Every New Zealand school library has a key role in contributing to Māori student achievement through providing access to resources with Māori content. Māori learners need access to a wide variety of materials that present authentic Māori perspectives.
Types of resources for your Māori collection
Publishers of Māori resources
National Library’s Māori resources
Accessing Māori digital resources
Gateways to Māori e-resources
TVNZ Māori programmes for educational use
Tools and guides
Māori resources and the use of them are one measure of your school’s commitment to the National Education Goal (NEG) 10 which states: “Respect for the diverse ethnic and cultural heritage of New Zealand people with acknowledgement of the unique place of Māori”. The number and type of Māori resources will depend on your school community.
Māori learners need access to a wide variety of materials – print, non-print, digital and people resources - that present authentic Māori perspectives, to help increase their understanding of themselves and their world.
The types of resources for your library’s Māori collection include:
Our list of Publishers of Māori resources, which sits within our Tools and guides section on collection development, lists the publishers of books, magazines and audiovisual resources in English and te reo Māori. It also includes the main publishers for the Ministry of Education’s te reo Māori publications.
New Zealand schools are able to borrow Māori resources in both English and te reo Māori from your nearest Curriculum Services centre (Auckland, Palmerston North or Christchurch).
Think about how you can make Māori digital resources easily accessible for teachers, students and whānau as part of your library’s online presence. Easy access to Māori online resources will enhance your students’ learning experiences and complement the school library’s print resources.
Also see the following Librarything - NatLibMaorilegend selection of resources from our collection of Māori myths and legends that can be borrowed. The tags are done by region so when you search for a particular region inside Librarything, it brings up all the stories that belong to that region. The tags also tell which language the books are in and the age level. As there may be stories from several regions in one title, these lists will also be useful for schools to find legends by region in their own books.
See the Create Readers blog for reviews by National Library staff of our books with Māori content and books in te reo Mäori. Use the search tags Māori and te reo Māori text.
The following gateways or portals provide links to many useful Māori online resources, including general reference tools and online Māori dictionaries.
Gateway 1: National Library digital resources for schools
Gateway 2: Te Kete Ipurangi
Gateway 3: Other New Zealand organisations
Gateway 4: NZ public libraries and museums
Gateway 5: Māori dictionaries online
Image by carol green
High Interest Topics
Online information on curriculum topics in demand, which have been selected by National Library of New Zealand’s Curriculum Services staff.
Suggested search term: Matariki
Create readers blog provides reviews by National Library staff of books with Māori content and books in te reo Māori. Use the search tags Māori and te reo Māori text.
National Library
This is the National Library’s corporate website, which gives you access to New Zealand’s largest selection of digitised Māori resources of all kinds. Here you can find books, paintings, images, newspapers, and much more.
Digital NZ
DigitalNZ is an initiative that aims to make New Zealand digital content easy to find, share and use. This includes content from government departments, publicly funded organisations, the private sector, and community groups. Suggested search term: Turangawaewae
Primary Sources: Galleries
Thematic galleries of digitised primary source materials on aspects of New Zealand’s cultural history. Primary sources include photographs, letters, diaries, manuscripts, paintings, drawings, maps, cartoons and advertisements. Activity sheets on selected themes (such as Haka) can be downloaded. We also provide a selection of web-based tools and applications you can use when working with digital primary sources in the classroom and library.
Index NZ
An index of articles published in 300 New Zealand newspapers and magazines. Includes magazines such as Mana, Tu Mai and Wharekura. About 30 percent of all articles are now available in full text. You can request copies of articles from Collection Delivery, National Library (these can be emailed as PDFs). This is a good site for researching contemporary issues. (Tip: Use this index to find articles in your Mana and Tu Mai magazines)
Suggested search term: Te Atairangikahu in Mana magazine.
Te Ao Hou
Te Ao Hou was published from 1952 to 1976 by the Māori Affairs Department. Features bilingual content, with articles in both English and te reo Māori.
Suggested Search Term: Whakatauaki
Uiangapātai (or AnyQuestions)
Your students can use this service to ask an online librarian for help in real time, when they are searching for research and homework resources on the internet. On Uiangapātai you can communicate with a librarian in te reo Māori. This service is run by booking a time with a librarian.
