National Library of New Zealand
 | |
| Established | 1965 |
|---|---|
| Location |
Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand 41°16′36″S 174°46′42″E / 41.276614°S 174.778372°E |
| Branch of | Department of Internal Affairs |
| Branches | n/a |
| Collection | |
| Size |
1,515,172 in General Collections 5,333,500 in Alexander Turnbull Library |
| Other information | |
| Budget | NZ$31,850,000 (2006) |
| Director | Bill MacNaught (National Librarian) |
| Website |
www |
The National Library of New Zealand (Māori: Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga) Act 2003). Under the Act, the library is also expected to be:
- "collecting, preserving, and protecting documents, particularly those relating to New Zealand, and making them accessible for all the people of New Zealand, in a manner consistent with their status as documentary heritage and taonga; and
- "supplementing and furthering the work of other libraries in New Zealand; and
- "working collaboratively with other institutions having similar purposes, including those forming part of the international library community."
The library supports schools through its Services to Schools business unit, which has curriculum and advisory branches around New Zealand. The Legal Deposit Office is New Zealand's agency for ISBN and ISSN.
The library headquarters is close to the Parliament of New Zealand and the Court of Appeal on the corner of Aitken and Molesworth Streets, Wellington.
On 25 March 2010 the Minister of State Services announced that Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand would be merged into the Department of Internal Affairs.[1] The current Minister responsible for the Department of Internal Affairs is Chris Tremain.
History
The National Library of New Zealand was formed in 1965 when the Alexander Turnbull Library, the General Assembly Library, and the National Library Service were brought together by the National Library Act (1965). In 1980, the Archive of New Zealand Music was established at the suggestion of New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn. In 1985, the General Assembly Library separated from the National Library and is now known as The Parliamentary Library. Staff and collections from 14 different sites around Wellington were centralised in a new National Library building, officially opened in August 1987. The architecture of the building is said to have been heavily influenced by design of the Boston City Hall.,[2] but direct reference to the Birmingham Central Library should not be ruled out.
In 1988, the National Library became an autonomous government department where previously it had been administered by the Department of Education. The same year, the Library took on the Maori name Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, which translated means: the wellspring of knowledge, of New Zealand.
In early 1998 an ambitious $8.5 million computer project was scrapped.[3]
The National Library building was to be expanded and upgraded in 2009–2011,[4] but the incoming government greatly scaled down the scope of the work, reducing the budget for it and delaying the commencement, arguing concerns about the cost of the project and the reduction in the accessibility of collections and facilities during the construction work.[5] The building closed for two years, reopening in June 2012, while refurbishment continued.[6]
On 25 March 2010 the Minister of State Services announced that Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand would be merged into the Department of Internal Affairs.[1]
Collections
The National Library's collections are stored in the main building in Wellington and several other cities in New Zealand. The library has three main groups: the General Collections, the Schools Collection, and the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library. Access to many collections is provided through digital products and online resources.
The General Collections focus on supporting the information needs of New Zealanders through services to individuals, schools and researchers, with notable collections such as the Dorothy Neal White Collection. The Schools Collection contains books and other material to support teaching and learning in New Zealand schools.
Alexander Turnbull Library
The collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library are in the custody of the National Library[7] and are normally held in its Wellington building. It is named after Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull (1868–1918), whose bequest to the nation included the 55,000 volume nucleus of the current collection. It is charged under the Act to:
- 'Preserve, protect, develop, and make accessible for all the people of New Zealand the collections of that library in perpetuity and in a manner consistent with their status as documentary heritage and taonga'; and
- 'Develop the research collections and the services of the Alexander Turnbull Library, particularly in the fields of New Zealand and Pacific studies and rare books'; and
- 'Develop and maintain a comprehensive collection of documents relating to New Zealand and the people of New Zealand.'[8]
Turnbull collected the works of John Milton extensively, and the library now has holdings of Milton's works which are "ranked among the finest in the world" and "good collections of seventeenth-century poetical miscellanies and of Dryden material, ... along with fine sets of literary periodicals."[9]
Turnbull House, the library's former location in Bowen Street in downtown Wellington, is now run by the Department of Conservation.
Services to Schools
Services to Schools is a business unit that supports New Zealand primary and secondary schools through its Curriculum Services and Advisory Services.
Curriculum Services lends items from its Schools Collection to enhance teaching and learning in New Zealand schools. The collection has a unique range of New Zealand and international curriculum resources including fiction and non-fiction books, videos, CDs and DVDs. Every teacher can access and borrow from the 600,000 items in the collection and it is used by 98% of New Zealand schools. Curriculum Services issues nearly 1.5 million resources each year.
Curriculum Services centres in Auckland and Christchurch provide distance services for teachers via free fax, phone, email, post and an online request form, and teachers can visit the centres to select resources. Staff assist and advise teachers on appropriate resources, and select and send items in response to teachers' topic requests.
Advisory Services supports school library development, offering free information and advice on school library management and providing professional development. Library advisors in 14 locations around New Zealand help and support schools in planning and development in these areas. Every New Zealand school can use the Advisory Service. The publication The School library and learning in the information landscape: guidelines for New Zealand schools provides guiding principles for school library development.
National Digital Heritage Archive
Established in 2004, the National Digital Heritage Archive is a partnership between the National Library, Ex Libris and Sun Microsystems to develop a digital archive and preservation management system.[10] A digital storehouse, the system ensures that websites, digital images, CDs, DVDs and other 'digitally born' and digitised items that make up the Library's growing digital heritage collections will, despite technical obsolescence, be preserved and remain accessible to researchers, students and library users now and in the future.
References
- 1 2 Beehive Press Release
- ↑ Catherall, Sarah (22 August 2009). "National Library: Bookworm heaven vs wow factor". The Dominion Post. p. D2.
- ↑ Gifford, Adam (19 January 1999). "Library systems miss out on NZ technology". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
- ↑ "$69m plan to extend National Library". Stuff. 26 May 2008.
- ↑ "Concern over plans for National Library". The Dominion Post. 10 February 2009.
- ↑ Hunt, Tom (6 August 2012). "National Library re-opens to researchers". The Dominion Post. Fairfax NZ News. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ↑ http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0019/latest/DLM192211.html
- ↑ http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0019/latest/DLM192213.html
- ↑ "Turnbull, Alexander Horsburgh". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Edited by A.H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
- ↑ "National Digital Heritage Archive". National Library of New Zealand. Archived from the original on May 23, 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
External links
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