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Title: Te Rau Herenga, a century of library life in Aotearoa : the New Zealand Library Association & LIANZA, 1910-2010
Author: Millen, Julia.
Published: LIANZA, Wellington, N.Z., 2010
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
2
3
Te Rau Herenga A Century of Library Life in Aotearoa.
The New Zealand Library Association
&
LIANZA
1910-2010
Julia Milieu
LIANipA 2010
4
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
First published 2010
Copyright © LIANZA (Inc.) Library & Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa, RO. Box 12-212 Wellington, New Zealand
ISBN 978-0-473-17579-5
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand
The right of Julia Millen to be identified as author of this work in terms of section 96 of the Copyright Act 1994 is hereby asserted.
Copyright of the photographs as credited.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in nay form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without prior permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Edited by Linda Pears
Cover Design by Julie Fairless
Layout by Chris Sands at Geon Print and Communication Solutions
Printed by Service Printers
Dedicated to all the New Zealand librarians who have supported the Association over the past century. The Association has survived and continued to flourish because of their hard work and commitment.
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Foreword 9
Milestones 1910-2010 13
Preface: Off the shelf 18
1. Making connections 21
2. Training for a career in libraries 30
3. In strictest conference 46
4. Is there life after Library School? 54
5. Fifty years on: the 1960s 59
6. Years of transition 71
7. Women in library work 87
8. Branching out 95
9. The Library School: choosing the right road 109
10. National Library: the hole in the ground 119
11. New directions, new people 131
12. Old timers, fresh starts 138
13. Going, going, going... 145
14. Taking stock into the 1990's 153
15. Body blows! 160
16. A time of reckoning: 1996-8 167
17 Towards biculturalism: the long, hard road 172
18. Biculturalism: the 1990s 179
19. Conference highs and lows 190
20. School libraries: unfinished business 199
21. On the road again: library education and training 204
22. Rocky road ahead: LIANZA and the new millennium 209
Epilogue: One long battle 220
Appendices
1. National Librarians 222
2. Directors of the New Zealand Library School 222
3. Presidents 1910-2010 222
4. Conferences 1960-2010 225
Notes 227
Bibliography 242
Index 246
7
Acknowledgements
My brief for this history included the instruction that, while covering the full one hundred years, the work should concentrate on the last half century. When I researched the literature, it was in any case clear that while some aspects of the early years would need updating and reviewing in the light of later developments, the first fifty years were already recorded in WJ. McEldowney’s excellent work, The New Zealand Library Association 1910-1960 and ‘The New Zealand Library Association 1960—1970’ in New Zealand Libraries, vol. 22 no. 5, October 1970. It is important to note therefore that although the current history is a stand-alone work, it owes much to the earlier McEldowney histories as well as to his biography, Geoffrey Alley, Librarian.
Researching and writing this history has been in a way a ramble through my past. Before becoming a full-time writer, I had considerable involvement not only with libraries but with librarianship. I was a teenager when my mother, E.M.M. (Betty) Millen, went to Library School: for her the start of a new career and a far cry from the demands of bringing up children. My memories are of falling asleep at night to the sound of her typewriter pecking out the assignments, and of her fellow students coming to a party at our house. Because of my mother’s library connection, many of the names and even the personalities of senior librarians of the 1950s and 1960s were familiar to me: people like Geoffrey Alley, Stuart Perry, Mary Fleming, Miss Tibbies. A decade on, when I also went to Library School after a year at the General Assembly Library, I was greeted as ‘the first of the second generation’. From there I was recruited by wonderful Jenny King to Waikato University Library. At various times over the following years, I also worked at Canterbury University Library, Canterbury Medical Library, and the National Library of New Zealand.
I wish to thank all those who have helped me in this work, many of them friends, fellow students, and former colleagues: Jim Traue, W.J. (Jock) McEldowney, Mary Ronnie, Alan Richardson, Rosemary Hudson, Ruth Wylie, Michael Wooliscroft, Brian McKeon, Trevor
8
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Mowbray, Alan Smith, Ken Porter, Penny Carnaby, Nan Penberth, Roy Carroll, A.P. (Tony) Millett, John Garraway, Alison R. Grant, AH M. Grant, Sheila Williams, Sue Cooper, Mirla Edmundson, Sue Pharo, Moira Fraser, Helen Tait, Alison and Mike Jameson, Ray Grover, Julie Hawkins, Jane Hill, Steven Lulich, Barbara McKerrow, Sue Sutherland, lan Thwaites, Chris Szekely, Maryna Mews, Diane Morris, Barbara Murison, Bill Siddells, Ann Packer, Penny Griffith, Hillas McLean, Keitha Booth, D.H. Bowie, Rob Arlidge, Marjorie Warwick, Elizabeth Smith, Simon Cauchi.
I am grateful also for the valuable help from staff at the National Library of New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington City Library, and the Hocken Library.
My special thanks must go to Margaret Calder and Alan Smith for their expert help in reviewing the manuscript and to Linda Pears, the editor. Also to Alii Smith and staff at the LIANZA office: Megan Button, Mike Metcalfe and Anna O’Keeffe.
Julia Millen
Wellington
March 2010
9
Foreword
In commissioning the centennial publication, LIANZA was fortunate to have three factors in its favour: it had consulted with the New Zealand Book Council to employ a professional historical writer in Julia Millen to write the book, ample time was given for the project, and the Association had the excellent legacy of W.J. McEldowney’s The New Zealand Library Association 1910-1960 and The New Zealand Library Association 1960—1970’ to draw upon. Nor would it have been appropriate for an association of library and information professionals to have not documented the latest fifty years of its history, particularly as the focus of our profession is on giving access to and disseminating information.
This book is of interest to all those who are working or have worked in the library and information sector as it is not only about the Association but also touches on the development of the sector in the twentieth century and into the millennium. It is, however, of particular interest to those who in any way have volunteered their time to serve on the national council, regional committees, standing committees, special interest groups committees, conference committees, the credentials committee, taskforces, and judging panels for Association awards and scholarships or have been appointed as representatives of the Association to other bodies.
So this book is dedicated to all you volunteers for the time you have given to the Association, despite your busy lives, as well as to your employing library institutions for the generosity they have shown in allowing you to participate in the Association. This book therefore draws on personal interviews given by volunteers like yourselves to Juba to tell the history of the Association from your perspective. It will also help you to consolidate your knowledge of the Association by drawing together threads and joining the dots where information for you may have been lacking or missing.
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
As you read, you will see the history of the Association unfolds in roughly four periods:
1. the fledging Association (1910-3 4)
2. the Association in its prime (1934-70),
3. an association in transition and crisis (1970-97)
4. and finally the strategically aligned Association (1997-)
From 1910-34 the Association is a fledging one of libraries and not librarians known as the Libraries Association of New Zealand; its sole focus is to organise conferences. Its sustainability is challenged by external conditions, the First World War and then the Depression.
The Munn-Barr Report, released in 1934, kicks off the period of the Association in its prime, 1934—70, and is responsible for driving the reforms in the library sector that also lead to a reformation of the Association in the following year into one for both institutional and personal members known as the ‘New Zealand Library Association (NZLA)’. By 1939 the NZLA is also incorporated under its own Act of Parliament. There are many major achievements in this period for the library and information sector, all driven largely by the NZLA; the creation of the Country Library Service, the National Library Service, the NZLA certificate and Library School library diploma course, the inter-library lending scheme, the associateship and fellowship credential systems, establishment of a library newsletter and research journal, and the passing of the National Library Act 1965. Over this period the NZLA experiences such tremendous growth both in the size of its membership, conference attendance, and committees that premises are finally purchased in 1960 as an extended base for coordinating and administering all NZLA activities.
The 19705, eighties, and nineties see a phase of transition and crisis for the NZLA. The old guard gives way to the baby boomers during the 19705; predominate in this influx, which also continues into the 1980s and 19905, are more women running the Association as well as in library jobs. By the mid-19705, the size of the NZLA and its staff
11
FOREWORD
means finances struggle to meet its operations costs. To earn extra revenue, the Association turns to the property market; however, the collapse in the property market in the late 1980s brings about the first financial crisis for the NZLA, with the Association only just surviving this with its liquid assets intact, but with the loss of its property assets.
This crisis and amalgamations of local authorities in 1989 see a restructure to a leaner NZLA as well as a change of name to the ‘New Zealand Library and Information Association (NZLIA)’ in 1992 to reflect a move away from a profession that just manages books, serials, and audiovisual material. From the late 1980s, the Association takes an active interest in biculturalism, which culminates in the 1990s with several seminal documents for librarians on this topic as well as a bicultural constitution and Maori name for NZLIA to go with a partnership agreement with the Maori library association Te Ropu Whakahau. Achievements for the NZLA in this period are the moving of the NZLA certificate course to Wellington Teachers’ Training College and the diploma course to Victoria University in 1979, to be looked after by a technical training and an academic institution respectively; the other achievement is the opening of the National Library building in 1987 after much lobbying by the Association for its completion. This period ends with a second financial crisis caused by employee embezzlement of NZLIA funds; however, members and committees combined to pull the Association out of its difficulties, their efforts aided by a financial settlement with the auditors responsible for the accounts during the time of embezzlement.
