Images from Conference 2010

Here’s a link to our Flickr pages where images snapped during conference have been uploaded.

LIANZA Flickr - Conference 2010

Has Dunedin changed since 1941?

In 1941, the Otago Branch of the NZLA put together Dunedin : Notes for Conference Visitors. This booklet starts off:

Not all your time will be spent in conference sessions. Each in your own way will want to enjoy your time in Dunedin, see something of the city and surroundings perhaps, view its architectural features, learn something of its life and institutions, or, possibly, just relax and do nothing.

The challenge was too great …. the local LIANZA Branch has updated the booklet to see what has changed over the last 69 years. Judging by the comment above perhaps nothing!!

The result is The changing face of Dunedin 1941 – 2010. Enjoy.

Dunedin Libraries to the fore

The Otago Southland Region has a large number of libraries of all shapes and sizes. Though we would have liked to take you on a tour of all these distance and time just would not allow it. So the Centennial Conference Social Committee has come up with a number of library tours to showcase what Dunedin has to offer and to whet your appetite to see more.

In Dunedin on the Sunday morning and at a loose end? Then our first tour is just for you. This will take in the old and new of the Dunedin Public Library. Centred around the Octagon this is a walking tour with transport available to take delegates back to the University in time for the Mihi Whakatau.

The University of Otago Library has seven libraries on the Dunedin campus. Tours have been arranged to visit a number of these. A tour of the Central Library (Information Services Building) is available on Monday afternoon. This building was completed in 2001 and has won a number of architectural awards. On Tuesday afternoon there will be the opportunity to see what the $10 million dollar refurbishment and extension to the Bill Robertson Library looks like. Since the building contractors are scheduled to finish the Friday immediately before Conference this tour will be one of the first groups to see the completed building. The Law Library has recently been refurbished and delegates will be able to tour this on Wednesday afternoon. All of these libraries are within walking distance of the Conference venue.

A tour of the Hocken Library has been arranged immediately after the Conference – though within walking distance transport has been arranged to get everyone there in a timely manner. The buses will not leave the Conference venue until after the Poroporoaki. Since the Hocken Library is a closed stack collection so this may be the one opportunity for delegates to see behind the scenes. And as an indication that things do not stand still in Dunedin delegates are warned that there may be considerable noise, dust, and dirt in the vicinity of the Hocken Library – State Highway 88 is being realigned to make way for the new Dunedin Stadium.

To ensure that we have enough tour guides and transport, delegates are advised that they need to book for these tours.

Explorers at the edge of the known world

Searching around for the appropriate images to represent the Conference theme of At the Edge I approached local artist Phillip Edwards to come up with something. Having worked with Phillip at Nelson Public Library I was familiar with his work, and have retained a number of his cartoons from that period. His response took me back – “Oh, I haven’t done that type of thing for years” -  but in typical Phillip fashion he produced not just one cartoon, but a whole selection so that we had a choice. Two of the cartoons (Cliff Face and the Map Reader) have been used extensively in the Conference documentation.

When not drawing cartoons for us Phillip is a professional artist. Though born in Wellington most of Phillip’s painting life has been spent in Auckland. In the 1990s he moved to Nelson  to explore different creative themes and spent a number of years doing bookbinding and delving into three dimensional creative constructive constructions combining painting, writing, binding and design. In 2008 he moved to Dunedin where he is back to painting. His most recent exhibition was at the Gallery De Novo here in Dunedin.

The painting to the right is of Middlemarch and is a typical view of the Strath Taieri and Central Otago for those Conference delegates who get the opportunity to explore further afield.