Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre
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Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre

The Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre is a community space with special emphasis on Te Ao Māori.

Customer service in the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre

If you require assistance with the resources in the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre or have queries regarding Te Ao Māori, staff from any of the service desks on the second floor will be happy to help.

Who can use the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre?

Everyone is welcome to use the resources in the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre. A group study table is always available for customers who use the Centre's resources. The Centre may also be booked by community groups for presentations and exhibitions and we encourage you to do this.

What sort of material is in the NPM collection?

There is a wide range of resources available covering many subjects important to Tangata Whenua. eg:

• Hahi - religion
• Hauora - health
• Mahi Raranga - weaving
• Mātauranga - education
• Moko - tattoo
• Tāngata Rongonui - prominent Māori
• Te Reo - language
• Tōrangapū - politics
• Whakairo - carving
• Whakapapa - genealogy
• Whakataukī - proverbs

The material in the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre is mainly for lending, but there are also some items that can only be used in the Centre.

Special collections

Ngāi Tahu Collection / Ngā Rākau Teitei e Iwa

The Ngāi Tahu collection has material relating to the Ngāi Tahu claim and general books about Ngāi Tahu or written by Ngāi Tahu authors. The South Island, Chatham Islands and Tītī Islands Minute books are also part of this collection. All the items in this collection are identified by a Ngāi Tahu spine label.

The Ngāi Tahu claim now has an online index.

The newest addition to the Ngāi Tahu Collection is Pānuitanga Ngāi Tahu. This resource is based on articles about the people, places, mahi and taonga of Ngāi Tahu. The information has been sourced from books, magazines, newspapers and other documents and organised into broad categories to make it easy for you to use.

Information files

These files contain hard to source information on topics in high demand e.g.

• Kōwhaiwhai and Māori Design
• Tā moko
• Kumara and its cultural significance
• Harakeke
• Pāua culture
• Māori flags
• 28th Māori Battalion

 

Audio Visual

A television/video player is available for use. People watching Māori videos have first preference to the unit. Only library videos may be viewed on this unit.

The video collection includes language resources, historical stories, documentaries and some films from the TVNZ series. There is also a good selection of music CDs, both traditional and contemporary, as well as a small collection of CD-Roms to assist learning te reo Māori. Other useful language tools can be found among the cassette and book sets.

All AV material in this area is free of charge.

Fiction

A small collection of stories written by prominent Māori authors.

Magazines and Newspapers

We have a good range of Māori magazines on display with back issues bound for easy access.

Technology

There are two public internet terminals with printing functions. These terminals have some special Māori CD Roms loaded onto them e.g.

• Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa - a CD-Rom that focuses on Māori lifestyle and culture. It contains:
  • a te Reo Māori language section
  • a virtual tour of a marae and village
  • a database list of all the Iwi, Hapu and Waka of Aotearoa
  • an in depth view of the Treaty of Waitangi
  • an interactive historical time line
• Te Reo Tupu - is an electronic dictionary of the Māori language with the ability to search (in Māori or English) across multiple dictionaries, or within specific resources
• The ancient history of the Māori - A unique CD-Rom containing the six published volumes of The ancient history of the Māori; his mythology and traditions compiled by John White
• Māori Land Court Minute book index - indexes over 1100 minute books between 1865 - 1910, from the Taitokerau, Waikato-Maniapoto, Tairawhiti, Waiariki, Aotea, Takitimu and Waipounamu Māori Land Court Districts (the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre in the Central Library holds copies of the South Island Minute Books, The Chatham Island Minute Books and the Titi island Minute Books)
• Simple Māori sentences and puzzles - Interactive Te Ao’ software programme for learning te reo Māori

There is also a dedicated library catalogue available for customer use.

Library Kaumatua - Dr Terry Ryan MBE

We are proud to have Dr Ryan as our Library Kaumatua. His knowledge and expertise of local history and Ngāi Tahu whakapapa makes his relationship with us a very important one. Dr Ryan supports the specialist Māori positions in the library and sees the roles of the Kai-whakahaere ratonga Māori (Manager Māori services) held by Haneta Pierce and the Māori Reference position held by Nekerangi Paul as essential to the library for all customers but especially Māori customers.

Māori artwork

The walls and pillars of the Ngā Pounamu Māori Centre are adorned with tukutuku panels, a traditional Māori latticework weaving artform. These were created specially for the centre as part of a community project. There is an online gallery of images of the panels.

Displays

The corridor leading into the collection opposite the green feature wall is a gallery and display area for local artworks and other topical displays.

Distinctive logo

Kowhaiwhai Piko o Mātauranga - unity in knowledge is the name of the logo which is used to identify all Māori material in the Centre as well as other Māori collections throughout our network of Libraries.

The concept behind the logo reflects our special relationship with Ngāi Tahu and other Māori groups.

Ngā Taonga Māori Collections in the Community Libraries

The Māori collections in the Community Libraries are called Ngā Taonga Māori (Maori treasures).