By 1998 the NZLIA had rebranded itself as LIANZA and starts to take a more strategic approach as to how it should function in the new millennium. LIANZA’s Information Policy Summits and the development of its National Information Strategy for New Zealand allow it to become an incubator for the ideas that are to later shape the principles of the government’s digital strategy and the strategic direction of the National Library. LIANZA’s strategic approach also sees it signing memorandums of understanding with
12
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
other more sectoral-focused library associations, library managers groups, and non-library organisations for the purpose of joint lobbying and the sharing of joint benefits from activities of interest. The major achievements of the period are the implementation of a professional registration scheme for library and information professionals, a move to electronic publishing of all LIANZA publications, the development of a professional library salary survey, and the lobbying undertaken by the Copyright Task Force to protect the rights of libraries to disseminate information in its electronic/digital format. Paralleled with these achievements is the move to distance education in the training of library and information professionals: the changes from this cause a shift of the certificate course from the Wellington College of Education to the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand in 1998 to become a diploma course whilst the Victoria University’s diploma of librarianship becomes a masters course in 1997 that is also increasingly taught by distance. Both courses, however, are now assessed against LIANZA’s professional body of knowledge for accreditation under its registration scheme.
Throughout all of this, the Association has never lost its focus to be the primary voice of all library and information professionals in New Zealand. Despite whatever perceived threats, challenges, causes, and opportunities come our way, we shall always keep battling for the benefit of our members, and as this book will clearly demonstrate, that is exacdy what we have done and will keep doing.
Steven Lulich
LIANZA President 2004 - 05
Steven Lulich
13
Milestones 1910-2010
1910
Fifteen representatives from New Zealand public libraries meet in Dunedin; the Libraries Association of New Zealand formed
1911
Nineteen delegates meet in Auckland
1912
Eighteen delegates meet in Wellington
1913-25
Association in recess for 14 years
1926
Dunedin City Council revives Association, convenes fourth conference
1927
Fifth conference, Wanganui
1928
Sixth conference, Christchurch
1930
Seventh conference, Auckland
1932
Carnegie Corporation makes grants to university libraries
1934
Munn-Barr Report published
1935
Eighth conference, Timaru; constitution amended to include personal members; name changes to The New Zealand Library Association; J. Norrie, honorary secretary
1937
Conference theme A National Library System for New Zealand'
1938
Country Library Service inaugurated with G.T. Alley as head; NZLA applies to Carnegie Corporation for financial assistance
1939
New Zealand Library Association (Incorporated) Act passed; constitution adapted to allow for rules of incorporation and classes of membership
1941
Doreen Bibby appointed secretary; NZ Book Resources Committee set up; inter-library loan procedures centralised; General Training [i.e. Certificate] Course syllabus approved; Children's Librarians Certificate course initiated: tutor: Dorothy Neal White
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
1942
E.J. (Jessie) Carnell appointed Assistant Director of the Country Library Service; School Library Service begins operation; first intake (42 students) admitted to General Training Course
1945
Cabinet approves creation of National Library Service; first 13 NZLA Certificates awarded; 436 NZLA members (213 personal; 223 institutional); Christchurch office of the Country Library Service established; Esther Glen Medal awarded for children's books
1946
New Zealand Library School for graduates established: director Mary Parsons
1948
Palmerston North office of the Country Library Service established
1950
NZ National Library committee set up: convener A.G. B agnail
1955
Rules for Associates and Fellowships adopted at Wanganui conference; preliminary examination for certificate course introduced
1956
NZLA Newsletter begins publication; NZLA office at 33 Sydney Street East
1957
NZLA rules changed to allow Council to acquire property and borrow money; NZLA sponsors survey of library resources in New Zealand by Andrew Osborn (with A.G. Bagnall)
1960
Revised NZLA rules adopted; total of 272 NZLA certificates awarded by this period as well as 269 Library School diplomas; Osborn Report presented at Dunedin Conference; NZLA purchases 10 Park Street, Thorndon, Wellington
1962
NZ Library School student numbers low (10); Council sets up Maori Library Services committee: convener Helen Cowey
1963
NZLA committees formulate policies on a university
15
MILESTONES 1910-2010
library school; Professional Section seminar on the future of the training (certificate) course
1964
G.T. Alley appointed National Librarian; J. Norrie dies; Mary Fleming dies, memorial prize established in her honour
1965
National Library Act passed 1 November
1966
National Library trustees nominated; Library School takes over certificate course
1967
G.T. Alley retires; Library School at Borthwick House, The Terrace, Wellington
1968
Conference honours G.T. Alley; 'Women in Professional Library Work seminar; report on survey of women Library School graduates 1946—65
1969
First 'New Zealand Library 8c Book Week', 1-8 August, (joint venture of NZLA and NZ Book Trade) marks centenary of the Public Libraries Act
1970
Symposium to mark 60 years of NZLA at Nelson Conference
1972
National Library collections still in 16 widely scattered locations
1973
A.G. Bagnall dies: / e\\/(LS> v (<Wi
1974
J. Traue's Report on Future Organisation published
1975
Final report of Committee on the Registration Scheme; Treaty of Waitangi Act
1976
Mary Ronnie appointed National Librarian; Doreen Bibby retires as Registrar NZLA; foundations for National Library building, Molesworth Street, complete by December
1978
New Zealand Authors Fund established; Library Life replaces NZLA Newsletter
1979
NZLA financial deficit; last classes delivered at NZ Library School; Helen (Cowey) Sullivan retires
1980
Library School diploma course commences at Victoria
16
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
University ofWellington,R. Cave appointed Professor of Librarianship; NZLA Certificate Course at Wellington Teachers' College (later College of Education) School of Library Studies: Principal Lecturerjan Mac Lean; Joint Advisory Committee on Librarianship (JACL) established
1981
NZLA moves to 3rd Floor, 20 Brandon Street, Wellington; master of library and information science degree established at Victoria University
1982
Working Women's Charter principles included in draft NZLA employment guidelines; Council budgets for a deficit ofs4B,ooo;RtHon.R.D.Muldoonlays National Library foundation stone, 3 November
1983
Microcomputer system installed at NZLA headquarters, Brandon Street
1984
NZLA membership: 1,145 ordinary members; 394 institutional members
1985
David Wylie dies; General Assembly Library becomes Parliamentary Library
1986
A.G. Bagnall dies; G.T. Alley dies
1987
NationalLibrarybuildinginMolesworthStreetopensto public 1 Julyofficial openings August; Maori Language Act passed; W.J. McEldowney, Otago University Librarian, retires
1988
Kiwinet launched; NZLA Intellectual Freedom Committee (co-ordinator Ken Porter) submission to Ministerial Committee of Inquiry into Pornography
1989
NZLA reorganisation; financial crisis over Brandon Street building, special general meeting on possible liquidation of Association; sale of building negotiated
1990
G.T. Alley Fellowship launched
1991
Department of Librarianship at Victoria University becomes Department of Library &, Information
17
MILESTONES 1910-2010
Studies
1992
NZLA is renamed NZ Library &c Information Association:Te Ran Herenga o Aotearoa Inc.; moves to Level 8, Petrocorp House, 86 Lambton Quay; N-Strategy launched; Department of Library and Information Studies at Victoria University commences teaching diploma course by distance learning
1995
Dorothy Neal White dies; partnership signed with Te Ropu Whakahau: the Maori Library and Information Workers Association
1996
Discovery of substantial embezzlement from Association
1997
NZLIA office moves to Level 6, Old Wool House, 139141 Featherston Street, Wellington
1998
Library studies certificate course moves to the Open Polytechnic ofNew Zealand; Association name changes to LIANZA: Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa
2003
National Library ofNew Zealand (Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa) 2003 Act replaces 1965 Act
2004
LIANZA office moves to 7th Floor, 71 Boulcott Street, Wellington
2006
Registration proposals presented at conference in Wellington; dual incorporation problem resolved; W.J. McEldowney biography of G.T. Alley published
2007
Alii Smith appointed Business Development Manager of LIANZA
2010
LIANZA Centennial Conference, Dunedin
18
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Preface
Off the shelf
In 1954, as the New Zealand Library Association approached its first half-century, the Library School students’ magazine, Colophon , described it in a postscript designed to encourage graduates to join and pay the membership fee:
What the N.Z.L.A. is.
The New Zealand Library Association (Incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1939) is a non-profit, non-political organization and includes in its membership individuals interested in library service, libraries of every type, schools, library committee members and Übrarians.
It is the recognized official body in New Zealand through which recommendations and statements on library services are made to the government, to UNESCO and other organizations concerned with wide educational, cultural or social matters, and to library associations overseas. Its headquarters are situated in the National Library Service building, 33 Sydney Street East, Wellington. The main work of the Association is, however, done through its Branches, Sections and Committees. 1
The Association (now the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA)) began its existence in 1910 as the Libraries Association of New Zealand. Just before World War 11, the Association was incorporated by an Act of Parliament and became the New Zealand Library Association (NZLA), the name by which it was known for most of the twentieth century.
One hundred years since its foundation, the Association has not only survived, but continues to be a major influence in New Zealand’s literary and cultural life. The networks of libraries in the cities and towns of New Zealand have come about in large part because of the Association and its members.
19
PREFACE
When the Association was formed in Dunedin in 1910, there were few libraries of any consequence in the dominion, its post-colonial society lacking the vast resources - both literary and institutional - available in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, though far from centres of western culture, New Zealand had inherited a strong literary tradition. In many centres concerned citizens, building on efforts of early settlers, worked to provide library materials of a more uplifting and educational nature than was available through the popular pay-as-you-go lending libraries. Such places as the Mechanics Institutes and Athenaeums were important providers of books for people wishing to become better educated. At a slightly later date came the influence and tangible assistance from the United States where big advances were happening in library services.
