Periodicals
Periodicals include glossy magazines, annual reports, newsletters,
critical journals, conference proceedings, monographs in series,
directories and almanacs. They are published for a variety of purposes
by private firms, government agencies, educational institutions,
political parties, individuals, church and community groups. Many
periodicals are not strictly published items, for example, newsletters
that are intended solely for the members of a club. In New Zealand most
periodicals have been written in English, but some have been written in
other languages, especially Mäori. They are usually published
on paper but sometimes in microform and now electronically. Some
periodicals are produced simultaneously in more than one medium. Some
have been copied to other media, such as microform, for preservation.
Periodicals, along
with newspapers, have been very important in the development of New
Zealand literature. In the 19th and early 20th centuries they were the
main outlets for writing in New Zealand because of the commercial
difficulties of publishing books here. The publishing of periodicals has
until recently paralleled that of newspapers, and it is sometimes
difficult to distinguish one from the other. The pictorial newspapers
such as the Otago Witness and New Zealand Free Lance that were popular in the 19th and early
20th centuries have been considered as both newspapers and periodicals.
Newspapers and
periodicals have been published since the early days of European
colonisation. Most had a short life span. In the 19th century
periodicals and newspapers regularly failed because the population was
too small and scattered to support them financially. In the 20th century
there were additional reasons for their failure, such as shortages of
staff and paper during World War II, and the competition from broadcast
media, especially television. Periodicals have, in New Zealand, also had
to compete for readers with overseas magazines like the Bulletin . Newspapers and periodicals also
competed with one another, especially in the 19th and early 20th
centuries, when newspapers regularly carried literary pieces and
published weekly digests and pictorial issues.
Most popular and
serious periodicals published in New Zealand have lacked originality.
They were usually modelled on British and Australian titles. In the last
20 years there has been a resurgence in periodical publishing with the
success of general interest magazines like Metro
and North and South and niche magazines like New Zealand Gardener and Marketing .
Despite their
undistinguished and often ephemeral nature, New Zealand periodicals are
a valuable source of information, covering a wide range of topics. They
can all conceivably be used for research. They often provide a record of
an organisation and its business. However, there has been little
research into periodical publication in New Zealand. Only literary
periodicals have received much attention, although there has been a
little done on directories and almanacs by Hansen (1994).
The essays by
McEldowney and Thomson in the Oxford History of New
Zealand Literature in English (1991) and G.A. Wood's Studying New Zealand History (1992) are the
starting points for research into periodicals in New Zealand. They give
some history and cite the basic sources for research. Research into
periodical publication is, however, hampered by the fact that there is
no definitive listing of New Zealand periodicals. It is probably
impossible to know how many periodicals have been produced because so
many were ephemeral, short-lived and local. The Alexander Turnbull
Library estimates that there have been at least 20,000 titles produced.
The Union List of Serials in New Zealand
Libraries , (3rd ed. 1969) has over 40,000 titles, but
unfortunately the New Zealand titles are not distinguished from the
overseas ones. According to the New Zealand Official
Yearbook 1990 , 560 periodicals that accepted advertising were
published in 1989. New periodicals have been catalogued in the New Zealand National Bibliography since 1966.
Periodicals registered with the Post Office were listed annually in the
List of Newspapers and Magazines Placed on the
Register at Post Office Headquarters, Wellington (1886-1986).
Some subject
bibliographies of periodicals have been published, such as Iris Park's
New Zealand Periodicals of Literary Interest
(1962), and subject bibliographies that include some periodicals, for
instance Ann Burgin's Women's Societies in New Zealand
(1965). Periodicals are often cited in the bibliographies included
in monographs.
The best collection of
New Zealand periodicals is held at the Alexander Turnbull Library, which
is responsible for building and maintaining the nation's collection of
serials published nationally. Local periodicals are only collected
comprehensively for the Wellington region. Good collections of New
Zealand periodicals are also held at the National Library, the
Parliamentary Library, the Hocken Library, the larger public libraries,
the university libraries and the libraries of the major museums.
Periodicals need
indexing to improve access for researchers. Although considerable
indexing of New Zealand periodicals has been carried out, much of it is
recorded on card indexes in libraries and is not readily accessible. The
Index to New Zealand Periodicals (1941-86) is
the most important index. This was continued as Index
New Zealand and is available online as INNZ through Kiwinet. Other databases on Kiwinet include entries
for periodicals, such as the Legal Index (LINX)
and Newzindex (NEWZ) . Some periodicals issue
their own indexes, for example Landfall , and
indexes have been published for some periodicals, for instance J.J.
Herd's Index to 'Tomorrow', 1934-40 (1962).
Even when periodicals
have been identified, the next problem is locating them. Many important
older periodicals, such as New Zealand Building
Progress and the New Zealand Tablet ,
are quite rare. The National Library of New Zealand has recently begun
microfilming periodicals, for example Tomorrow ,
in an attempt to improve access. On-line indexing, and indexes on CD-ROM
and microfiche, will also raise awareness and appreciation of
periodicals as a research source, and encourage further research into
their publication.
The scope for further
research into New Zealand periodicals is immense. There is a great need
for subject bibliographies of periodicals to augment the basic
bibliographical details given by library catalogues. Research is needed
into the commercial aspects of periodical publishing. Some starting
points are available: Here and Now and Comment published articles on these aspects in
the 1950s and 1960s, and Nielsen Press Research have published media
guides since the middle of the 1980s that give information on print
runs, circulations, subscriptions and advertising rates. Coleridge
(1995), Harvey (1993b) and Cave (1989) have published articles on the
commercial aspects of the press in New Zealand in the 19th century.
While these articles are mostly concerned with newspaper publication,
their approach can be applied to periodicals. Anniversary issues of
periodicals sometimes contain information about their publishing
history.
Some other areas that
require research include: popular periodicals, especially women's
magazines and sports magazines; the influence of overseas periodicals on
New Zealand periodicals; politics and periodical publishing, for
instance, the role of government in periodical publishing, the
ideological underpinnings of periodicals, and the influence of
periodicals on public opinion.