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All
my bags are packed and ready to go Magpie Musings Magpie
Today "All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go…" Last year my friend Gavin was the recipient of a grant from Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui branch of LIANZA (Wellington region, as it was then) to attend the LIANZA conference in Rotorua. I was most impressed and asked how he'd managed to get the grant. His answer was, "I applied for it." Those of you who have read Joanne Dillon's article Jet setting with Edith Jessie Carnell p. 18 Library Life June 2002 will already have got this message but I shall reiterate it: it's worth applying for things. This month I am going to the NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group) conference http://www.nasig.org/wm/ in Williamsburg, Virginia because I applied for and was awarded the NASIG Horizon Award. (Thanks, Gav!) NASIG http://www.nasig.org/ has a strong focus on continuing education, networking and mentoring for those in the serials industry. "The purpose of the NASIG Horizon Award is to advance the serials profession by providing promising new serialists with the opportunity to accelerate their knowledge and understanding of serials by networking and interacting with a wide range of dedicated professionals working in all segments of the serials information chain. The award provides the recipient(s) with a firsthand introduction to NASIG by sponsoring attendance at the NASIG annual conference." For a serials librarian this award represents a fantastic opportunity to develop serials skills and knowledge, certainly well worth my knuckling down and putting an application together. As part of my application for this award I was required to write an essay on the 2002 NASIG conference theme - "Transforming serials: the revolution continues" - including my ideas on the theme's relevance to the information community, to serials work, and to my own professional goals. It was an interesting essay to write. I am very enthusiastic about serials and am familiar with most of the related jargon. Yet the essay I submitted, while set firmly in the serials context, targeted two themes important to all librarians: customer focus and teamwork. I ended up writing not about how serials are transforming but rather about how customer use of serials is transforming: It's a no-brainer, really: Q. Why
am I here? And who are my clients? Well, they're undergoing something of a transformation themselves. As the access tools for serials have become more user-friendly, the number of users of serials has increased. And as these tools evolve in response to user trends and industry feedback, the way serials users approach our product is changing. In academic libraries, serials were once the almost exclusive preserve of faculty and postgraduate students. All that is changing as our serials support tools become more sophisticated and more numerous. Increasingly usage of serials is becoming an essential part of undergraduate study. Electronic indexing and abstracting tools have enabled all library clients (even the relative novices) to identify relevant serials and articles more readily. These tools are rapidly developing to provide intuitive searching and seamless access to full-text articles." I also wrote about how our clients' changing serials needs and their usage of serials is being met by librarians working together: Transformations
in serials format, access and support tools are increasing serials usage
and have created a demand for wider, more comprehensive serials access...How
do we meet that demand? Customer focus and teamwork - no matter how specialised my role becomes these fundamentals remain inviolable. So the message is not simply 'apply for things' but - when you do - when you are putting you application together - the question 'Why am I here?' is not a bad place to start. Cheers Report
From the LIANZA "Te Upoko o Te Ika a Maui" Since the New Year the following groups have showed interest in the National Information Strategy Plus since the New Year
So, no I have been far from idle and the continued interest if at all has been quite heartening. American Library Association Conference 2002 (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) With LIANZA’s permission "Pat Kittleson" a researcher at the University of Otago Library now working at the University of Colorado presented a proposal for a paper on the "National Information Strategy" for the "International Speakers Section" of the ALA Conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia in June. Out of 15 proposals only 4 were selected one of those was Pat’s. With the assistance of "Library Life" articles on the NIS and my vetting of her work the paper will give an American audience an overview of how the LIANZA NIS was put together and what influence it has had for the profession. Pat was keen for me to attend the presentation and answer any questions, but as ALA do not offer funding to cover the travel costs and I have not been able to find sufficient funding to attend so I have had to decline her offer. Thanks "Pat" for spotting this opportunity to promote the NIS, LIANZA and the library profession in New Zealand. LIANZA President Spencer Lilley took me along with him so I could speak to the Trustees on the "National Information Strategy". The Trustees came up with two helpful suggestions as to how we can