Eulogy for Rosalie

I have been asked to say a few words about Rosalie’s professional life culminating in her being awarded a Queens Service Medal in 2010. Her citation reads:

“Rosalie Blake has been a leader in libraries in the Horowhenua district for almost 30 years. She has worked to advance the number, management and services of libraries in Horowhenua and nationally. She showed foresight in helping to identify the potential value of computer systems to library work when computer technology was still rudimentary. When it became clear that commercially available library management systems were financially unviable for smaller libraries, she assisted with the development of KOHA, a purpose-built system using open source software. This cheap and efficient system was soon acquired by other small New Zealand libraries and by more than 1,000 libraries and institutions around the world. She has been a strong proponent of library trusts, and has been an active representative on various district council committees. Ms Blake has further contributed to the Horowhenua community as a Justice of the Peace and has been a widely respected pottery tutor.”

Rosalie would be fanning me away with her hand for starting with the QSM as the most important thing to talk about so let’s step back a bit.

Rosalie interviewed me for a library assistant role in 1985 and after chatting for a while she asked why I hadn’t brought my art portfolio in with me – this was the first indication that I’d love working for her.

I spent 23 years growing up with Rosalie - more than the 19 years I’d spent growing up at home. It is safe to say she was very influential in my life and shaping me into the librarian I am today.

• I learnt to say ‘Yes’ – not ‘yeah’ or ‘yep’,
• I learnt grammar – omg – her red pen ….
• My love of a good spreadsheet,
• I learnt to compose assignments in a word processor – essay planning folks – sections, word counts allocated to each - then write to the word counts – very economical approach.
•  And I got to do art! Remember our Christmas tunnel Jeremy? We made a 2 story paper mache rock face with ‘brick’ interior and tinsel and Christmas lights. It was the backdrop to a Christmas party with Santa. Unfortunately the Christmas Fairy fainted and the tunnel had become a bit stinky when we finally had to pull it down.

I’ve been able to transfer my skills, all learnt under Rosalie’s tutelage, to community development, construction, a DHB and now back into libraries and community centres. I owe my career to her and I know I am not the only one as I look out at a few of my former work colleagues.

I think about her mentoring all the time; just last week I found myself asking ‘what would Rosalie do’.

Rosalie’s way of doing business was values driven.

The word Rangatiratanga springs to mind – doing the right thing even when it’s hard, and true leadership – we all wanted to follow Rosalie - and she always treated those around her in a mana-enhancing way. I remember her advice to never force people into corners – always allowing them a way out with their dignity intact.

Another word: Kotahitanga – it’s all about relationships and being connected and working together: ‘you go faster alone but further together’.

She was an early adopter of library technology leading us into a ‘computerised library’ in the late 80s – glamourous aye. Our first computer had a 1 megabit hard drive I think.

We lasted on that DOS system until the late 90s when we forced to shift to a different system.

Thanks to Simon’s IT interest (understatement of the year) we were running a fabulously cheap, dial up system between Foxton, Shannon and Levin where we could stay connected all day for a single 30 cent phone call. True story.

The RFP process was done thoroughly – but it was all ‘too much’: too much paper, too costly, too engineered and yet didn’t do all the stuff we wanted it to do.

In talking with Simon, Rachel and Chris – that famous quote: “how hard can it be” was uttered and out of that came Koha. They decided to develop a library management system using the new web technologies (that’s the internet), open source development tools and open standards and they would give it away for free so that other libraries could have it and improve it and share it forward.

Koha was the world’s first open-source library management system and is now used all over the world in thousands of libraries. Entire countries run Koha and most University libraries in America, some public libraries and many government departments in NZ.

Koha has changed communities particularly in developing countries where public libraries are the doorway to literacy and literacy changes lives.

The Koha road trip in 2010 to mark the 10 year anniversary of Koha was such a thrill. Rosalie and I collected our international guests, Paul, Katrin, Brooke and Magnus to name a few, from Auckland and drove them back down to Wellington for the annual Koha Con. We know many in the Koha global community are watching the service today and I was thrilled last night to read that the next Koha release will be named in honour of Rosalie.

Rosalie was decades ahead of her time in many ways. Elegant, appropriately sized solutions that were affordable and sustainable were her forte. And living lightly on the earth – a buzz that libraries and Councils have caught onto now but in Horowhenua we have been minimising waste for decades; we all knew to cut up paper that had been only printed on one side into notelets or glued into pads.  

We owe Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po to Rosalie. Not for Rosalie a brand new building – it was her idea to repurpose the old Woolworths supermarket. For years – maybe even a decade – she wrote papers to council urging them to upgrade our 1960s library to a be a fit for purpose, modern public library. She considered her work ‘done’ once it got the go ahead and felt able to retire leaving her protegees: Ema, Wendy, Barbara and I to bring it through to fruition with our colleagues at Council. She loved Te Takere – loved how it looked, felt and functioned.

Rosalie was incredibly proud of her boys and their partners and her grandchildren – you guys were ‘everything’ to her – always - well except for that period of time when you called her an ‘old trout’ – she did not like you then.

And she picked up others of us along the way: Nick, Kim, Tania – to name but a few.

So Rosalie was an all-round good egg

• The best human being
• Values driven
• Treading lightly on the earth
• Growing those around her
•  Loving her family

Which brings me back to the QSM and her library career.

She started in special libraries, but took to public libraries like a duck to water. Horowhenua was too small for her really but she served for many years as a Councillor for LIANZA – the nationwide professional body for librarians – including as President.

She was central to ‘the most notorious Library Week ever’ – a quote from NZHistory.govt.nz

In 1992 LIANZA organised a campaign in association with the Friends of National Radio called the ‘Great New Zealand Television Turn-Off’. This encouraged New Zealanders to turn off their televisions during Library Week and instead read and take part in other activities. 

Television broadcasters had no fear of the campaign. TV3 saw it as ‘silly’ while TVNZ described it as ‘bizarre’. Paul Holmes described it an ‘insult’ to hardworking broadcasters’.  

During the turn-off campaign the average 24 hour viewing audience fell 10% – but more importantly it got people talking about libraries and books and reading and spending time as a family.

Rosalie was made a LIANZA Fellow in 2008 for:

“her sustained and energetic contribution to the development of public libraries, for her innovative leadership and contribution to the world of open source library information systems and for outstanding contribution to the profession during her long career”.

Rosalie was awarded the QSM in 2010 for services to libraries after a stellar life of professional service.

But she was so much more than that and I will miss her.