Preservation SIGnals
Newsletter of the Preservation Special Interest Group
Library & Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa
June 2013
Welcome to this issue of Preservation SIGnals, distributed electronically to members. As at 23
May 2013, a special welcome to new member Kylie Thomson and (longtime) re-joined members
Robyn Mason, Ronald Milne, Helen Pannett, Bridgit Siddall and Noeline White.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
Monday 21 October 2013
The 2013 AGM of the Preservation SIG will be held at the LIANZA Conference in Hamilton at
the new Claudelands Events Centre on Monday 21 October from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. Grab a bite
to eat from 12 noon then come along. Part A will comprise a short business meeting with Part B
involving what we hope will be an in-depth discussion on future directions for the Preservation
SIG. (Please see next item.). Three members of the Committee are standing down: Theresa
Graham, Convenor Kathryn Parsons and Secretary/Treasurer/Newsletter-Editor Lance Kendrick.
Please consider allowing yourself to be nominated.
LIANZA Conference 2013
Nau Mai, Haere Mai, Whakatau Mai
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BROADENING OUR PRESERVATION
SIG’S ROLE: DISCUSSION PAPER –
JUNE 2013
A member’s proposal
Late in 2012 the Preservation SIG Convenor was approached by a member to consider
broadening our name and focus from preservation to heritage. It has been suggested that we
expand our aims to formulate a specific heritage perspective. This would take in topics such as
collection development, cataloguing, digitisation issues, collaborative projects as well as metrics
and performance measurements - all in relation to the operation of heritage libraries.
The Committee has drawn up the following notes as we are interested to hear your views, as
members, about any possible changes and/or becoming a Heritage SIG. This is a significant issue
and we would like a good debate on this at the 21 October AGM before going out to the wider
profession.
Current Preservation SIG role
As outlined on our website (http://www.lianza.org.nz/community/group/preservation-sig), the
Purpose of our SIG is “To foster awareness and understanding of preservation issues as they
relate to NZ libraries, so that positive outcomes are achieved through effective collaboration.”.
Our current Goals are as follows:
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To deepen knowledge of issues relating to the preservation of NZ’s documentary
heritage;
To help develop awareness of strategies, best practice and standards for the preservation
of, and access to, a wide range of library information resources, including born-digital
and migrated products;
To assist with the development of a National Preservation Strategy and to advise on the
implementation of the National Digital Strategy;
To work closely with the National Preservation Office as it facilitates and coordindates
preservation initiatives for national documentary heritage collections, with SIG
representation on the Client Input Group of the NPO;
To enhance strategic partnerships with allied (regional and national) heritage sectors and
organisations, including collaboration on the provision of training, workshops and
symposia, and assisting with the regional care and co-ordination of heritage resources;
and
To advise the LIANZA Council, and contribute to the development of policy.
As indicated in these statements, almost all library institutions and much library practice must
come to grips with issues of preservation. Reflecting this, the Preservation SIG was established in
1990 and has always had a broad constituency with a tight focus. Many personal members are not
working in specifically heritage libraries, and the constituency ranges across public, tertiary,
museum, national, theological, research, special, and governmental libraries.
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Deriving from a range of needs in their work roles, or interests, LIANZA members tend to belong
to a variety of LIANZA Special Interest Groups in addition to the Preservation SIG - such as
PubSIG, Research SIG, CatSIG, Tertiary Libraries SIG, SLIS (Special Libraries and Information
Services), and DigLib (Digital Library SIG). These are listed on LIANZA’s website in the
Community Groups section. Multiple memberships are quite likely to continue, regardless of
whether a Heritage SIG is formed.
The Preservation SIG supported establishment of the National Preservation Office (NPO) in
1997, and we work closely with it. This work has included our organisation of training courses
such as The Care of Photographs (twice), or subsidy of workshops such as The Preservation of
Audio-visual Collections. A useful report on the November 2012 A-V course can be read in the
January 2013 edition of Preservation SIGnals which is online at
http://www.lianza.org.nz/community/preservation-sig/our-documents. As a stakeholder
representative, and NPO advocate, the Preservation SIG (Convenor and/or Secretary) has been an
active member of, and contributor to, the NPO Client Input Group.
