Rate My Professor Phillippa Duffy

Phillippa Duffy has been the General Manager of the University Book Shop (Otago) Ltd since late 2012. Affiliated with the University of Otago, the bookshop serves as a key resource for students, staff, and the Dunedin community. Duffy's extensive career spans over seventeen years in bookselling and publishing, encompassing both trade and education sectors, alongside experience in the tertiary sector, aviation, and tourism. Upon taking over, she addressed significant financial challenges, including losses exceeding $200,000 in 2012 due to competition from online retailers like Amazon, second-hand platforms such as TradeMe, and declining textbook margins. She implemented strategic staff restructuring, reducing full-time equivalents from 19 to 13 and reallocating roles from back-of-house research to front-of-house sales, where staff expertise directly enhanced customer interactions and drove recovery.

A graduate of the University of Otago with a BA Honours in English, Duffy maintains strong ties to her alma mater and is completing an accounting degree and a graduate diploma in economics through the university. Her contributions to New Zealand's literary landscape are notable: she has hosted numerous book launches, such as the 2013 event for Tell Me a Story where she introduced the Vice-Chancellor, and supported festivals including the Dan Davin Literary Festival and Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival. Duffy spearheaded the establishment of a New Zealand writers' residency in partnership with the Robert Lord Writers' Cottage in 2016, providing a space for authors during summer school. She has engaged internationally through collaborations like the Melbourne City of Literature exchange and participated in Frankfurt Book Fair discussions. Leadership roles include serving as a Director of Booksellers NZ, current Trustee of the Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute, and four years as Trustee and Deputy Chair of Southland's Dan Davin Literary Foundation. Through RNZ interviews and guest speaking engagements with Dunedin City of Literature, Duffy promotes the enduring value of independent bookshops in nurturing reading cultures and championing local authors.