Anahera Morehu Receives The Highest Accolade For Work In Libraries

E hari koa ana a Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa ki te hoatu te Mematanga Hōnore Mauroa ki a Anahera Morehu, nā āna mahi nunui mā I a Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa me ngā whare pukapuka i Aotearoa.

Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa LIANZA announces an honorary life membership award to Anahera Morehu (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kahu) for her outstanding contributions to LIANZA and the library and information sector in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“LIANZA Council is delighted to award Anahera an honorary life membership. She has given Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa far more than we can ever offer in return,” says Kim Taunga LIANZA President. This is the first time since 2015 that LIANZA has awarded an honorary life membership.

“Anahera is generous with her wisdom supporting Mātauranga Māori in libraries and championing indigenous knowledge management. She is a real leader in the sector.”

She was LIANZA President in 2020-2021 and Tumuaki of Te Rōpū Whakahau in 2010-2012. Internationally, Anahera has been an effective and influential representative for Aotearoa at the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).

Anahera began her library career at Auckland Public Libraries. She has worked with iwi to develop their repositories, implementing her professional development at Te Wānanga o Raukawa Puna Maumahara programme. She was Kaiārahi at Auckland Public Libraries, and later moved to roles at the University of Auckland Te Tumu Herenga and He Manga Tauhokohoko.

In early 2022 she was appointed as the Kaihautū Māori at Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand. She has since stepped into the Chief Archivist role in the interim. This role allows her to lead the work to make taonga digitally available and engage with iwi and hapū, using a te ao Māori lens, to relook at what taonga are and telling histories from an iwi Māori perspective.

“Working within the sector has been a huge opportunity, especially considering the amount of information held within these repositories. That I can have a role in ‘paying it forward’ to Māori and communities is a fantastic pathway and possible future career prospect for rangatahi. A career pathway that’s not been highlighted as important before, yet the impact is phenomenal,” said Anahera Morehu.

In 2020 and 2021 Anahera was a judge and convenor for the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for Te Reo Māori for the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

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