The library profession in New Zealand has always reflected the aspirations prevailing in society as a whole. While some of the activities and achievements of the Association appear to be unknown to the general public - even to some working in libraries - many others are clearly visible not only in main centres but also in provincial areas. The Association provides a network of communication between librarians in all parts of the country, and its work continues with ongoing behind-the-scenes planning, lobbying, persuasion, negotiation, and an occasional foray into the public arena. Events with a high public profile are the Association’s annual conference and New Zealand Library Week. Elsewhere news items may record and mark the Association’s literary awards or a particular triumph. A case in point - a very large and visible one - is the imposing building in downtown Wellington, the National Library of New Zealand.
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
24
MAKING CONNECTIONS
CHAPTER 1
Making connections
The Association had its beginnings in Dunedin in 1910. At a meeting of the Dunedin City Council, instigated by a 61-year-old newspaper journalist, Mark Cohen (later the Hon. Mark Cohen, MLC), a groundbreaking decision was made. It was resolved to ‘convene a conference of representatives from public libraries of New Zealand for the purpose of discussing matters affecting the general conduct and management of libraries in this Dominion, and that such conference be held at Dunedin at Eastertide.’ 1 Papers presented at this first conference covered the Dewey Classification scheme and included ‘lnfected Library Books’ and ‘Book Disinfecting’. 2 Clearly the bookworm disease was in the public mind at that time. The Association which emerged from that conference, held 26 and 28 March and comprising fifteen delegates from seven libraries, was not one of librarians or library staff but of libraries, primarily public libraries, and their representatives from Dunedin, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Wanganui. The first object of the new Association was stated in its Rule (1): ‘To unite all persons engaged or interested in library work in New Zealand by holding conferences and meetings for the discussion of matters affecting libraries or their regulation, management, classification or otherwise.’ 3
Under its membership statement, the Libraries Association of New Zealand included a very broad definition of ‘public library’: ‘any library not conducted for private profit which is serving a public purpose in the sense that it is used by the public or a section of the
25
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
public with or without charge.’ 4 This meant that both the General Assembly Library at Parliament in Wellington and Victoria University College Library could become members. Two years later, after a get-together’ of nineteen delegates in Auckland and another of eighteen delegates in Wellington, the Association remained dormant for a number of years, largely because of the major disruption brought about by World War I. In 1926, however, the Association was revived. Once again it was the Dunedin City Council and local librarians who provided the impetus and the practical support and means. At this fourth conference, John Barr, head of the Auckland Public Library, drew attention to the virtual absence of library services to rural areas in New Zealand and gave examples of work done in the UK and Australia. Among other things, he made the suggestion that the General Assembly Library should add to its copyright responsibilities ‘so as to become the National Library of New Zealand’ and in this way ‘the organization of a rural circulating library could be entrusted to it.’ 5 It was to be some years before any further progress could be made on John Barr’s proposals.
Libraries Association of New Zealand, executive 1927. Standing: J.F. Arnold, J.C. Andersen, E.J. Bell, W.B. McEwan, H. Baillie, Miss A M. Blackett. Miss E. Melville. Miss E. Culverwell. Seated: J. Barr. W. Brock. H.B. Famall
The next conference was held in Wanganui. Hosted by Annie Maud
26
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Blackett, city librarian there for over thirty years, it put the River City firmly on the New Zealand library map. Two conferences, held respectively in Christchurch and Auckland, followed, but because of the Depression the Association down-scaled its activities. Members received an occasional Bulletin like that of December 1932, which noted:
The depression is seriously affecting the whole world and many libraries are finding it difficult to carry on. Drastic curtailments are being made by government and municipal departments and in many towns library revenue has become a real problem. On the other hand, business depression with its unemployment has increased the demands on library service and the circulation of books in the majority of libraries has steadily increased. Library authorities must, of course, carefully consider all items of expenditure but at the same time they must recognise that the responsibility of public libraries to furnish reading matter to the people has never been greater. It will therefore be necessary to bear this in mind when budgeting for the 1933 period. 6
In the interim came a significant development: support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Founded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, its funds provided both money and energy for projects in various parts of the world. The name ‘Carnegie Library’ was given to the public libraries thus funded, the absolute condition of the Carnegie gifts for a library building being that the library must be a free one. In 1935 the president of the corporation came to New Zealand and spoke with library representatives. His visit was arranged through the local Carnegie Library Group, which comprised the four main city librarians (J. Barr, EJ. Bell, A.G.W. Dunningham, and J. Nome), A. Mclntosh,T.D.H. Hall, and later G.H. Scholefield. Initially the group focused on the universities, making grants from its Carnegie funds to the four university libraries at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin on condition that their chief librarians were given improved status and remuneration and sent overseas for further study. The Carnegie organisation also showed an interest in and supported library services generally. Over the next few
27
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
years, grants from the Carnegie Corporation enabled several senior New Zealand librarians to travel overseas to gain experience.
Even before this, one of the Carnegie-funded initiatives had already started to take effect. After an approach by John Barr on behalf of the Association, Carnegie arranged for Barr and Ralph Munn, the Director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, to make a major survey of New Zealand libraries. The resulting Munn-Barr Report, published by the Association in December 1934, made recommendations which evolved into the ten basic elements and priorities of the New Zealand library profession and the Association. In summary:
1. Function of libraries
2. Free libraries
3. Library rate should be eliminated
4. Subsidy for country libraries
5. Urban and rural libraries
6. Regional groupings of libraries
7. National Library for Dominion of New Zealand
8. Professional training and remuneration
9. School libraries
10. Libraries Association of New Zealand.'
The release of the Munn-Barr Report, combined with the overall easing of New Zealand’s economic conditions, provided the impetus for the revival of the Libraries Association in March 1935, with its eighth conference in Timaru. The first Labour government, which came into power at the end of that year, included Members of Parliament sympathetic to the idea of promoting libraries and literacy, notably the new Minister of Education, the Hon. Peter Fraser, who became Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1940. H.G.R. Mason then took over the education portfolio.
In this favourable climate, the late 1930s was notable for
28
MAKING CONNECTIONS
development of library services and societies of librarians in the four main centres. From the outset, senior Association members wanted to promote library services not just in the main centres but also in the smaller towns and settlements. Association publications, like its Bulletin , were designed to provide information for librarians living in more isolated areas. The Munn-Barr Report placed considerable emphasis on country libraries,urban and rural libraries, and regional groupings of libraries. The last category comprised ‘all public libraries, both urban and rural along with other libraries such as the university college and the libraries of branches of the Royal Society ofNew Zealand, within areas to be defined’. As the Associations personal membership grew, groups or societies of librarians formed in the big cities and regional centres, the nucleus being provided mainly by the university and large public libraries, and, as time went on, the Country Library Service. From these groups, the Associations branch system developed.
The 1930s also saw the advent of Authors’ Week, initiated by writer and journalist Pat Lawlor. Inspired by an Australian version, a New Zealand Author’s Week committee was set up with Sir Harold Beauchamp in the chair and comprising literary figures, publishers, historians, and two librarians, Joseph Norrie and Stuart Perry, respectively Chief and Deputy Librarian at Wellington Public Library. The week, in April 1936, was marked in the four main centres by public lectures and displays in libraries and bookshops. The concept would be taken up in later years as ‘Library Week’.
The Hon. Peter Fraser, Minister of Education, a tall black-suited dignitary, addressed the 1937 conference saying; ‘lt would be cynical to give the people books when they needed bread.’ But he assured the meeting that small libraries must be helped, and proved to be as good as his word. 8 The theme of conference was A National Library System for New Zealand’ and main speakers were T.D.H. (Don) Hall, Clerk of the House of Representatives; G.H. Scholefield, Parliamentary Librarian; John Barr, Auckland Public Librarian; and Geoffrey Al-
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
ley. The original idea, that a service be based on the General Assembly Library, was dropped in favour of a stand-alone organisation. Geoffrey Thomas Alley was then aged thirty-four. His experience was with a travelling book service organised by the Association for Country Education, an offshoot of Canterbury University College. From this came involvement with the new Labour government. It was as a result of hearing of his work and Alley himself speak at the 1937 conference in Wellington that Alister (later Sir Alister) Mcintosh, then in the Prime Minister's Department, and Don Hall approached Alley and asked him to draft a proposal for obtaining government assistance to rural libraries. After an LANZ committee had discussed Alley's proposal, it was revised and presented to Peter Fraser by a deputation consisting of G. Scholefield, J. Norrie, A. Dunningham, and G. Alley accompanied by Hall and Mcintosh on 20 July 1937. As noted by Jock McEldowney, doyen of the New Zealand library world, 'this was one of the earliest occasions on which the name of the NZLA was attached to a major policy proposal'. 9 It was only one of many such proposals and meetings at which Geoff Alley was to be a key figure. Born in Amberley, North Canterbury, in 1903, into a large and exceptionally gifted family, Geoff was a bright student and excelled in rugby football at Christchurch Boys' High School. He then went farming and between 1926 and 1928 became widely known as an All Black. At Canterbury University College he came under the influence of Professor James Shelley, who inspired those around him with his philosophy and belief in taking education in all forms to the wider society - especially to people in isolated provincial areas. Geoff Alley was in 1937 appointed head of the newly established New Zealand Country Library Service.
