LIANZA is excited to announce that the following candidates have been elected to these positions. Mark Crookston has been elected unopposed into the position of LIANZA President-elect and, in a very tight vote with five others, Hana Whaanga has won the vote into the national council member position.
Mark is the Director Content Services at the National Library Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.
Mark is a purpose-driven library and information professional and archival strategic leader. Mark’s passion is developing relationships, collaborations, teams, and systems that support social cohesion, people’s rights, accountability, and scholarship.
He has over 22 years of experience in library or archival roles, with the last seven being in strategic leadership of the National Library Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. He has been successful at building lasting relationships and securing funding for elements of this mahi.
Mark says, “Relationships are at the heart of much of the LIANZA strategic plan 2023-26, and relationships are a strength of mine. I hope to learn from my predecessors on the key relationships in place and required going forward and representing the interests of members.”
Originally from Wellington, Hana lives in the Hawkes Bay and works for Hastings District Libraries.
Hana has been involved in and passionate about the library and information field since her first role as a library assistant at the Wellington Medical and Health Sciences Library in 2003. Hana has experience of different library roles from front-of-house circulation, acquisitions in university libraries, to programme planning and delivery at her current place of work.
She has an appreciation of the breadth and impact of the work of each and every library and information professional in Aotearoa New Zealand.
She has volunteered with LIANZA through LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika regional committee from 2009-2013 and was a previous editor of Library Life from 2010-2011. Hana is professionally registered and was awarded her BLIS in 2023.
Hana has experience in the running of a non-profit organisation and consensus decision-making through her involvement with Playcentre from 2013-2017.
