Small beginnings

Woohoo! On Friday there was one completed questionnaire in the dropbox here at work (Christchurch City Libraries, Central). So that's one!

Keep them coming people!

QUESTIONNAIRE NOW AVAILABLE!

The kind folk (namely Bruce Mathers) at the NZSG Māori Interest Group have now posted a PDF version of my questionnaire on their webpage.

If you can't get to these libraries below to pick up a copy there then you can download a copy, print it out, fill it in, and send it to me freepost. Cheers!

• Auckland City Libraries, Central City Library, Auckland Research Centre


• Manukau Libraries, Central Research Library


• Wellington City Libraries, Central City library, New Zealand Collection


• Christchurch City Libraries, Central City library, Aotearoa New Zealand Centre


• Dunedin Public Libraries, City library, 3rd floor

Grrrr - unexpected hitches already

I popped into the Postshop to buy the pre-paid post bags that my helpers (lovely helpers) at the public libraries will use to send back any questionnaires that people may leave in a dropbox. I'd sussed out that I wanted the A4 pre-paid bag that cost $5.30 with the postage included, as I'd been in there 2 days ago scoping out the sizes and prices etc.

Got in there this morning and the whole display is different and a staff member was putting out new stock. He informed me that there were now no such thing as pre-paid bags and that I would have to buy a bag, weigh it, and buy postage to put on it. Which is all very nice, but I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW MUCH IT IS GOING TO WEIGH - THAT'S WHY I WAS BUYING A PRE-PAID BAG!!!

So now I will have to "guestimate" how much will be in the bag. I will have to err on the side of caution, therefore probably paying more than I would otherwise have had to. How is this an improved service to customers? Well, it's not is it?

Now I'm kicking myself for not having bought them when I was in there last week. Story of my life.

UPDATE - ...and then at lunchtime the pre-paid bags were back. Possibly NZ Post man was lying, or didn't know, or at seeing my dejected little face decided to put them back. Who knows?

On your marks. Get set. Go!

Well, I have now got the official Human Ethics Committee stamp of approval. I'll be posting questionnaires out to participating libraries tomorrow (during my lunchbreak probably).

You whakapapa researchers all make sure you pick one up, fill it in, and send it back to me!

I've also got a revised due date of 1 October.

A-Labelling we will go

Still waiting on Human Ethics Committee approval but in the meantime I thought I would make good use of my time by broadening my stationery horizons.

That's right people, today, for the first time ever, I, printed LABELS!!

(Pause for applause)

As I'll be supplying freepost self-addressed envelopes along with the questionnaires at the distributing libraries I thought some nice address labels might be the go. I got myself down to Whitcoulls at lunchtime and bought myself a pack of Avery labels and have just finished sticking them onto some self-sealing business envelopes (oh the glamorous life I do lead!).

I would recommend doing them yourself if you are in a similar situation. I went to a copy/print place which shall remain nameless (but it rhymes with mintstop) and they quoted me more to get 100 labels printed than it costs for a packet of 350 labels. I guess the extra is for the time and energy to format the print job etc. but given that I have never printed a label before in my life, and that it took me less than 10 mins to figure out how to do it (who knew that Word "Help" would finally come in useful one day, or that the product codes for Avery labels are already there for you to choose? Revelatory stuff), I would say that you're best just doing it yourself. That way you save a bit of money, and have the satisfaction of knowing that you can print labels anytime you want. What you do with this newfound power is up to you. Just make sure you use your printing skills for good, not evil.