The 1937 conference also passed resolutions which laid the found-
Geoffrey Alley. 1948
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
ations for the Association’s future work. Committees were set up to deal with major projects: bibliography (including preparation of a Union List of Serials in New Zealand Libraries)', library training; inter-library loans; school and children’s libraries; fiction policy in public libraries; and bbrarians’ salaries, conditions, and quabfications. Notable outcomes from this formative era were several publications such as the Association’s journal, New Zealand Libraries , first issued in August 1937. By 1954 the Association’s work included*... Administering] a national book-coverage scheme aimed at ensuring that all books of importance to this country are in the country. Ensuring] through its inter-library loan system that any important book or periodical held by any New Zealand library is available to all interested persons.’ 10 This issue - the adequacy of the national pool of books and other materials - was to be an important and ongoing concern for many decades. The Munn-Barr Report, endorsing members’ concern about book resources in New Zealand’s regions, had recommended a system of regional groupings of libraries and circulating scarce books by inter-library loan facilities. To ‘unify and complete the system of inter-loan facilities a national central lending library should be established as a department of the national library of New Zealand.’ 11
The ‘interloan’ system had started as an informal arrangement among university bbrarians which conference resolved to formabse: ‘that in order to develop the book resources of the country for the serious student and technician, libraries ... should be invited to co-operate in a scheme of inter-bbrary loans, it being understood that participation entails no commitment to any loan that may seem undesirable to the bbrary concerned.’ 12 The system involved major bbraries throughout the country reporting their book holdings to a yet to be estabbshed Union Catalogue. These holdings were collated, a key element being the estabbshment at a later period of the National Library Service cobections which attempted to provide material not held in any other New Zealand bbrary. The 1944 Association handbook on interloan procedure set out the rules as defined by the Book Resources Committee, which supervised this method of bbrary co-operation.
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Hie Association supplied the stationery and the Country Library Service - later the National Library Centre - provided the cornerstone and the bulk of the administration for the system. Postage and packing costs were borne by the sending library.
By 1939 membership had grown significandy and, as the Association was handling more substantial funds, legal incorporation was considered desirable. Permanent Head of the Legislative Department and legal expert T.D.H. Hall explained that its constitution prevented the Association from being accepted for registration as an incorporated society by the Stamp Duties Department. Hall advised that the membership ‘seek a corporate identity for the Association by another method and that we should ask Parliament to incorporate us by statute.’ 13 With the support of the Hon. Peter Fraser, the bill passed through the necessary stages of Parliament. The new Association, however, marked a major change of emphasis: the focus would be on personal members as much as on the institutional membership. The Libraries Association of New Zealand became the New Zealand Library Association (Incorporated) Act 1939. When ratified and revised, the Act enabled individuals to become personal members with full voting powers and the right to hold office, although the class of ‘associate member’ was also retained from the old constitution. Clause 4(1) noted that the ‘rules of the Association shall be amended so as to make provision for such additional matters as would be provided ...’T.D.H. Hall then gave practical help in drafting the Rules, adopted by the Association in 1940. Another significant aspect of the new Association was that since membership comprised both individuals and institutions and as such both employers as well as employees, it could not be involved in union activities. 14 Under the constitution, which had been revised and approved by the 1935 conference, the Association’s governing body was formalised as the Council ‘to which shall be entrusted the management of its affairs.’ 15 From 1935 the NZLA Council included J. Barr; E.J. Bell; A.G.W. Dunningham; J. Norrie, the new honorary secretary; S. Perry, the honorary assistant secretary; and G.H. Scholefield. In 1937 they were joined by C.W Collins, T.D.H. Hall, WJ.
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
Harris, and C.R.H. Taylor.
Much of the Association’s work was administered in Wellington by Miss Doreen G. Bibby. Born in 1917, as a school leaver in the 1930s she started work at the Wellington Public Library. Doreen Bibby not only had typing skills, but she had passed the Elementary Examination of the Library Association (London) in 1935, and later gained a BA degree from Victoria University College. When the Wellington City Librarian, Joe Nome, became honorary secretary of the Association, he co-opted Doreen as a part-time shorthand typist for the administrative work. A development grant from the Carnegie Corporation in February 1939 enabled her appointment as the Association’s first full-time employee with an office in the Wellington Public Library. Space problems forced the Association headquarters briefly to relocate to the 4th Floor, Kings Chambers, 13 Willeston Street, before moving to Parliament Buildings in 1942. Doreen Bibby, who had officially become secretary of the Association the previous year, would have an office in one of the many National Library Service buildings scattered about the city. She remained with the organisation for the next three decades, her long and dedicated service providing the Association with an important form of continuity. For many members throughout New Zealand, Doreen Bibby was their main - almost their only - contact with the Association.
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CHAPTER 2
Training for a career in libraries or ‘Phooey to Dewey’ (Denis Glover)
Mary Ronnie was an assistant and student at Dunedin Public Library in the 19405: My certificate training was the correspondence course, the kind of thing now graced by names like ‘distance learning’ but still basically consisting of mail-order teaching, however packaged. No name can remove the remembrance of the stifling boredom, the time-tensions, and all the negative elements of those tedious two years ... And I was one of the luckier students. There were four or five of us at Dunedin Public Library doing the papers at the same time, so that some of the activities could be done together and we could discuss ideas with each other. 1
Helen Cowey (later Sullivan) was also a ‘fledgling librarian’ at that time, but at Canterbury Public Library:
Staff were in various stages of studying for Library Association examinations set in England. Their studies included committing to memory lists of authors and their works and other useless information, much of which was not applicable in New Zealand anyway ... I was the first on the staff to begin working on the NZLA Certificate course. Those more senior on the staff became envious of my studies of material that was useful, lively and even enjoyable.'
The Association’s General Training Course was established in 1942 with forty-two enrolled students. It was based on a British model
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and designed for students with the Higher Leaving Certificate who were working as library assistants. Rather than being held in an established institution, probably because there was none that would be appropriate, it came under the general surveillance of the Association’s Education Committee. In practice, administered by the office in Wellington, membership was a prerequisite for enrolment in what later became known as the NZLA Library Certificate Course. The first thirteen students were awarded certificates in 1945.
Mary Ronnie emphasised other aspects of this on-the-job training the stimulation of working with senior librarians like Dorothy White (Dorothy Neal White, later Ballantyne) and ‘fierce’John Harris and Miss Ada Fache, ‘precise to a pin and capable of being quite fierce too’. Archie Dunningham, though terrifying as a course supervisor, ‘presented a living example of constant thought and the inevitability that things could and must change.’ All these things, together with ‘the positive attitudes of the Otago Branch, helped to make the course tolerable - or did they? Perhaps they made the library profession attractive with their sharp contrast to the questions in buff envelopes which sank the heart at each monthly opening.’ 3 Mary added elsewhere that ‘it was not the training course we enjoyed ... The daily world of the library was great fun with change an ever present possibility.’ 4
In the first ten years of the certificate course, students received all communications from Association headquarters by post and had regular assignments to complete, lists of books to read and review, and were provided with all necessary material. They worked largely alone with the assistance and guidance of a tutor, usually one of the senior librarians in the area, who volunteered their services. Marjorie Warwick started the course as a school leaver working at Auckland Public Library in 1946. She attributes much of her enthusiasm and early training to Dorothy Lyon, head of reference and an inspiring mentor. ‘I sat at the reference desk next to Bob Duthie - [who had] just completed the diploma course - we were new chums. John Barr
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was chief librarian and a terrible dictator.’The training course at that time took five years to complete Marjorie was the only one of her group to stay the distance; ‘by then the others had got married and dropped out.’ 5
Library assistants who took the NZLA Library Certificate Course in the pre-1950 era remember exercises in cataloguing and Dewey Classification and learning about library history, notably the Munn-Barr Report. Reading lists included serials like the NZ Listener, Comment, the Journal ofthe Polynesian Society and, as time went on, Landfall and increasing selections of NZLA and National Library Service publications such as Guide to Authors of Fiction, Books to Buy, Junior Fiction, Non-fiction for Primary Schools, Childrens Books to Buy, and Books for Young People. Students in those early years had no special ceremony to mark graduation. Barbara Murison, children’s librarian, remembers: ‘all I got was a form letter in the mail on which the word Fail was crossed out, so I presumed I had passed.’ 6
Despite difficulties - she struggled with a subject called ‘the book’ Marjorie Warwick’s experience illustrates the importance of the Association’s role in developing the library profession in New Zealand. She regards the training as the key to a successful library career. ‘lf I hadn’t gained my certificate in 1952, before I left work to have a family, I would never have got back into library work. As it was, I had a wonderful second career.’ Major changes in the training course came about in 1952 when part two became a six-week full-time course at Library School in Wellington and in 1955 when the preliminary examination was introduced. In that year, thirtyseven library assistants sat the preliminary (‘Armageddon’) while fifteen students attended the part two course at the Library School. Student numbers for what was now the NZLA Certificate Course rose steadily. In 1961 ninety-seven students sat the preliminary examination and forty attended the part two course, rising to over sixty by 1965. The Association’s Education Committee, whose task was to assess library training, recommended raising the qualification for admission from
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School Certificate to Endorsed School Certificate and adding new titles to the required reading. At the time many librarians scattered throughout New Zealand were still involved on a voluntary basis in tutoring and marking for the certificate course and on occasion for the Library School: ‘lt was part of the ethos, the feeling that with limited resources, it was the way to get things done.’ 7
This situation was not ideal. At a seminar organised by the Association’s Professional Section in February 1963, David Wylie, Lower Hutt City Librarian, mentioned the burden of tutoring. 8 Two preliminary examinations had been held in 1962 with a total of 118 candidates. In the other parts of the course, thirty-six tutors were involved in the training and both the convener of the Training Committee and the registrar needed greater administrative assistance. The following year, the certificate course introduced its new ‘Syllabus and Regulations’. From November 1965, the preliminary examination would consist of two three-hour papers: (a) Introduction to librarianship, and (b) Cataloguing and classification using the Dewey decimal system. In addition, the certificate course would be conducted by the New Zealand Library School over three years in three sections (A, B, C) of four weeks each between May and September. Three years later, in September 1968, the NZLA Council approved a major change in response to a request from the branches to reduce the total length of the course. From that time, certificate students would be able to qualify in less than two years after the date of the preliminary exam or less than eighteen months after commencing Section A. During the transitional period, in 1969, there was no preliminary exam; the next one was held in April 1970.
