After a major overhaul and refurbish, the Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero (Central City Library) bike is gearing up to hit Auckland streets and events this summer.
An initiative between the library and Auckland Council’s Auckland Design Office (ADO), the Kōrero Bike has been two years in the making.
Sporting a rickshaw-based design, the brightly coloured fibreglass electric bike can hold up to two librarians and has a pull-out TV, sound system, iPads and a sunshade.
The body of the Kōrero Bike can also fold out into a three-tiered table.
“It’s a one of kind vehicle,” Libraries Team Leader Unique Experiences Rhion Munro says.
Rhion explains that in the beginning the bike was about “collections” and taking books offsite. Now it’s about “connections” and helping the community to connect with the library in new ways.
“We thought about all the ways we could connect with the Auckland community on a wider level and listed all the things we needed to achieve that.
“We took our ideas to Bootleg (a local designer and maker of the bike) and they set to work designing a prototype that could carry two librarians, deliver pop-up classes and include an audio and visual element to our storytelling.”
In December, the bike was trialled at a local geocaching event and a council’s Dare to Explore children’s event, with positive feedback.
“We’ll be taking the Kōrero Bike out and about over the next few months to take part in some exciting summer programmes including the Myers Park Medley and the cool Bespoke bicycle event at Silo Park in February.”
ADO City Centre Place Activation Team Leader Barbara Holloway says the Kōrero Bike allows the council to promote its libraries and services to a larger audience.
“This fun and unique resource will not only promote our library services but encourage and support learning opportunities in our communities – as well as hopefully increasing membership.”
For more information on Auckland libraries visit the library website.
