Te Ropu Whakahau receives International Innovation Award

The American Library Association will present a Presidential Citation for International Innovation in the Year 2008 to Te Rōpū Whakahau - Māori in Libraries and Information Management

The award will be presented on Monday 30 June for:
- Planning and hosting the first International Indigenous Librarians Forum in 1999;
- Collaborating with other indigenous librarians around the world to insure that the Forum continues to take place every other year;
- Serving as an energetic, creative, and lively international model for how to navigate and negotiate an indigenous presence at the national library level;
- Supporting the recruitment, education, and placement of Māori into the fields of librarianship;
- Creating and extending bilingual services to Māori library patrons and staff.

Mason Durie to speak at Poropitia

Professor Mason Durie, keynote
Mason Durie is a member of the Rangitane, Ngati Kauwhata, and Ngati Raukawa tribes. He has a medical background as a specialist psychiatrist.

From 1986-1988 he was a Commissioner on the Royal Commission on Social Policy and was appointed to the chair in Maori Studies at Massey University in 1988. He is currently Professor of Maori Research and Development and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Maori) at Massey University. He chairs Te Kahui Amokura, the Maori Standing Committee of NZVCC and leads the Guardians Group of Secondary Futures. In addition he is on the governing body of Te Wananga o Raukawa, a tribal tertiary education institution based at Otaki.