Mary Ronnie, who had been a tutor and finally was on the Board of Examiners, remembers gathering in Wellington
for two days at a time to decide which of the marginal group north and south of the 50% line should pass or fail. Even more difficult was to decide why some tutors thought all geese were swans. If you want to know your fellow librarians ... just sit on
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a Board of Examiners with them. Archie Dunningham and John Harris had gone to spread the gospel elsewhere but we still had Ron O’Reilly agonising over gradings to the ninth decimal point and David Wylie arguing issues with more vigour than most. 9
The New Zealand Library School
Some were brilliant, some staid, we were rowdy. (' Colophon , 1950)
On 18 February 1946, thirty graduate students gathered at the Wellington Public Library lecture theatre. A new chapter in New Zealand library education had begun. As was typical of the library world, the location was temporary. Three weeks later the students (eleven men and nineteen women) decamped to their permanent home: ‘a cramped building in Sydney Street East, part of the National Library’. Next door in the St Paul’s Schoolroom, National Orchestra rehearsals in subsequent years provided an accompaniment to lectures. The New Zealand Library School came about after a year of intense planning and work. A one-year diploma course for university graduates, based on an American model, was designed to take up to thirty students annually. They would undertake full-time study and be paid an allowance, funded by the Education Department, similar to that received by students at teachers’ training colleges. 10 As recorded by Geoff Alley, the school was also pardy needed because the NZLA General Training Course, the correspondence course for those already in library work, ‘did nothing to increase the numbers of existing librarians’. 11
Financed by the Education Department, the Library School was administered by the National Library Service in Wellington. Its first director was Mary Parsons, who had been resident director of a library school in Paris and had taught in library schools in Canada
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and the United States. She came to Wellington towards the end of the war, as Alley noted ‘miraculously’, as Director of the US Information Service Library for the Office of War Information. It was A.G.W. Dunningham who urged that efforts be made to secure Mary Parsons for the difficult task of setting up the New Zealand Library School. In order to free up her time to run the fledgling school, Arthur Olsson was seconded to the US Information Service Library for two years; he himself attended the Library School in 1947. While Mary Parsons was the director and chief lecturer, Mary Fleming became senior lecturer in cataloguing. Born in Wellington in 1908, she obtained an MA degree and from 1936 worked as a cataloguer at Otago University College Library under John Harris’s ‘vigorous leadership’. 12 In 1940 she was appointed to the Country Library Service and joined the first group of students in the General Training Course. From 1943 to 1945, she undertook governmentassisted study at Columbia University. Back in New Zealand, she combined work for the Association’s Training Committee (later she was its convener) with lecturing at the Library School. Geoff Alley was a lecturer, as was Alice Minchin, recently retired from Auckland University College Library. John Sage remembered:
Alice Minchin was a dear, but certainly no teacher. Her introduction to Sears subject headings left most of us floundering though I think everyone recognised the depth of her experience and her knowledge of the subject ... she was a kind and considerate person but not one to implant a devotion to cataloguing in the hearts of her 29 graduate students. 13
The first student intakes included several returned servicemen - some still in uniform - and one ex-servicewoman. And that was the only era when students (twice) set up a keg of beer in the Sydney Street classroom. Mary Parsons commented: ‘My, you have some delightful stoodent customs which we don’t have back home.’Alley pointed out that ‘the school was in a government building and that alcohol was out of order.’ 14
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Mary Parsons, Director of the NZ Library School 1946-1947
Bert Roth, a European immigrant and one of the ex-servicemen at Library School in its infancy, came to New Zealand, with ‘5O pounds in my pocket, broken English, a typewriter, a bicycle and a pair of skis’. The end of the war
found me on Norfolk Island still in uniform ... I saw an advertisement for the just established Library School, applied and was provisionally accepted. But then a curious Catch 22 situation developed: the Air Force would fly me to Wellington only if I was definitely accepted but the Library School would not definitely accept me unless they could first interview me in Wellington ... the 1946 course started without me."
He started the following year. It was this generation of Library School graduates who were to dominate the New Zealand library world in the next three decades, notably WJ. McEldowney, John Sage, Bob Duthie, Hector Macaskill, John Stringleman, R.N. O’Reilly, H.O. (Bert) Roth, E.H. (Ted) Leatham, David Wylie, Wynne Colgan, and C.W Collins. Each class had its own character: ‘some were brilliant, some staid, we were rowdy’was one group’s assessment. 16 The 1949 group just felt inadequate: ‘We were a bitter disappointment to the authorities and we knew it. Not that we liked being a disappointment but somehow we showed up very poorly after the giants who had preceded us; people who had made their mark not only in the library world but in a great variety of other worlds. And as a result of this we
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developed an inferiority complex...’ 17
Many other students from those early years also went on to make significant careers in libraries: Catherine Tibbies, who lectured at the Library School from 1956 to 1961; Arthur Olsson, who gave years of service to the Association in the areas of bibliography and publication; Helen Cowey (later Sullivan); twin brothers John and Oliver Chandler; Mary Sage (nee Frankish), Eva Naylor (nee Munz); Robert Lamb; Barbara Dasent (nee Colhoun); Lyn Meares (nee Gardiner); Maureen Mowat (nee Priest); Joan Moreland; Ruth Wylie (nee Mclnnes); Isobel Andrews; Nan Stubbs (nee Palmer); Molly Funnell (nee Smith); Marie Byrne (Brosnahan); Cyril Tolley; Eileen Webster; Ruby Muff; William Tanzer, and Winifred Kayes.
Lyn Gardiner (later Meares) recalls,
I tried teaching after university and found it did not suit me, so when Cliff Collins, Librarian of the Canterbury University Library, told me that a Library School was opening in Wellington I applied, was successful and joined the class of’46. Just after the war, the first-year students included some very well-qualified older people. Being with them was an education in itself ... a very stimulating environment for a 21-year-old, who had rarely left the womb-like security of Christchurch. It was a great year and not quite as serious as university ... We were actually paid to attend, the princely sum of 210 pounds per annum surprising how we managed on that. Miss Mary Parsons with her soft Southern American accent was a most experienced and capable director, but I’m not sure that all of us liked her particularly. Geoff Alley, the director of the National Library Service, that Olympian figure bestrode everything like a colossus and inspired awe in the younger students. The work, while different, was not unusually demanding and my friend and I saw a lot of films that year. The lecturers were the best there were, all specialists in their field, and such was the calibre of some of the students that they lectured us on their
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speciality ... Our lecturers included E.H. McCormick and Graham Bagnall and John Harris, head librarian of the Otago University Library ... 1S
Ruth Mclnnes, who had just completed her MA degree at Otago University, had no desire to teach, either. She was buttonholed by the University Librarian, John Harris, who suggested she apply for Library School. She was subsequently interviewed by Geoffrey Alley, sometimes called the ‘Great White Chief’. Accepted for the 1947 course, in Wellington Ruth shared a bed-sit with Isobel Andrews. By comparison with the first year, the 1947 class were a rather disrespectful group who argued with Mary Fleming about cataloguing rules and composed a parody of the student magazine, called Colophony. During the year a deputation of students complained to the director that the men were receiving more money than the women. 19 ’They were unsuccessful in their quest for equal pay, which was to come about later. At the end of the year, Ruth took over from Jock McEldowney as librarian and bibliographer of the Library School. She and David Wylie, both library school students in 1947, married soon after graduating.
Mary Parsons returned home to America and was succeeded as acting director by Nora Bateson, an Englishwoman with experience working in Canada and the United States. Library School students wrote that her ‘vivid personality and keen mind made their impact ... regional development and free and rental systems were keenly debated.’ Nora Bateson and Geoff Alley had quite different views on library service, and she was later the focus and target of Alley’s frustrations with the school. Hector Macaskill at the School Library Service became acting head for the next six years.
Because of the economic depression, 1930s New Zealand society had been characterised by a low birthrate, with the consequence that from the early 1950s to the early 1960s few young people went through the university system and even fewer into library work. The 1953 class numbered only fifteen students, but included several who
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went on to important library careers: Margaret Barker, Joan Brock, Jocelyn Chisholm (nee Thomson), Mavis Chandler (nee French), Shirley Ashcroft, Aileen Claridge, Malvina Jones (nee Overy); Sue Raingold (nee Mills), Anne Just, and Jeanette King.