advance the NIS. The first was finding a community badly hit by the digital divide and turning a public library within that community into another "Tupu" i.e. a learning centre along the Manukau City, Otara branch model. If we could pull off this sort of success in a provincial/rural setting as a case study/model of how central government could be directing funding to public libraries as learning centres then we would do better then just arguing for a strategy that would support it. The second came over a cup of coffee afterwards where it was suggested that the "National Information Strategy" had the potential to be turned into some sort of charter. That organisations could sign up to the principles of the 3 Ks in much the same way they may sign to the principles of bi-culturalism in the workplace. The charter would be a checklist of how your community/organisation/institution was meeting the ideals of creating a knowledge society/environment. Having walked away with at least two good ideas we thought we had done extremely well in having what was a very fruitful meeting with the Trustees. Nick Toonen, the CEO of the Citizens Advice Bureau contacted me about the LIANZA National Information Strategy. In their lobbying of government for extra funding for CABs and for an all of government information policy they come across the work LIANZA had been doing on the NIS. We acknowledged that whilst CABs were advisory i.e. mainly there to help people interpret information and make decisions, that we as libraries where there to give wider access to information. That both agencies as public libraries and CABs are complimentary but not one and the same. That from our vantage point of offering our services generally free with regards to information for the public that we had an overview of how an "all of government information policy" could work for the benefit of New Zealand. What was acknowledged was the ad hoc nature of current government policy with regards to technology in looking away from public libraries and CABs instead at directly to them for addressing digital divide issues. Nick agreed to look at our document and get back to us on how we could possibly meet with other key stakeholders to discuss an all of government approach to information. Senator for New South Wales - John Tierney An unexpected visit from Senator John Tierney came as pleasant surprise. The senator is the "Parliamentary Representative to the Australian National Library". Jane Fullerton the Australian National Librarian had alerted the Senator to LIANZA’s "National Information Strategy" a document he read on the plane trip to New Zealand. The senator had come out as part of a parliamentary delegation to visit New Zealand and thought a good opportunity to use it to see where New Zealand was with developing its information policy. As well as visiting us the senator also called into the E-Government Unit and the National Library. The Senator is hoping to float a select committee in the Australian Senate that looks at a "National Information Policy" for Australia aimed at public access to public information. In talking to LIANZA and others the Senator was hoping to find the terms of conditions for setting up the select committee so its focus is not too broad or too narrow to be ineffective. Hopefully the Senator will get his select committee up and running and perhaps show the New Zealand government that a strategy/policy is also needed here. From our meeting with the National Library Trustees I have produced a "Draft Knowledge Charter" based on the 3 K’s of the National Information Strategy. The draft is in this month’s Library Life for you to make comments and submissions on. It will be ratified at the next LIANZA Council meeting which is on Thursday, 30th May. We would like contributions to the charter by Thursday 23rd May so we may have time to summarize them before we make final changes to the charter at the council meeting. The charter will them be circulated to other stakeholders as well as libraries as part of a marketing campaign to promote the idea of the 3Ks and the need for a NIS. LIANZA Submission on the Local Government Bill The oral submission to the Local Government Bill went well. I was accompanied by Peggy MacConnell (Early Childhood Education) and Neil Coup (Lower Hutt City Libraries). We had limited time to give our submission but when heard were told that our points were well made and clearly put. Sue Cooper (AP) and her team had written a submission that I found easy to argue for and which was easily understood by the select committee. Though there was no time for follow up questions at least 3 MPs on the select committee approached us afterward to talk to us about our submission. Georgina Beyer and Martin Gallagher (Labour Party) and Alec Neil (National) all of whom were horrified at the examples of charging for book issues in the appendix of our submission. Hopefully our recommendations of the obligations a council should take on in providing a core library service will be added to the Act at this late stage. One more year In my remaining year as "Wellington Councillor" I hope to continue my advocacy work though this years general elections may leave me busy in other quarters! I also hope to get more involved with the preperations for this year LIANZA conference in November plus work closely with LIANZA Office staff on administration issues etc... I also welcome any feedback you may have on LIANZA or library and information issues that concern you, which I can raise at LIANZA Council meetings. After all has is what I am here for! Regards. Steven Information
