The Great Kiwi Book Domino Challenge

Lots of adventures to report this week, but it will all have to wait until Monday.

For now, I want to repeat a challenge I’ve set New Zealand’s librarians on Twitter.

A couple of years ago, the amazing Arizona retail chain Bookmans made a promotional video with an elaborate sequence of book dominoes.

There’s been a lot of discussion in New Zealand this week about the mission of libraries and how to share it with the public in the 21st century.

I’m lucky enough to work for Auckland Libraries, the largest public library system in Australasia. Their strategy document Te Kauroa – Future Directions posits libraries as “your space of imagination, learning, and connection.” A public institution whose value in connecting us all to the sum total of human culture and knowledge goes beyond books on shelves into the realms of play, performance, and interactive digital outreach.

Bookmans, in Arizona, do wonderful community outreach work which puts many libraries around the world to shame, with some especially inspiring youth programmes. I interviewed Bookmans staff about their work last year.

That book domino video captures the blend of charm, creativity and outright cheek which I think lies at the heart of the best public libraries – so I challenged Kiwi librarians on Twitter to do as well as Bookmans, or go one further, and post the results on YouTube.

I’ll personally bake a cake for the first librarian in New Zealand who, in my judgment, matches or outdoes Bookmans’ stirling online effort.