Barriers to Māori Usage of University Libraries: an Exploratory Study in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

There is a large body of work on the barriers that Māori, other indigenous peoples and minorities encounter at educational institutions, there is also research into the barriers that these groups encounter within the health sector and a smaller body of work pertaining to these same barriers within public and school libraries. This research combines the findings from these bodies of literature with the results from two focus groups of university students to explore the possibility that there are barriers which they may have encountered at their university library. The results showed that there were barriers within the university library, and like other barrier research these were many and varied and were dependant on a number of factors including, institution (library system) size, and individual expectations of the student. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications that they have for Māori university students, and suggestions are made for further research, as well as ways that these barriers may be countered.