Use of te reo Maori in New Zealand children's picture books : observations for library collection development

Abstract

The use of te reo Maori in children's picture books is significant to New Zealand libraries. Selecting texts that promote cultural meaning, insight and enrichment has multiple benefits. These include meeting statutory obligations imposed by the Treaty of Waitangi and also providing a quality service to multicultural communities. To understand the significance of te reo Maori in children's picture books a small sample of high profile texts has been selected for detailed analysis. The te reo Maori occurrences within these texts has been categorised into various classes of grammar. An interpretative analysis of these has revealed that their contribution to cultural meaning, insight and enrichment is limited. In practice this lack of depth in the texts requires libraries to carefully consider matters such as collection development and policy, staff training and customer service operations.