Reading in your own lingo

There’s nothing like the comfort that comes from turning the pages of a good book and the team at Frankton Library is working to ensure that’s something that’s readily available to all migrant communities in every language spoken locally.
Frankton Library team leader Jess Payne says Frankton Library is still new, but the staff have been working hard toward building a World Languages Section, usually created through donations and people bringing in books to loan.
“It’s always been on our ‘to do’ list to build one,” says Jess. “Then we had an idea to create a series of Lilliput Libraries containing books in various languages outside the library. That way our different migrant communities can swap and share books in their own heritage language.”
It’s an exciting new concept and Te Hau Toka Southern Lakes Wellbeing Trust is providing funding for the books in a variety of languages. “We’re working with The Catalyst Trust, which is helping set up Lilliput Libraries around the district, says Jess. “Through that trust we’ve been connected with Mitre 10 Mega, which has kindly donated all the materials to build them.” The purpose-built book cabinets will be placed outside the Frankton Library so they can be accessed at any time. Arrowtown MenzShed is also pitching in with skilled craftsmen volunteers kindly offering their skills to make the six Lilliput Libraries ready to paint and decorate.
Lilliput Libraries are a network of tiny community libraries first established by Dunedin woman Ruth Arnison and now found throughout the country. The Catalyst Trust is helping set them up in the Wakatipu area.
The project stems from work the library has been doing during the past few years to help the Japanese Family Society of Queenstown make its large collection of books more accessible to the community. “Their library was located at Lakeview Camp Ground in town and they had 5000 items, but they were forced to close down because they had to relocate,” says Jess. “They were so organised and meticulous with everything catalogued. It was wonderful.”
This all planted a seed for the World Language Lilliput Libraries at Frankton and Jess says they’re hoping to hold 200 books in different languages outside Frankton Library. Hopefully there will be 50 to 100 books in different languages available in six Lilliput Libraries at any one time. Anyone can swap, borrow or donate books in languages other than English. A much larger World Language Collection will also be available in the 15 libraries across the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts, for those tapping into their library membership.
“Queenstown has a wonderfully diverse community, with people from all corners of the world who call this home. We want to celebrate that and bring people together to create a space to share, learn and celebrate their heritage together,” says Jess. “It’s really important that we support our migrant communities so they can access everything from a good relaxing book to read, to different wellbeing resources. We know there’s a real need.”
District council libraries will act as guardians for the Lilliput Libraries.
However, the team at the library need help with this special community project. “We’ve been talking to different community groups and reaching out to our migrant communities to encourage them to celebrate their heritage and culture by helping us decorate these Lilliput Libraries,” she says. “We’ve spoken to Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Latina, Brazilian members of our community and they’re all really keen, but we really need people from the various cultures with artistic flair to decorate.”
If there are enough languages represented then Jess says the Lilliput Libraries, which will be dotted about the gardens outside the library, may be grouped by Continents, like Latin America with its Spanish and Portuguese languages. “We’re asking each group to go back to their community and find us people with creative ability. We will leave it over to each community group to decide how they want their culture to be portrayed visually.”
About $4000 of the $6000 in grant funding awarded to the project will be used to buy books in different languages and the rest to support the launch.
Community groups, or artists and designers, who would like to be involved in this project are asked to contact Jess Payne at the Frankton Library: Email frankton.library@qldc.govt.nz, or phone 03 441 3680.