Associations
Mention was made earlier of the planning and the activities undertaken by
groups of early European settlers, leading to the establishment of
libraries in communities. Popular pressure and the initiative of
individuals, whether users or public-spirited persons, continued to be
influential, and remain so to the present day. The influences are
expressed through 'friends of the library', as various as the veteran
Friends of the Alexander Turnbull Library, the National Library Society
or the support groups for particular public libraries, and local lobby
groups formed to meet specific situations. However, the more sustained
effort has come from the people with the most immediate vested interest:
those involved in the operation of services, and the governing
authorities of those libraries, acting collectively.
The impulse to form a
group nationally to promote the advancement of libraries came from
Dunedin. A newspaper man, Mark Cohen, inspired by his involvement in the
campaign to form a public library in Dunedin and by his observations
during a trip to England, the United States and Canada, persuaded the
Dunedin City Council to convene a conference of public libraries in
1910. The seven libraries who attended that conference resolved
themselves into the Libraries Association of New Zealand. This
organisation, through a revival and change of name in 1935, and a
further change of name in 1992, established a continuity with the
current New Zealand Library and Information Association.
The first change of
name, to the New Zealand Library Association, aimed to reflect a more
balanced view of the organisation's objectives and activities. Rather
than being an association of libraries it had become an association of
all parties with an interest in the welfare and promotion and of
libraries, including the sponsorship of professional standards.
The dominant voices in
the Association were inevitably those of the professional librarians
working in the field, but representatives of governing authorities
remained effective members, and often occupied the highest offices in
the organisation. The broad terms of the Association's constitution,
allied with the small scale of the library sector in a relatively small
country probably explains why much of the history of libraries in New
Zealand can be traced through the records of the Association. The
diverse groups which make up the library sector have chosen to work
within the single organisation, albeit as discrete sections. The
Association itself has mastered the geography of the country by forming
branches or regional groupings, each of which draws sustenance from the
national body and in turn feeds its energies into national activities.
The story of the NZLA was told comprehensively in its jubilee year by
W.J. McEldowney (1962) and in his supplementary article (1970). The
Association's historical records are held by the Alexander Turnbull
Library.
The Association has
been the major generator of material about New Zealand libraries, in its
capacity as a publisher of journals, other serials, and monographs, as a
commissioner of surveys and reports, and as an author of submissions to
official bodies. A professional journal, New Zealand
Libraries , began in 1939, having evolved from an
organisational newsletter. The newsletter function was continued by a
monthly publication, under the title New Zealand
Library Association Newsletter (1956-77), and from 1978 as Library Life . With less regularity the various
geographical branches and interest groups of the Association have
published newsletters. Branch newsletters may be found in major
libraries in the areas concerned, but those of interest groups have not
been retained consistently. Neither type form part of the Association's
records.
New
Zealand Libraries has been indexed in the Index to New Zealand Periodicals and in Index New Zealand ( INNZ ), but partial
cumulative indexes have also been published by the Association from time
to time: Robinson and Henderson (1960) for the period 1937 to 1957, and
Battye (1974) for the period 1958 to 1970. The newsletter, in its
various guises, has never been indexed. This is a significant gap in
coverage because the newsletter is a useful source of information about
activities of the Association, and about individuals and events in the
library sector. From time to time, the proceedings of the Association's
annual conferences and occasional seminars have been published.
The NZLA/NZLIA has
cultivated relations with kindred organisations in other countries, most
conspicuously with the Australian counterpart, the Australian Library
and Information Association (formerly known as the Australian Library
Association). Three joint conferences have been held by the two
associations, in 1984, 1988, and 1994. The proceedings of these have
been published. From time to time, there has been a more regular
exchange of ideas and thinking between the two countries by way of
journals which sought an Australasian audience: APLIS ( Australasian Public Library and
Information Services ) and the short-lived New Librarian .
Acknowledging
traditional ties, the Association has been an active member of the
Commonwealth Library Association (COMLA) from its formation in 1971, and
New Zealand librarians have been prominent in its administration. An
account of the objectives of COMLA was given by John Stringleman (1973),
and 15 years later the work of COMLA was reviewed by Stringleman (by
then a past president) and the current South Pacific Representative:
Stringleman and Wooliscroft (1989).