In 1954, 1955, and 1956, Library School classes never exceeded thirteen students. In part this was because of the haphazard nature of recruitment. Alison Grant was at Avonside High School in Christchurch when a woman librarian came to speak to the senior girls about going into library work. Alison was one of several graduates from Canterbury University College who went to Library School in 1954. At her interview with Geoff Alley she was warned: ‘You won’t get much money in library work.’ 20 Sconce Ware (nee Clark), also in that year, remembers walking along Sydney Street East ‘looking for no. 33, home of the New Zealand Library School. It was an old two-storeyed building with books piled along the floor, up the stairway, wherever there was space.’ 21 As Alison recalls, ‘There were only thirteen of us and only one man, J.W. (Bill) Blackwood.’ Library work had not been Bill’s first career choice. A good debater, he would have preferred journalism but, as he suffered from cerebral palsy, some forms of work were not open to him. After Bill completed his BA, a friend gave him an application form for Library School, which he completed, and was duly interviewed by a panel comprising Alley, Macaskill, and the Dunedin City Librarian. Finding himself the only man in the class was a bit of a shock at first. In the old house in Sydney Street East
there was a classroom on the ground floor and two study rooms upstairs. Since there were about 12 in our class six were assigned to each study ... I was the only male in the class. The slight awkwardness that I felt soon disappeared. At lunchtime on that first day all the women assembled in one of the studies to eat their lunch and I went into the other one. Marny Hazeltine whom I had met occasionally at Otago University came in and urged me to join the group. From that moment I was very much one of the group. 22
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Alison Grant enjoyed Library School although she found Ted Leatham a ‘scary’ lecturer and Geoff Alley hard to listen to, ‘he gazed out the window all the time’. Bill Blackwood became class representative, and at one point confronted a lecturer who had been rude to some of the women students, asking him to apologise.
Library School student numbers and recruitment at the graduate level were matters much discussed in the upper echelons of the Association membership, with fears expressed that in one of the recurring fits of government economy the Library School might be closed down. Most university graduates were being encouraged to enter other professions rather than library work.This was pardy because of the post-war ‘baby boom’: the government was desperate to train enough school teachers and offered extra incentives in the form of studentships (grants for university students planning to take up a teaching career) and better salaries. As Jock McEldowney pointed out, ‘teaching was taking all the graduates’. Library work was very much the poor relation. 23 With librarians being comparatively few in number and struggling to maintain status, the general feeling was that, in order to be able to unite and push to achieve objectives, it was important to work together in a spirit of co-operation and find a consensus of views.
Among the fifteen Library School students in 1957 were a few recent graduates, including Winifred Kayes, who had just completed an MA. Others were mature students like Pat Alexander, Mirth Smallwood, and Don Silver who had worked in libraries for several years. Trained teacher Betty Millen was one of several older married women returning to the workforce in the late 1950s and reluctant to grapple with classroom teaching. Another was Dorothy Freed, who became an acclaimed reference librarian with a specialist knowledge of music and who was influential in forming the Music Librarians Group.
Brian McKeon’s Library School year, 1959, had only eleven students of whom four were in New Zealand under the Colombo Plan, which
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granted aid for students from Southeast Asia to study in New Zealand. In the same year was Trevor Mowbray for whom, like Bill Blackwood, library work was a second choice. His first choice had been teaching: ‘I never even thought of librarianship.’ This was mainly because of the low public profile of the library profession at university and the prevailing stereotype of librarians as dowdily dressed individuals wearing spectacles. Library School, housed in a dilapidated building where the few students worked quietly on research and assignments, also lacked appeal. By contrast the attractions of the teachers’colleges were obvious: large campuses, lively political debate, sporting teams, and many social and cultural activities. As well teachers had good salaries and a career structure. After three years in a classroom, however, Trevor had realised his mistake: he was not cut out for teaching. It was a big step to make the change and opt for library work: he was married and about to start a family, and the salaries were much lower than in teaching. But Trevor found that he enjoyed the intellectual stimulus and the calibre of the Library School staff. Visiting lecturers were generally specialists in a particular sphere of literature: J.W. Matthews, of Garden with Matthews fame, spoke about gardening books and Professor Colin Bailey on the literature of education. Others included librarians Jim Wilson and Cyril Tolley. In the 1960s Professor Joan Stevens’s course on New Zealand fiction was very popular. Many former Library School students remember with amusement poet Denis Glover, an expert on typography and source of many witty comments, but also a notorious alcoholic. The school scheduled his lectures first thing in the morning in the hope he would be sober. The system worked for a while, but Denis soon lapsed.
While some classes complained of an excessive workload, 1962 students had a fairly relaxed regime. With time to spare, one young woman even got a lunchtime job at the cafe-bar at Roy Parsons bookshop. Her employment ceased abruptly when the director, Brian O’Neill, came in for a cup of coffee.
By the time Brian O’Neill took over as director of the school
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class numbers were once more on the rise, with students coming from all parts of New Zealand even Kaitaia in the far north. Lecturer Jerzy Podstolski, whose strong Polish accent was difficult to listen to, memorably said that Diderot’s Dictionary ‘caused the French revolution. The 1965 students were amused to overhear staff member Bill Tanzer saying to a visiting lecturer ‘they’re an average class of medium brightness.’ 24 Another visiting lecturer described the Bliss classification system as ‘a minor aberration of Otago University Library’. O’Neill, when asked why students had to spend so much time trawling through reference materials, said mildly: ‘We can’t have librarians complaining that the students have never heard of Ulrich' As it happened, within a couple of decades few librarians under the age of forty had heard of Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory.
Library School course work included compiling a subject bibliography. Most students chose such topics as art history, New Zealand missionaries, or New Zealand and Antarctica. Maryna Glowacki, the daughter of Polish immigrants, was pressed by Podstolski to choose a bibliography subject close to his heart: Polish books in the National Library. Instead she chose an aspect of Maori carving. ‘lt was a lot of work -1 remember it took ages slowly typing out all these cards -no photocopying at that time, either.’ 25 In the mid-19605, one student chose for her bibliography the current pop sensation, 'The Beatles. She worked hard, doing extensive research, selecting and annotating all articles and other material in a professional way. Unfortunately the Library School, which had approved her subject choice, had a loss of nerve. Although she graduated, her topic was not listed with the other class bibliographies for that year.
In the first few decades of the Association, many of its leading lights had no formal library training: for example, Stuart Perry, Chief Librarian at Wellington Public. By contrast, most of those who rose to the top of the library profession in the 1950s and 1960s held the New Zealand Library School diploma. However, because the
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certificate course had started four years before the diploma course and trained many more students, a number of certificate holders attained positions of authority, particularly in public libraries. Over time this two-tier system of library training and qualification - the certificate and the diploma courses had the potential to divide the profession along what could be seen as class or even caste lines. Mary Ronnie recorded:
It was impossible to escape the dichotomy within the NZLA which the new diploma created as soon as the first graduates emerged at the end of 1946. Those who had earned the certificate instandy felt downgraded. Were they? They were and they were not ... Resentment at the threat to promotion was both bitter and vocal for some years. I fear that the very existence of two levels of qualification creates divisions. 26
By the 1960s the certificate course was attracting very large numbers of students. Although administered by the Associations office, and under general scrutiny from the Education Committee, from the 1950s onwards part of the NZLA Certificate Course was held at the Library School in Wellington. Division of responsibility for the certificate course was as follows:
NZLA
Receives applications for the Prelim Exam
• Students pay 3 guineas membership fee
Distributes notes
• Hold exams
• Pays examiners
• Notifies results
• Calls for applications for Sections
• Supplies student notes for: required reading, and reading records
• Arranges (in conjunction with the Library School) and pays tutors of reading records
Graduates students
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NZ Library School
Accepts students for Sections
Prepares reading lists and book lists
• Conducts sections
Notifies results to NZLA
• Supervises & organises bibliographical exercises 27
In 1968 the certificate course comprised first, the preliminary examination conducted by the NZLA; secondly, the reading record, conducted by the NZLA; and thirdly, three full-time sections of four weeks each, conducted by the New Zealand Library School. While in Wellington, out-of-town students were usually billeted with local librarians.
The Library School by now had new premises. In 1965 it had moved from the old house in Sydney Street East to another old house in Hobson Street and then to Borthwick House at 85 The Terrace. Here both diploma students and at regular intervals certificate course students took classes. On 23 October 1968, newly appointed director Ronald O’Reilly, who had succeeded D.C. Mclntosh, wrote to Doreen Bibby: ‘To fit in with sailings of the inter-island steamer it is proposed as from the beginning of next year to begin the NZLA Certificate courses on Mondays, except where the Monday is a public holiday, and finish them on a Friday. As a rule each course will, therefore, ran for one day more than at present.’ 28 For out-of-town students, return first-class rail or steamer fares were paid by the Library School; the travel warrant could also be used as a part payment of an air fare.
By then both diploma and certificate course students enjoyed a proper award ceremony. On 6 September 1968, Doreen Bibby wrote to the Association President, M.C. Sexton: ‘the graduation ceremony for students completing the NZLA Certificate Course this year is to be held at the Victoria University of Wellington at 2.00pm on Friday 29 November. Approximately 45 students are expected to graduate at
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that time. The Education Committee would be pleased if you would give the address ...' She went on: "Ihis will be the first graduation ceremony since the changeover from the correspondence course to the present course which is given almost entirely by the Library School >29
Brian Gilberthorpe. Canterbury Public Library, the only man in the NZLA Certificate course, 1961 (Evening Post colln. Alexander Turnbull Library)
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CHAPTER 3
In strictest conference
Betty Randle, a former cataloguer at Dunedin Public Library, attended the thirteenth conference of the Association held in Dunedin on 18-21 February 1941. The opening session, held in the evening at the Tudor Hall, Savoy Tea Rooms, was a black-tie, festive occasion. ‘ln spite of wartime conditions, the mood of the Association was buoyant and there was an atmosphere of expectancy’ On the agenda was the screening of the Otago Branch film, Books in Dunedin , and several speeches by ‘outstanding personalities’, including Association President Dr Guy Scholefield and the liaison officer (sometimes referred to as the registrar or executive officer), Miss [Edith] Jessie Carnell. The latter had arrived in New Zealand in 1939, financed by the Carnegie Corporation. Between 1940 and 1944 she worked as liaison officer between the Association and the Country Library Service. Jessie Carnell’s address, ‘Try it at the library: Thoughts on books of information ... supply, demand and exploitation’, was for many a conference highlight. Geoff Alley noted that it ‘remains an example of her great ability, her spirit’. 1
T was terribly nervous at having to open the discussion which followed ...,’ Betty Randle recalled. After I sat down I was passed a note of congratulation from the City Librarian, Archie Dunningham.’ Significantly, later in the evening members considered ‘a draft syllabus for library training in New Zealand, with certificates for children’s librarians and a general certificate plus a diploma in librarianship and the possibility of indexing New Zealand periodicals.’ 2 This document would form the basis for the library
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training systems developed during the next five years.
