Clutha District Council head of libraries and visitor information Debbie Duncan began her working life in 1975 as an Upper Hutt public service cadet working for the Department of Social Welfare.
Ms Duncan, who retires after 50 years of public service next month, said it was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time that had led to a long and fulfilling sideways move into libraries.
"I’d worked across several positions in social welfare and had become pregnant with my daughter in 1988. I wanted to volunteer, to keep my brain active while I was a young mother, so I ended up at the Upper Hutt Library.
"I think they looked at this pregnant woman about half the age of any of their other volunteers and couldn’t believe their eyes. After two weeks, the children’s library assistant left and I was offered the job. So I didn’t manage to stay unemployed for long and the die was cast."
She left Upper Hutt council 27 years later as community services manager and spent five years in Palmerston North before coming to Clutha as head of libraries during Covid-19, in 2020, Ms Duncan said.
Libraries had transformed in innumerable ways since she began during the days of manually writing out issue dates and card indexes, although in their core essence they remained the same, she said.
"Libraries are the last bastion of democracy. These are amazing community facilities owned by local people and shaped by them to become the social and learning hubs they need at any given time.
"Technology, particularly the internet, and now AI, has been a tool to make learning and living easier for the majority. But at the same time, it’s thrown up a barrier to many and, as democratic institutions, we need to bridge that digital divide for the more vulnerable members of our society."
Libraries were perfectly placed to bridge that gap, as reflected in the work done by staff at Clutha’s five branches.
"Physical lending has remained steady both here and across the country. People still like reading books, which is very reassuring. But libraries today also run creative and learning programmes to engage and empower people, and our staff spend a lot of time simply helping people navigate bureaucracy and fill out online forms for essential services.
"It’s worth it to bring a little brightness into people’s eyes."
The timing of her retirement was serendipitous as life had now come full cycle, she said.
"I entered libraries at the time my lovely daughter was born and she recently had a daughter herself. So I’m looking forward to spending more time with them in Dunedin and perhaps catching up with some reading myself.
"I’m not too keen on science fiction/fantasy, but I do love a nice, cosy murder mystery."
