2025 wrapped: reflections from a digital inclusion librarian
As we look back on the year that was, it’s clear that our communities have navigated their fair share of challenges — rising living costs, increasing reliance on digital services, and the ongoing pressure to stay connected in a world that moves faster every day. For many, these factors have made it harder to access essential services and do vital things like apply for work and housing or simply keep in touch with whānau. For those working in the Digital Equity space, none of this is new, but 2025 feels like everything has been dialled up… the pressures are sharper, familiar issues seem to be accelerating all at once, the impacts on our communities’ land heavy.
Despite this, I am always buoyed by the wonderful people, grassroots organisations and initiatives that dare to dream and prioritise a more equitable future for us all and do amazing mahi to bring that future to life. While the challenges are hard, the work is vital, rewarding and innovative, and I gain great inspiration and guidance from my peers, and from DECA. I feel lucky to be working together toward our noble goals of digital empowerment for everyone and ensuring no-one is left behind.
As a Librarian, I am passionate about how our Libraries remain a steady source of support, learning and connection for our community, one element of that network of frontline and grassroots providers. We see a lot ‘from the library floor’, the most prevalent community space that encourages connection, doesn’t require money, and is welcoming to all.
Some of the top areas of concern for our patrons this year have included:
Navigating applying online for housing and employment
Lack of internet connectivity and devices due to affordability
Navigating the 3G Shutdown
Navigating online government and health services
Patrons being oversold devices
Online safety and the increased volume and complexity of scams
Artificial Intelligence – both in scams and mis & dis-information
Malicious and fake apps on mobile devices
This is by no means and exhaustive list, but it is a good overview of some of the most resounding concerns we see on a regular basis. One thing that has really come to the fore this year is how AI has played a significant role in intensifying the scamming landscape, increasing both the volume and complexity of scams and making them harder to discern.
Here at Libraries Horowhenua we have a huge focus on education as a tool to try and combat this rising wave. We offer free online safety classes throughout the year, both onsite as part of our Digital Learning programme, but also through outreach.
Outreach is an incredibly important tool for us, it ensures we can meet our community where they are and empowers people who may not have otherwise come to the library or realised how much the library has to offer them. We are dedicated to improving the digital resilience of our community as a whole and view it like planting seeds around our rohe. People talk, they share the information and recommend our free classes and talks, and through it all hopefully our community becomes more scam-savvy.
We foster ongoing digital outreach programmes with local services, as well as delivering concise and informative ‘one-off’ talks to community groups, weaving in the online safety education amongst the information about our library services. If you give myself or my colleague Henry (Services to Older Adults Librarian) a stage, a booth or even a corner somewhere, we will start intoning Netsafe’s SCAM acronym with wild abandon, to anyone who will listen.
This year, we have been privileged to be part of the Digi-Coaches programme. This wonderful initiative is a partnership between the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa (DIAA) and the Ministry of Social Development and has enabled us to have two Digi-Coaches onsite at our largest facility Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō for 12 weeks, 5 days a week, 4 hours a day. Our Digi-Coaches provide personable and professional 1:1 help for all manner of digital queries and concerns, from Skinny JUMP to device help, online applications, smartphone learning, CV writing and absolutely everything in between.
This programme has enabled us to lift our service level and accessibility to meet the needs of our community, and the fact they are regularly busy proves the need is there, but also the immense value of 1:1 help. This type of free, patient and impartial help from a trusted sources is a cornerstone for helping people upskill and learn. It’s a safe middle space between asking whānau and peers for help and being pushed into the retail space where you pay for help.
We are grateful to have been part of this initiative and have seen tangible and meaningful outcomes for our community. Our Digi-Coaches will be leaving us mid-December, and I guarantee you they’ll be missed by staff and community alike. If I were to dream big, I would love to see this programme as a permanent feature, because the need is undeniably there.
Those are some of the initiatives and issues that have been at the forefront in 2025, but of course we’ve still had our BAU initiatives running along in the background, such as Skinny JUMP, CIENA, Code Club, and free digital learning opportunities. We’ve also put emphasis on helping our community navigate the 3G shutdown through information, outreach and regular drop-in sessions. This process has been sadly marked by a gap in the duty of care, and it’s our grassroots providers and organisations like DECA who are stepping into that breach and trying to ensure people don’t fall in the cracks.
Due to the rapidly changing nature of the digital world, you can never quite predict what the next year will bring. However, whatever it is I am confident that our steadfast networks will rise to the challenge with the empathetic, innovative, and people-first solutions we’re known for, and DECA will continue to be a thought-leader and a beacon, advocating and agitating for a digitally equitable future for all.