It was not surprising that the draft syllabus of a new training scheme was first discussed at conference. Held on an annual or biannual basis and the most visible part of the Association’s activities, it has always been important for future planning and organising as well as for raising the public profile of the profession. Attended by delegates from all over New Zealand, conference hosted local authority representatives, as well as representatives from university, government department, and special libraries (senior librarians and staff members), and others with a commercial interest in libraries. The NZLA Council met and the Association held its annual general meeting. The sections and committees and later Special Interest Groups (SIGs) also held their main meetings. It was also a time for connecting with colleagues, networking, gathering information, and generating bonds of unity and identity. Would-be employees could make contact with possible employers and vice versa. It was - and still is - an opportunity for librarians to gather and talk face to face. Most importantly it provides a forum for airing - and arguing - about important issues.
As pointed out by Jock McEldowney, within a few years of the constitutional change of 1935 when personal members were admitted, effective control of the Association passed to New Zealand’s senior librarians, ‘several of whom had been selected by the Carnegie Corporation of New York for training and experience in modern library practice.’ 3 With them came their supporters ‘subordinate but equally enthusiastic followers’. McEldowney went on: ‘One could say that the Association was hijacked by these senior librarians, but at the same time one would have to say that the remarkable transformation of library services over the period from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s would not have been so successfully achieved if they had not taken charge .. .’ 4 It was these senior librarians - mostly male and often visible to the membership only at conference - who held the floor.
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One of those who received a Carnegie Corporation grant was Dorothy Neal (later White, then Ballantyne). Dorothy was to be one of New Zealand’s most respected and renowned librarians in the area of children’s literature. In 1936, along with Kathleen Harvey, she had attended the Pittsburgh Library School. Returning to New Zealand, Dorothy became children’s librarian at Dunedin Public Library and a strong advocate for promoting library services for children throughout the country. Looking back from the 1980s when over two hundred attended conference, she recalled how small the early ones were: less than fifty at Nelson in 1938; ninety in Wanganui in 1945; and in 1955, again in Wanganui, less than seventy. People came to ‘take part, to speak, to act. There was this overriding feeling that decisions taken would result in change and forward march - which indeed they did.’ Conferences were organised on a ‘shoe-string’, held in austere halls. ‘Much tea was served, little or no alcohol: registration fees were either non-existent or microscopic.’ The host city and library made a considerable contribution, and the conference dinner was ‘fight years away’. Like Betty Randle, she singled out Jessie Carnell, who at the 1940 conference in Wellington ‘electrified us all with her paper on ‘Library policy: Great Britain, United States and New Zealand’. I still remember her phrase about the miserable salaries of the day, about juniors “paid half in cash and half in hope”.’ 5
Other women were also to the fore. ‘At Wanganui I watched Ellen Melville [President of the Association and an Auckland city councillor] chair meetings, an impressive and formidable lady.’ 6 Dorothy also noted that children’s library work was discussed carefully and resolutely; T can remember preparing the odd speech on the subject [of children’s literature], but my greatest joy at all those early gatherings was the pleasure of listening.’ 7 Generally serious in design and content, conference provided a change from everyday work routines and had other enjoyable aspects. Marjorie Warwick remembers John Barr taking Freda Lewins and herself from Auckland to conference in Wellington in 1950. T played hookey one afternoon and spent an hour going up and down the escalator in James Smith’s
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department store.’ 8 The Rotorua conference in 1957 was remembered for hospitality at local people’s homes and bus tours to see the thermal marvels.
NZLA Conference, Wanganui 1955 (G.T. Alley, front row, 4th from right)
In the early 19505, debate in conference and the NZLA Council grew heated over the proposal to establish a Register of Qualified Librarians. This plan, initially raised by the Otago Branch at the 1947 conference, resulted in a committee and a report, not to mention ‘exciting battles’ and ‘wordy disagreements’. The idea was to provide a professional qualification for New Zealand librarians that had higher status than the NZLA Certificate or the Library School’s diploma or its certificate (for students who did not have a university degree but were sometimes admitted to, and completed, the diploma course). In 1952 a committee was set up to investigate this proposed register on two levels: Associate (the lower level, ANZLA) and Fellow (the higher level, FNZLA). Associate level would require a formal library qualification - either certificate or diploma - with an additional number of years working in a professional capacity. The level of Fellow would be reserved for a select few who had shown outstanding qualities in the practice of librarianship or
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given some signal service to the profession. The committee’s proposal included rules which would govern both awards and a new Credentials Committee which would examine and report on all applications according to an approved set of rules. Council would ratify the actual granting of award.
On the face of it, there should have been no cause for disquiet about the Register or its rules, but a minority thought the idea premature for the prevailing climate and likely to be dangerously divisive in a professional group which was comparatively small and not yet firmly established in the country. Opponents of the scheme fought to have it postponed until more New Zealand librarians held the certificate or diploma. At the 1955 Wanganui conference, after more heated debate, the rules were adopted and the Credentials Committee began its difficult task of assessing the qualifications, or lack of them. Early fellowship recipients were Geoffrey Alley, Graham Bagnall, Archibald Dunningham, Harold Miller, C.W. Collins, Frank Rogers, and Stuart Perry (1955); Dorothy Neal White Ballantyne (1957); Hector Macaskill, C.R.H. Taylor, F.A. Sandall (1960), W. Jock McEldowney and Ron O’Reilly (1962); H.O. Roth, Allan Mercer, John Sage, T.B. O’Neill, Miss Enid Annie Evans, and David Wylie (1964). Rules for the associateship were amended in 1963, when 31 December 1964 was set down as the last day for the receipt of applications from those who had not the necessary formal training but who, on 25 February 1955, ‘held or had held a post in a New Zealand library which required the knowledge and judgment of a professional librarian and who had competently discharged its duties.’ 9
Over the years associateship matters continued to arouse strong feelings. At the Nelson conference in 1970, members considered the pros and cons of a possible automatic award of Associate to all librarians with appropriate qualifications and years of service. Employers in local government and the public service were, however, slow to recognise the associateship despite the considerable efforts of Council. As late as 1979 it had still not been accepted by the Public
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Service Association in its library salary scale.
In 1959 the Council invited Dr Andrew Osborn, an Australian with much relevant experience, to make a survey of New Zealand libraries. Working under the aegis of the Book Resources Committee, with Graham Bagnall from the Alexander Turnbull Library as his New Zealand associate, Dr Osborn spoke of his findings and conclusions at the Library School graduation ceremony in December. The following year the Osborn Report was published. Its thirty-one wide-ranging recommendations were a focus for discussion at the 1960 conference in Dunedin and were to be another landmark in New Zealand library history. Among other things, Osborn said: ‘The weakest links in the existing library system are without doubt the academic libraries.’ He added that ‘most school libraries are mediocre or poor and will remain so until local school administrations accord libraries a key place ...’ 10 While steps were taken comparatively quickly on academic libraries, with considerable injections of funds into the system, the inadequacy of school libraries remained an ongoing problem.
During the 1950s and 19605, conference debates ranged widely but three issues were paramount: regional library services; education - mainly the certificate and diploma courses; and the yet to be established National Library. Each committee dealing with these topics had its main meeting at conference, usually a hard-working session. Brian McKeon, Assistant Chief Librarian, Wellington Public Library, who was asked to join the Education Committee in 1965, saw it as an important event for a ‘new boy’, though he later realised that in the Association there were few people available to do a lot of work. Anyone who showed any enthusiasm was shoulder tapped and got involved.’ 11 The committees also met three or four times a year in addition to the conference gathering, each time held in a different centre.
On the lighter side, Dorothy Neal White’s brochure for conference participants in 1968, ‘Dunedin through the writer’s eye’,
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contained notes on the southern city's literary characters, mentioning such things as Dan Davin's accounts of certain pubs: 'ln the winter of 1965 I was informed that counter lunches were still served at some hotels: the Victoria served sausages and a notable stew, the Bowling Green offered sausage and chips, but pigs' trotters were found only at the Clarendon.' 12 Whether these pubs admitted women to the bars with counter lunches is doubtful. Liquor laws had been liberalised, but it was some time before most pubs changed their time-honoured traditions.
By 1968 Brian McKeon had risen from newcomer to being a convener at the Dunedin conference, notable for the high profile report on ‘Women in Professional Library Work’. 13 Other memories included the dramatic moment when a senior assistant from Canterbury University Library was whisked out of a session (on archives preservation) to confront the police. It turned out that her husband had had an accident on Mount Tasman: he and his climbing mate had fallen from a high ridge into a glacier. The young woman was sent by train to Timaru where her husband had been flown to hospital with a suspected fractured skull. His injuries were not life-threatening, though tragically the climbing mate was dead.