The Preservation SIG has also organised education opportunities more independently, such as a
Disaster Salvage for Librarians workshop. We hope to organise a seminar on digital content and
management strategies but want to work in with the annual National Digital Forum. One of our
members has established an E-books & digital content discussion forum at
http://www.lianza.org.nz/community/group/e-books-digital-content. The SIG’s advocacy work
has included a submission on Digital Continuity Strategy [Archives NZ 2009] and a submission
on Ratification of the 1954 Hague Convention and Accession to its Two Protocols [Ministry for
Culture and Heritage 2007].
The future
At this stage we would be very interested in any feedback that you may have on changing the
direction of our SIG. As we lead up to our next AGM at the LIANZA conference in October,
your views are appreciated in order to allow time to consider issues raised. We realise that not all
members will be able to attend the LIANZA conference. A perusal of our membership reveals
that 60% of our members are not working in heritage roles and may not welcome a change to
become a SIG with a narrower constituency. Possibly the need for a Heritage SIG is additional to
the need for the Preservation SIG but if a second were to be formed, what then would be the
critical mass? The challenge for us all is: what does preservation mean in 2013 and in the future?
The Preservation SIG Committee intends later this year to compile a paper on heritage
collections, examining some of the challenges faced by the sector. This may be an extension of
the input made by the Preservation SIG in May 2005 on a National Library consultation paper
New Zealand’s documentary heritage: Preservation and access. We are conscious that the term
‘heritage’ is very broad and we therefore suggest using the term ‘documentary heritage’. In the
June 2006 National Library paper subsequently made to the Minister responsible for the National
Library, the following definition for documentary heritage was offered:
“Documentary heritage material includes published and unpublished material; hand-written,
type-written and printed material on paper; material created and held in electronic format;
photographs and works of art on paper and other media; sound recordings on magnetic tapes
and compact discs; moving pictures on film and videotape; and oral history recordings and
transcripts”.
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In the paper’s conclusion, it was noted that issues raised in this report such as poor infrastructure,
lack of skilled staff, funding difficulties and collection pressures faced by documentary heritage
institutions have been in existence for many years and are not recent developments.
Please send your comments (by 26 August) on the future shape of the Preservation SIG to:
Kathryn Parsons, Convenor, Preservation SIG. kparsons@waikato.ac.nz
REPORT FROM VICKI-ANNE HEIKELL,
FIELD CONSERVATOR, NPO
The following are extracts from a report received by the editor on 20 May from Vicki-Anne
Heikell, Field Conservator in the National Preservation Office, Te Tari Tohu Taonga.
The NPO has been fortunate to continue to collaborate with National Services Te Paerangi to run
workshops with iwi and hapū groups. Recently I have undertaken workshops in Halcombe and
Whanganui. The workshop in Halcombe was hosted by Te Taumata o te Rā marae with Ngāti
Manomano, a hapū within the Ngāti Raukawa, Toarangatira and Te Atiawa confederation.
Rangi Te Kanawa and I had previously run a workshop there 13 years ago and it was pleasing to
see participants from that workshop with taonga still safely housed in their enclosures. It was a
well-attended workshop with 45 participants.
Photo 1
Participants at the conclusion of the workshop at Te Taumata-o-te-Rā marae,
Halcombe
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The NPO continues to work alongside NZ Historic Places Trust staff Dean Whiting, Jim Schuster
in developing Preservation Maintenance Plans for the Te Kauwhanganui building and collections
in Morrinsville, Waikato. In April time was spent doing the practical elements of the
Maintenance Plan and advancing the preservation of the collections.
The NPO has recently revised and republished the Fact Sheet Care of Family Collections, its te
reo Māori companion, Me pēhea te tiaki i ngā kohinga taonga a te whānau and for the first
time a Samoan language companion Maul Puipuia o mea teu a aiga.
Photo 2
New Samoan language publication Malu puipuia o mea teu a Aiga
In this role I am also fortunate to come across beautiful taonga in unusual locations. This image
from a glass plate negative by photographer Canon Pahewa is one such example:
Photo 3 Wahine unknown, Photographer Canon Pahewa.
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LIBRARIES IN AOTEAROA NEW
ZEALAND - 2013
The Preservation SIG supplied copy as requested, describing the work of our SIG. This was
edited and published as follows:
http://www.lianza.org.nz/sites/lianza.org.nz/files/libraries_in_aotearoa_nz_2013.pdf
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Please tell us your news or share information so that we can include it in the next issue of
Preservation SIGnals.
Pending the election of a new editor at the SIG’s AGM, please send to:
Lance Kendrick
39 Orchard Avenue
Enderley
Hamilton 3214
lance_kendrick@hotmail.com
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