I’d had the forethought to tweet Cath (@KiwiLibrarian) after we left Puke Ariki, to let her know I was in the area. Cath manages a couple of libraries in South Taranaki and the Museum of South Taranaki.
She let me know she’d be in Patea, and that I could pop into say hey! Cath and I have been Twitter buddies for a while but hadn’t yet met in real life.
When I arrived in Patea she gave me a cheery hello, then realised it was me. We had a quick recce of the library, and inspected the Angry Birds artwork, that was part of the school holiday programme. The kids were off creating biscuits somewhere.
It was obvious to me that Cath loved being part of this tight knit community, where everyone knows everyone – more like family than customers. After we’d finished our chin wag, she recommend we go across the road to the museum.
And it was worth the time spent, containing well designed and informative displays.
What intrigued me even more was the locked double doors, where we could see the “off-display” exhibits through the glass. Me, as always dying to get into the “stack” area where the treasures live.
Our girls hadn’t come in with us, opting to sit in the car and hijack the library’s WiFi to catch up on their social media as we’d deprived them for a day or two.
Lovely community library and museum, great to finally meet Cath.
A display at Aotea Utanganui – Museum of South Taranaki
Long view of some of the displays
Genebrarian's outreach 