Many Answers (Whakautu Maha)
Here you can find answers and helpful searching tips for questions that have already been asked on Uiangapātai or Anyquestions. Click on the tag te reo Māori to bring up all the answers that are in te reo Māori. If you can’t find an answer to your question, you can send in your question using Uiangapātai or AnyQuestions.
Suggested Search Term: Te Awa o Waikato
Te Kete Ipurangi (searchable in Māori and English)
TKI is the Ministry of Education’s bilingual website.
To access Māori materials, open up Communities where you will find several links to Māori content:
EPIC
EPIC, accessed via TKI, provides a gateway to a collection of electronic resources, including Encyclopedia Britannica Online as well as other science, music, art, history, social studies, English and media studies databases. Schools have to register first on TKI.
The Australia / New Zealand Reference Centre, for instance, gives full text access to articles from magazines and newspapers, including the NZ Herald, Dominion Post, North and South, and Metro. Excellent for research on current event issues affecting Mäori.
Suggested search term: Tuhoe
He Kohinga Rauemi ā - Ipurangi
This is an index of all Ministry of Education te reo Māori resources.
Suggested search term: Waka Ama
WickED
Try one of the Māori interactives such as ‘Whāngaihia ō mātou hoa nō tāwāhi’
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Te Ara offers many pathways to understanding New Zealand. When complete, it will be a comprehensive guide to the country’s peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy, institutions and society.
Suggested search Term: Māori medicine
Matapihi
Matapihi, a collaboration between a number of New Zealand libraries, museums, archives and art galleries, is your window into the places, events and people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Experience 350,000+ pictures, sounds and objects.
Suggested search term: Waka.
Te Puni Kokiri (Māori and English)
This website is a key information resource about Māori in New Zealand today. Click on ‘In Focus’ to see information and statistics on the Māori language.
Suggested search term: Māori language 2012.
Waitangi Tribunal (Māori and English)
This website includes the full text of Waitangi Tribunal reports and provides information for students about the claims process. Click on ‘For schools’.
Suggested search: Resource kits for schools - Treaty of Waitangi Past and Present.
Māori Organisation (English)
This resource provides links to contemporary, historical and educational websites about things Māori. Māori resources include free clipart.
Manukau Libraries (Māori and English)
Go to Māori Services then to Māori Links for a selection of websites with Māori content.
Wellington City Libraries Kids Catalogue
Bright and easy to follow. Go to Kids Catalogue and explore Te Ao Māori. (Click on the spiderweb icons for the internet resources.) Suggested search term: Māori games and recreation. (Go to Explore > Te Ao Māori > Māori Culture/Tikanga > Māori Games & Recreation, and click on See web pages)
Te Papa
Suggested search pathway: Education > Teacher resources Ngā Rauemi Ipurangi > Matariki teacher resource
All of these Māori dictionaries have slightly different uses and advantages.
He Pātaka Kupu
The online version of He Pātaka Kupu is the first dictionary completely in Māori. It is an essential tool for all immersion classes and kura.
Ngata Dictionary
You can look up English and Māori terms. Another advantage of this dictionary is that it illustrates the use of Māori and English headwords in sentences and phrases. It explains usage as well as meaning.
Te Aka Māori-English, English-Māori Dictionary
A useful all round dictionary, Te Aka also has encyclopaedic entries including the names of plants and animals, stars, planets, important Māori people, key ancestors, tribal groups and ancestral canoes. It also provides Māori names for institutions, country names, place names and other proper names.
Wakareo ā-ipurangi
Wakareo is the most comprehensive and up-to-the-minute dictionary online, but it is only available by subscription.
Williams Dictionary
This online Māori-English dictionary is a copy of the dictionary published in 1957. It is useful for traditional words and meanings. More difficult to search.
The catalogue of Māori programmes for education use (PDF) lists DVDs in te reo Māori available for purchase from Television New Zealand. You can also borrow some of these titles from National Library of New Zealand’s Curriculum Services. You can find the Curriculum Services request form here.
In the Tools and Guides section of this website we provide information and advice on how to manage and develop your library collection, including assessing the collection, and developing a prioritised buying plan and budget. You will find a series of guides headed Collections, which cover the main topics to help you manage and build your library collection.
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