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Communiqué from LIAC following the meeting of 30 March 2007

The March meeting was LIAC’s first meeting of the year and the Chair formally welcomed the new Commissioners (Bill Macnaught; Paul Thompson; Janet Copsey) to the Library and Information Advisory Commission.


A range of topics was discussed: 

• the draft New Zealand Digital Content Strategy (NZDCS); LIAC is pleased to note the NZDCS picks up many aspects of NZ Online, a concept LIAC has been championing since its inception.
  
  
• the National Library’s Next Generation Strategy: the National Library is in the process of aligning its operations to meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st Century. LIAC supports the National Library’s Next Generation Strategy given that the Library is an important part of New Zealand’s knowledge infrastructure. LIAC believes children’s literature (one of the strands of the Library’s strategy) is of great importance in terms of developing young New Zealander’s long-term reading habits. Broader numeracy and literacy issues - media literacy as well as written - are also of vital importance.
  
  
• In LIAC’s view, creative thinking is a critically important skill-set in economic transformation. Ideas creation is central to the creative sector and libraries have rich content to stimulate creative thinking. Libraries in New Zealand are often overlooked as key drivers of creativity.
  
  
• LIAC received a briefing from John Truesdale the Project Leader & Technical Architect for Aotearoa NZ’s People’s Network, an important project which will see phase one of the New Zealand’s People’s Network (based on the UK model) rolled out and which will eventually see all libraries in New Zealand connected.
  
  
• The Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill: LIAC is monitoring the increasing concern being expressed by New Zealand libraries over the proposed amendments which appear out of step with international best practice. Libraries fear the amendments, such as restricted access to birth certificates, will impact on the individual’s right to information and will adversely affect New Zealand historians and researchers, including genealogists.
  
  
• LIAC recommends that all public libraries be positioned to benefit from the Broadband Challenge project (the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network and MUSH networks). LIAC continues to take an interest in the development of a national Creative Commons license and would encourage progress on this matter.
  
  
• LIAC continues to take an interest in the development of a national Creative Commons license and would encourage progress on this matter.
  
  
• Mātauranga Māori: 2006 was an important year in terms of mātauranga Māori and LIAC will continue to focus on this in 2007 hoping to build on the important work done to date.
  
  
• LIAC is closely linked to the Digital Strategy and the development of the draft NZ Digital Content Strategy and will be involved in work following on from the Public Libraries Summit in February 2007.
  
  
• LIAC notes with concern that the development of high speed Broadband across New Zealand remains a seriously problematic issue.