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9th CDNLAO Meeting: New Zealand Country Report
Update on the National Library of New Zealand/Te Puna Mätauranga 0 Aotearoa
Mr Christopher Blake, Director
Governance and Role
The National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) is an autonomous government department. Established in 1965, its role is defined by the National Library Act 1965 (subsequently amended). The Chief Executive, who is also the National Librarian, reports to the Minister Responsible for the National Library (currently the Hon. Marian Hobbs).
The NLNZ fully meets the criteria defined by UNESCO for national libraries and national bibliographic services.
Services
Major areas of the NLNZ's services include:
- The Te Puna information database contains over 10 million records, and now includes a directory of New Zealand and Pacific web sites as well as the national union catalogue, the national bibliography and an index of over 300 New Zealand journals and newspapers. There are three components: Te Puna Search, Te Puna Cataloguing and Te Puna Interloan.
- The Reference service and interlending and document delivery services.
- The Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL): the Alexander Turnbull Library, with its specialist heritage and research collections and associated services, is part of and located within the NLNZ in Wellington. The ATL has a strong continuing focus on New Zealand and Pacific materials.
- School Services: a national network of 14 service points staffed by advisors who work with schools to develop their information management capabilities, and centres which lend books, videos and other information resources to support the teaching of the New Zealand curriculum in the compulsory education sector.
Collections
The NLNZ obtains New Zealand imprints under its legal deposit provisions. Other information resources within the scope of the National Library of New Zealand Collections Policy (available on the NLNZ web site) are acquired by purchase and donation. Under the current budget NZ$1.6 million is available for purchases for the Alexander Turnbull Library,1over NZ$1.6 million for the NLNZ general collections,2 and NZ$1 million for the Schools Collection.3
Staff and Budget
The NLNZ currently employs 368 staff (338 FTE including part-timers and temporary contract staff). This compares with 452 staff as at June 1996, 415 staff in June 1999, and 389-staff in mid-2000, and reflects the impact of fixed budget baselines over that period and the repositioning of the library's operations. Its operating budget is NZ$44.6 million ($17.8 million USD).
Recent Major Initiatives and Milestones
- National Library restructuring
The National Library has recently completed a significant restructuring exercise. It has increased the number of professional librarian positions and given itself greater capacity in internal information management, services to Mäori, and policy and strategic development. It now looks forward to a period of consolidation and renewed progress in meeting the challenges ahead. - The Strategic Plan: the way forward for the 21st century
The National Library's Strategic Plan, which runs until 2003, is currently the subject of a mid-term review, which will help to determine progress so far and also identify some of the issues that will need to be addressed during the preparation of the Plan for the next period. - Te Puna Strategic Directions
Te Puna, a Windows-based system which became fully operational in February 2000. The name Te Puna - 'the wellspring' - represents the electronic information base that will be shared with users. The main goal of Te Puna, under the Strategic Plan, is to provide electronic access to information for all New Zealanders. A consultation exercise with clients, undertaken during 2000, resulted in the formulation of 'Strategic Directions' for Te Puna in September 2000, specifying in detail how the service will benefit users and contribute to attaining the objectives in the Library's Strategic Plan.
Recent Initiatives by the NLNZ
- Review of the National Library Act
The National Library Act is presently being revised to meet the needs of the 21st century. The Library has accordingly submitted recommendations to the Minister. One in particular concerns extension of the provisions for legal deposit to give the Library entitlement to receive electronic publications. - Digital Library initiatives
The Library has recently launched a 'digital library initiative' and is actively considering how to meet the challenges of digitising greater numbers of documents for preservation and access, and of dealing with greater numbers of digitally-born documents. Selection criteria are currently being actively discussed. - Bicultural initiatives
The NLNZ recently sponsored an exhibition drawing on its collection of late 19th century portrait photographs by Samuel Carnell (in the ATL collections), representing members of the Kahungunu people, part of the indigenous Mäori population of New Zealand. This exhibition was of great personal and cultural significance to descendants of the persons photographed, and represented a milestone in the implementation of the NLNZ's bicultural policy. The Library has recently developed a policy on protocols for its formal consultations with Mäori. - Access to New Zealand science information
A study has just begun into the best way to include access to science information generated by New Zealand research organisations, within the framework of present NLNZ indexing policy. - Membership of RLG
The National Library has recently joined RLG, and will act as a gateway for New Zealand libraries wishing to access RLG resources. The Library is also keen to participate in RLG's Cultural Materials Initiative. - A notable donation
The ATL recently received acollection of private papers of Sir Apirana Ngata (1874 -1950), the distinguished Mäori scholar and parliamentarian. The papers were presented by his family as a gift to the nation.
NLNZ involvement in current national issues:
The key Government Goals applicable to the NLNZ relate to national identity, to education and skills, and to ensuring equal opportunities for access to information by all sectors of the national community.
As part of New Zealand's e-Government initiative, consideration is currently being given to making National Library accessible via the proposed all-of-government portal, and implementing a set of high-level metadata for disclosure of information produced by Government departments. It is possible also that the principle that government-held information should be made more freely available to all New Zealanders will have some impact on the NLNZ's charges for some of its products and services.
The NLNZ is involved in the current debate about national policy for promoting the development of an 'information society' in New Zealand. The Library sees its services (for the general public, for research and for schools) as contributing to closing the 'digital divide' in society. The Library is involved in discussions with the national professional association (LIANZA) which has published its own proposal for a national information strategy.
To learn more:
NLNZ services can be accessed at www.natlib.govt.nz. Visitors to the site will also be able to see the latest information on National Library initiatives in areas ranging from oral history (such as the 'Living Heritage' project) to the digitisation of newspapers and the development of policy on the promotion of 'information literacy'. Visitors to the NLNZ website can also find the National Library Act, the Strategic Plan, Te Puna Strategic Directions, read about 'digital library' initiatives, and see highlights of the ATL collections.
1. The 2000/01 acquisitions budget of the ATL is NZ$1,603,000,
including NZ$1,183,000 for the published collections and NZ$432,000 for the
unpublished collections.
2. The 2000/01 acquisitions budget for General
Collections (including General Lending, Reference, Music, Serials,
Auckland-Business Collection, Print Disabilities, Medical/Health Literature,
National Childrens's Collection) is NZ$1,652,000, of which 78.3% is for
serials.
3. The 2000/01 acquisitions budget for the Schools Collection is
NZ$1,020,000. The Schools Collection (currently 528,811 items, mostly in book
format, increasing by c40,000 items p.a.) covers all areas and levels of the
national curriculum.
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Last updated
Monday 26-Mar-2007 |