Legislation Update On Friday, 9 November 2001, LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui (Wellington Region) offered a seminar covering changes in legislation relevant to libraries and information managers. The Convenor was Robin Anderson, Wellington District Law Society. Over 50 people attended. Below is the summary of the day's sessions. We have links to the speakers presentations where available, and have summarised those sessions where papers were not available. LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui would like to thank all speakers once again. Particular thanks go to Tony Millett, University of Waikato, who shared the summaries he prepared of sessions, as well as presenting an excellent overview of the Copyright Act, its impact on libraries, and LIANZA's role in influencing the direction of amendments to the legislation. Programme
Diane
Wyber (National Library) The process of renewing the National Library Act started at the last election, when the Minister promised to look at the relationship between the National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL). This provided the opportunity to look at the entire Act. The proposed changes cover four areas:
Process Discussion papers on the relationship between the National Library and the ATL, and on legal deposit, were issued at the end of 2000. This was followed by targeted discussions with a range of stakeholders. Advice was received from the Trustees of the National Library. A steering committee was established to assist with the process. There was interdepartmental consultation, particularly with State Services, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Archives New Zealand, and Te Puni Kokiri. Legal advice was received from the Crown Law Office. Cabinet approvals were then received for inclusion in the 2001 legislative programme, but only at priority 4. A draft bill is being prepared by the Parliamentary Counsel Office. Policy approvals from the Cabinet Legislative Committee and Cabinet were received in July, and the National Library is still hoping that the Act will be passed before the 2002 election. Proposals (1) Alexander Turnbull Library
(2) Legal Deposit
(3) Treaty of Waitangi obligations - see 1) above. (4)
Official Information Act - because the National Library is a Government
Department it is subject to the OIA. The new act will confirm that
any material (particularly oral history) is subject to access conditions
imposed by the donor which override the OIA. Andrew
Simmonds (Buddle Findlay) Summary The purpose of the bill is to foster e-commerce, and give certainty about electronic transactions. Two principles:
The bill removes uncertainty, for example by clarifying the legality of transactions in electronic format. It makes clear that the legal requirements of statutes can be satisfied electronically (but there will be a few exclusions, e.g. wills which will continue to have to be signed manually). So, for example, credit card companies will be able to ask customers whether they wish to receive monthly statements by email; public companies will be able to ask their shareholders if they would like to receive annual reports by email. The act will allow electronic signatures, under certain restrictions. Paul
McBride (Broadmore Barnett) Main points:
Unfortunately there are lots of grey areas - the Act does not provide all the answers. Good faith
Changes in practice
Further changes to the Act are expected in the near future. Steven
Lulich (LIANZA Councillor, MFAT) Magpie
Today This decision also concludes a decade-long relationship with Library Life. In February 1992, a new A4 format insert Magpie accompanied the "economically sensible move" to distribute the region's newsletter via NZLA's official publication Library Life. The
History of Magpie Magpie's
Editors and Producers There must be much more information about the early days of Magpie in the memories of more senior members of the profession which I invite others to share. However, as regards the newsletter's development in the 1990s, I am in a better position to report as I have been co-ordinator and editor of Magpie since 1994, when I took-over from Graeme Dick, Sue Esterman and Sara Phillipps. By that stage, the beige multi-page format of the newsletter had evolved from the variously-coloured double-sided single page style of earlier years. This probably reflected the influence of Ann-Marie Pickles at the National Library who for many years prepared edited copy for publication according to her state-of-the-art word processing skills. The actual content of Magpie has remained quite stable probably since its inception, but at least since 1992. It has advertised and reported-back about regional meetings and seminars, notified Regional Council decisions on local and national professional matters, and provided contact information of Councillors as well as generally profiling local personalities and activities. By 1993, when our professional association had now become known as NZLIA (in recognition of the growth of information technology and its practitioners), "Message from the Chair", advertising of an employment register, news of SIGs and other related professional associations, Library week reports and