaiwhakahau members Marlyen Davis and Hinerangi Himiona.