National Library of New Zealand

National Library of New Zealand

Context

The National Library of New Zealand's (The Library) role is to collect and maintain literature and information resources that relate to New Zealand and the Pacific, make this information readily available and preserve New Zealand's documentary heritage for generations to come.

The Library has a prominent role within the library sector and is actively involved in developing the capabilities of public and private libraries throughout New Zealand. The importance of e-government to achieve the Library's wider goals and objectives is reinforced in the Statement of Intent.

The Library is involved in cross-sector e-government initiatives. The include membership of education and ICT Committees, including the Ministry of Education's E-Learning programme, and continued involvement in the Department of Labour's Connecting Communities initiative.

The content strategy section of the draft NZ Digital Strategy was initiated by the Library. The Library has continued involvement on the NZ Digital Strategy Steering Committee.

The National Library of New Zealand E-government Initiatives

• EPIC project provides low cost access to full text journal articles
• AskNow! online access to a librarian
• Matapihi, a collaborative project providing a single point of access to digital images
• National Digital Forum
• Digital Library/Digital Repository
• AnyQuestions: and online virtual reference service for New Zealand students

Summary

Ready Access: The Library provides ready access to information and services on its website and through the government portal, giving people the opportunity to find a wide range of New Zealand resources online.

Alignment: The Library is using the Internet effectively to improve access to information and deliver services it provides. The library is involved in a number of cross-sector initiatives to improve access to information, its storage and long-term preservation and security.

Internet and Communications Technology

The Library is using the Internet to improve access to information it stores, using technology to digitally record and display historic records.

The EPIC consortium is a successful cross-sector collaboration that was facilitated by the Library. It has negotiated access to electronic full-text resources for all people in New Zealand through their libraries. Libraries from all sectors have joined EPIC and New Zealand schools have access for the first year through Ministry of Education funding. The joint procurement approach enabled EPIC to negotiate e-resources that are affordable for all types of libraries - large and small.

The Library's continued involvement in the education sector is intended to support the Government's learning outcomes by improving access to information for schools, ensuring school libraries are well resources, and helping to reduce inequalities that can occur with differing levels of access and provision of information. AnyQuestions, an online virtual reference service for New Zealand students, is a new initiative with the Library and schools sectors.

Other initiatives include Matapihi, a collaborative project to provide a single point of access to the online collections of multiple cultural heritage institutions.

Internally, the Library has implemented a new records and document management system that includes functionality to make publishing for the web and intranet easier. Security and information integrity are important issues.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

The Library was involved in developing the thesauri used to describe services and information on the Portal. The Library now maintains the New Zealand Government Locator Service thesauri for the E-government Unit.

The Library has 50 metadata records, informing people at a reasonably high level about the information and services the Library provides. The metadata records are generally consistent with the Library's website, as seen from the site map and guide to using the library collections. Records have been written appropriately from an audience rather than an agency perspective, making information about the Library easy to find via the Portal.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during May 2004 included:

www.natlib.govt.nz,

but excluded Discover, Timeframes, Papers Past, Te Waimano, Ranfurly Collection, Kilbirnie-Lyall Bay COHP, and Cadence

Overall, the Library's website is of a good standard. The site's strengths are in information delivery and required government content. In future, the usability of the site could be improved.

The information and services the Library is required to provide can all be readily accessed on its website.

Key quality issues noted during the assessment included:

• Good range, depth and presentation of information content.
• Good searching offered.
• Usability and site navigation could be improved for easier use.
• Some documents are in PDF only, excluding people who are unable or unwilling to read these formats.
• Required email addresses are not available or were not answered during the assessment.
• Missing accessibility features, such as access keys and styles sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• The homepage does not present a dynamic, rich face, missing opportunities to offer relevant content to people.
• Many broken links mean that some people will be unable to access areas of the site.
• Contact details could be more specific to enable responsive handling of enquires.
• More links to other related content would be useful.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

The Library's bilingual website provides a good level of access to library information and provides contact details to order or access resources from collections throughout New Zealand. The website has a combination of online and downloadable forms.

People can use an online service called 'AskNow!' to chat with a professional reference librarian via the Internet. This is a collaborative initiative with the council of Australian State Libraries, and the National Library of Australia.

Integration and Efficiency

The Library's bibliographic databases and catalogues, and the Interloan system integrate well with New Zealand libraries. The Library is investing in opportunities to increase integration, especially in its work with the education and cultural sectors, such as the National Digital Forum.

The Library's use of international bibliographic and interoperability standards makes it well-placed to provide single access to its extensive catalogues and databases of New Zealand information and to continue to link with overseas institutions. This work will improve people's ability to use the Internet to search for library information.

Participation

Information and services provided by the Library indirectly enable greater participation in government through improved access to information. The Library consults with its communities using online list serves, as well as releasing consultation documents on its website.