Conference publicity were also standard features of Magpie. By April 1994, sponsorship by two companies had been arranged to cover publication costs. We are indebted to the generosity of subscription agents, EBSCO and shelving and fitting specialists, Hydestor for consistently supporting the region in this way from that time until today and trust that our reciprocal advertising has made these firms familiar names in library circles as a consequence. Also from that period until now, Stevens Secretarial Services in Lower Hutt have undertaken the actual printing of Magpie. We are grateful to them also for their loyal service and competitive pricing. In August 1994, a "Scrapbook" column of quotes and news clippings about libraries and information was introduced. This was renamed "Bull Board" in February 1995, but was discontinued in November of that year. A "Diary" column listing forthcoming events was commenced in December 1994 and has been a regular feature of Magpie ever since. In December 1996, given the precarious financial situation of NZLIA at the time, the decision was made for the Regional Council to be committed to producing only 5 issues of Magpie per year. Thus from February 1997 a bimonthly publication of the newsletter became the basic norm which continued thereafter. However, pioneered by Christine Vivian, supplementary editions were produced by individual Council members for special occasions in non-publication months in 1997 and early 1998. In September 1997, a questionnaire about producing an email version of Magpie "to reduce operational and environmental costs" was featured with the results announced in the December issue. From a mail-out of about 500 copies of Magpie, only about 50 replies were received. 43 respondents were interested in the email proposal (with corporate institution members showing most interest), but the alternative choices of indifference and "prefer both" showed that the time was not yet ripe to undertake such a change. In May 1998 Steven Lulich undertook to produce Magpie bimonthly establishing a new standardised multi-page A4 format with a bold banner heading on "lunar sand" paper which prevailed until the end of 1999. By November 1998, NZLIA had become LIANZA and with rebranding in the air, a competition was announced to discover the most appropriate name for the regional newsletter. As indicated above, Kay Coolbear cogently argued that "Magpie" was still the best claimant and she was duly awarded a bottle of wine when results were announced at the Christmas Party. The December 1998 newsletter heading "Magpie to stay" explained that "LIANZA Wellington feels the name does have an historic purpose. The Newsletter has often been a collection of useful snippets of information. Though the nature of our profession has broadened and the tools we use are more diverse and technologically advanced, we are still like Magpies picking shiny pieces of knowledge for our customers". Thus, having re-established the meaningfulness of the newsletter's name, publication continued on much in the spirit of Dennis Glover's famous poem. During 1999, however, the Council decided that a new image for the newsletter was desirable and sought ideas for distinctive artwork for its cover to be expressive of the region's professional activities in a new millennium. The local flavour of Council member Sandra Clarke's proposed "Capital M" design depicting the three main Wellington city libraries and linking Magpie bird images was chosen. The new A5 format Millennium Magpie in black and white with this cover etching was duly introduced and explained in the February 2000 newsletter. Still produced by Steven Lulich, that style of Magpie remained constant until the final issue. However, the final edition had one significant alteration: the new Maori name for the region replaced "Wellington" on the cover of Magpie. Various alternative Maori names outlined by Ann Reweti in the June 2001 newsletter were tempting, but "Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui" finally prevailed at the August 2001 AGM in accordance with the Maori nomenclature of other regions of LIANZA. Over the last two years, in the period of the Millennium Magpie format, the possibility of redevelopment of the LIANZA website to provide regional web-pages has been canvassed and supported by the Regional Council. In June 2000, Council provided seeding finance of $500 to forward this project and ideas about its possible content were presented in the August 2000 Magpie. Now it has come to pass, and it is surely obvious that all the traditional content of Magpie is best conveyed on-line. Ever since email became commonplace in library circles, the Council has been relying increasingly on electronic media to provide up-to-date publicity of events via nz-libs. This will no doubt continue alongside the more in depth information provided by the new web-site. Should there be some need for a continuing monthly comment , perhaps this online Magpie column on our web-page should be maintained and print-outs made available if really required. As Editor of Magpie in Print, I request you to sample the new regional web-page online and become familiar with its scope and contents. However, I also invite you provide me with your comments and any contributions to "Magpie Online" in either traditional or contemporary communication formats. Neil
Coup (LP)
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