Guest editorial

Citation

Walker, G. (2008), "Guest editorial", The Electronic Library, Vol. 26 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2008.26326eaa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: The Electronic Library, Volume 26, Issue 5

I am very happy to introduce this special publication of recent Library & Information Association New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) Conference papers – this work deserves the widest possible audience and I thank The Electronic Library for producing this issue. Libraries (if you will permit me to use the broadest term for this profession) are in a wonderful position of being anti-competitive and yet still professional. LIANZA represents the library and information professionals of New Zealand and part of our role is to encourage research, the sharing of knowledge and inspiration. LIANZA does this through regional activities, grants and scholarships, research and magazine publications as well as an annual national conference which attracts around 700 people and is the key event in our calendar. Library professionals care about providing the greatest possible level of service and resources but we are not secretive about how we do it – there are no corporate agendas to protect – we innovate for its own sake and then encourage our peers to follow suit.

What you will find inside this issue is a range of papers presented by Library Professionals at the 2007 LIANZA Conference held in Rotorua, New Zealand in September 2007. The theme of this conference was “Te Tiinihanga – Tranzform” and that is what these papers represent – taking the status quo and improving upon it, putting a new spin on old ideas and pushing forward into the future. Although the papers presented at the conference covered a wide range of topics, those singled out for this issue were done so because it was felt they had some interesting technological aspects that readers would enjoy and learn from. Thus, Ksenija Obradovic describes several projects which have made use of new technologies in the cataloguing environment at the University of Auckland Library, and emphasises the need for quality bibliographic data, as the basis of successful information retrieval. Brenda Chawner reports on which Web 2.0 applications and new communications technologies were being adopted by members of the New Zealand Library and Information Management Professions, and what factors influenced this adoption, such as age, educational level, and employment status. Although not talking of New Zealand developments, Kasthuri Anandivisam and Choy Fatt Cheong presented an interesting digital library paper at the conference describing the design, planning and implementation of the new Art, Media and Design Library at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to meet the needs and aspirations of a new generation of media savvy users.

To emphasise how New Zealand is at the cutting edge of new technologies in libraries, Meg Bryant and Robyn Pengelly examine the issues involved with the introduction of theatre and event ticket booking (TicketDirect) into the Hamilton City Libraries, while Wendy Nasmith and Mary Parkinson look at a Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind pilot project to test an internet-connected digital talking book player for senior citizens that showed that they were more than willing to embrace new technology. Alison McIntyre and Janette Nicolle describe two case studies conducted at the University of Canterbury which demonstrate the potential of blogging as a communication and management tool for both service staff and the academic community. And finally, David Wilson outlines some of the challenges for New Zealand’s censorship system created by developments in entertainment and communications technology. He also discusses the impact of these issues for libraries as they provide information that increasingly encompasses new technologies.

Just as their colleagues at the conference found these papers a source of interest and inspiration, I trust that readers of this special issue will embrace the ideas contained within and help to replicate and spread them even further. The papers show that New Zealand, although perhaps remote geographically, is in fact right at the heart of new developments and innovations in the library world – indeed, precisely the reason for the Editor of The Electronic Library to draw attention to the activities down under.

Glen WalkerCurrent President of Library and Information Association New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) and has been working in public and academic libraries for the last decade. As Editor of LIANZA publications Library Life and the New Zealand Library and Information Management Journal, he has had a lot of contact with the publishing output of New Zealand library and information professionals and believes in sharing this information as widely as possible. The LIANZA web site is www.lianza.org.nz. Glen Walker can be contacted at: Glen.Walker@selwyn.govt.nz