Dorothy Neal White
Conferences from the late sixties through to the seventies, while later seen as a reflection of the times, were an experience - both positive and negative for participants. Alan Smith, a field librarian for the Country Library Service, felt that the Association was the key to a career in libraries. Becoming a delegate at conference was for him something of a rite of passage, especially the occasion in Gisborne in 1969 ‘when I raised a point from the floor’. 14 Another view of proceedings was recorded by Peter Durey, Auckland University
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Librarian. He felt that the 1971 conference in Palmerston North seemed very long, with ‘too much sitting on uncomfortable chairs’ and not enough breaks and visits to local libraries. He also felt that local authority representatives had tended to dominate and monopolise the AGM, but on the plus side it was good to see a session headed ‘Younger librarians look at the profession.’ 15
Around the same period, Jim Traue, Chief Librarian, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), caused consternation among the membership when he criticised conference as an ‘aimless gathering stating that ‘it neither contributes significantly to policy nor to professional knowledge’. 16 In his view, what had served well when the profession was small and had common interests was no longer workable. In addition conference planners and organisers faced an ongoing problem, perhaps understandable in those changing times, of the lack of focus and the diverse and varying special interest groups, later known as SIGs. The meetings had become too big and too general and, because of work commitments as well as costs involved, usually only senior librarians attended. Traue pointed out that the percentage of membership attendance had dropped from nearly 100 per cent in 1926 to 12-15 percent in the 19605.
Elder statesman Geoff Alley saw conference as an indication of the overall state of the profession. By the late 1960s librarians appeared to him to be suffering some sort of malaise - becoming less serious. He wrote that conference 1974 was ‘poor in content but seemed to have lots of parties’. 1 ' He was right in one sense: while conferences had a serious purpose, according to participants there were more parties which were open to all - not just a select few. It was a sign of a change in outlook of a new generation of librarians who felt it was time to move on.
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CHAPTER 4
Is there life after Library School?
By the 1960s an increasing percentage of library employees held professional qualifications - certificate or diploma. While a number of graduates went on to work in the big public and university libraries, others went to the departments of the National Library Service, like the School Library Service. One of the departments, the Country Library Service, Christchurch, was headed by its long-serving director Jean Wright, for many years a tutor of the certificate course and author of the ‘Training Notes’ for students. Former staff remember her as ‘a strict disciplinarian who ran a tight ship. Woe betide the employee who arrived a minute late and had to sign on under the red line drawn smartly across the page, where one signed in at 8.30 a.m. sharp.’ While some found her regime destructive to self-esteem and the nervous system, others found her outstanding for her leadership, coaching and mentoring qualities.’Even those who respected her among them internationally renowned children’s author Margaret Mahy - would agree that she was ‘a formidable woman, certainly most were in awe of her; but they admired her energy, devotion and capacity for work’. 1
Alison (Ali) Grant, like a number of students who later took up careers in libraries, started out in postgraduate teacher training. At Auckland Teachers’ College, she was ‘not at all happy’. Her career path changed as a result of baby-sitting for the music lecturer, who ‘must have realised I was not suited to teaching and suggested I apply to go to Library School. I was quite surprised but I loved the idea.’ 2 Library School 1965 was for her full of fun and romance,
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IS THERE LIFE AFTER LIBRARY SCHOOL?
which included racing about Wellington on the back of a motorbike. However, Mi’s grades ‘took a nose dive’ and Brian O’Neill, the director at the time,called her in to have ‘a word’. She realised that she had improved when none other than Geoff Alley commended her talk on Harvard University s Lament Library as the ‘best presentation’he’d heard from students. Td practised in front of a mirror,’ she said. On graduation Ah Grant was offered the ‘perfect’job; Music and Fine Arts Librarian at Wellington Public Library. Her later career was at Auckland University Library, first in circulation then acquisitions, culminating as Collection Services Manager.
Throughout the decade, young Library School graduates were keen to work in the Country Library Service many as book-van drivers with the mandatory heavy traffic licence. After graduating in 1967, Man Smith, who had earlier worked in the General Assembly Library,
took off in a different direction by joining the Country Library Service ... organised to serve an older sort of New Zealand which was already fading into history as its leaders, shaped by wartime experiences, moved into retirement ... My main motivation here was the money. On the CLS you were on the road for six weeks and back at base for two; while away you got a daily allowance (on top of salary) of about $6.50 - at a time when you could still get dinner-bed-and-breakfast at a country pub for around $4. But as well I was keen to see more of New Zealand before heading off on the inevitable o.e.
He spent a year driving the Bedford book-vans to towns and remote places all around the North Island from Te Kao to Baring Head. As Man recorded when he retired in 2003, the Country Library Service was in a way ‘a very slow speed internet: every community library could use the CLS as a channel to the total world resource of print, through request cards and the post.’ 3
Keitha Booth (nee Taylor) fell in love with the idea of library work when, aged eleven, she was taken on a tour of the General Assembly Library. There and then she decided that’s where she wanted to work.
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It was to be a long road to achieve her chosen career - especially as her high school, New Plymouth Girls’, did not even have a library - but she persisted. Completing Library School in 1966, she got a job in the Copyright Office and then became a reference officer at General Assembly Library. She was not disappointed. 4
For various social or demographic reasons, only a minority of young male graduates were choosing to enter the library profession. Those who did, and continued in libraries, found good career opportunities, especially if they were prepared to move to a new location. Trevor Mowbray, at the end of his Library School year (1959) was pleased to obtain a well-paid job, suited to his interests and abilities, as organiser for the School Library Service in Wellington. This involved travelling to schools throughout the region and acting as an adviser on school library matters. Brian McKeon also went almost straight into the senior job at Whangarei Public Library.
Gillian Beaven (nee Hobbs) described herself as an ‘artisan cataloguer’ (a reference to her training in the technical aspects of the job) at Canterbury University Library from 1961 until 2003. After graduating from university, she began work in the cataloguing department under Oliver Chandler and only later attended Library School (1969). Working conditions in prefabs at the old Christchurch city campus were dreadful and the system before her time - was tedious, involving ‘hand-written catalogue cards’. It improved as it ‘progressed to typed cards, then to computer-generated cards and finally to no cards at all but just electronic records in an on-line catalogue.’ 5
Kerrie Goold remembers her first experience of library work in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) Library under the notorious Ted Leatham:
A big man, he had an imposing physical presence and a tendency to mutter which could strike terror into the hearts of senior managers in the department, let alone us junior li-
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brary people ... a typical episode of staff training was my introductory lesson in cataloguing. I duly processed the card [typewritten] ... and placed card in book on the edge of my desk for Ted’s inspection when next passing. Shortly I heard the tramp of heavy footfalls heading my way and then, whack, a large well-shod foot arrives on the desk at my elbow, the book is scooped up, and there is a short silence as he inspects my work. “Jesus Christ” he roars (needless to say the whole library had been deathly quiet from the moment he picked up the book). I gathered there was something less than perfect about the card. He proceeded to explain what was wrong and I lived to have another go.
As Kerrie records, ‘I learned a lot working for Ted, in many areas of information work, particularly acquisitions which was his forte, unlike staff management which probably wasn’t.’ 6
Yolanda Drummond’s experience also provides a picture of the difficult - and fairly typical - working conditions of the 19605. She remembers the Cataloguing Department at Auckland Central Library. The subject of cataloguing ‘had alarmed me in Library School’, and equally alarming was her new boss, Miss Judith Child, whose academic record first class honours in French was intoned by Bob Duthie, the chief librarian. The old central building having become too small, about twenty workers were accommodated in the dark cold basement of the old Town Hall in Queen Street, near where traffic cops used to rev up their motorbikes. ‘lt was a frightening place, this engine room of the Auckland Central Library. Ordering of books, cataloguing, classifying, processing ... as well it was decided here in royal fashion what books and how many the ten branches were going to get, Central never being left out ...’Wearing Arctic-type clothing, workers sat in the open at well-lit desks, each with a typewriter and the most essential equipment, a foot heater. ‘We also moved about peering into card cabinets and Library of Congress volumes (our Bibles).’Only Judith Child had her own glassed-in office:
She checked what we did, never by looking over our
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shoulders as we valiantly pecked at typewriters, but somehow she inspected and corrected. She carried the catalogue cards from Queen Street to Wellesley Street and filed them in the big Central Library cabinets. After passing through her hands the cards were perfect. We trusted Judith. Thousands of cards. Maybe ten cards for one book, counting See and See Also cards. But photocopying arrived. I have a memory of Judith the academic standing around the new machine and laughing helplessly as the cards browned and smoked and the fire alarm went off. The coming of the computer, no we were not suddenly given keyboard and screen to work with. Books came first. Books about this new subject. Special classification numbers. New Headings on cards.
The big changes did arrive eventually the catalogue was computerised, the new library built. No more cards. 7
Reunion of 1954 Library School students, fifty years on in 2004. Standing; Charmian Ardley (Gilmer). Judith Ashton (Taylor), Mamy Bradley (Hazeltine). Anne Just. Seated; Anne de Roo, Bill Blackwood. Seonee Ware (Clark). Nancy Hill (Forbes)
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CHAPTER 5
Fifty years on: the 1960s
In 1962 the Association published a history to mark its fiftieth anniversary and record the events from its beginning in 1910. Author W.J. (Jock) McEldowney, then in his early forties, was one of several individual members who became prominent in the post-World War II era. He had graduated in 1946 from the first class of the New Zealand Library School and for fifteen years worked in the Country Library Service based in Wellington. In that time he served on the Council and several committees of the Association and also edited New Zealand Libraries , its official journal, from 1948 to 1953. After being appointed Librarian at the University of Otago, he continued his dedicated involvement with the Association and by 1965 was president. Addressing the Auckland conference in February of the following year, he identified three crucial decisions made by the Association in the development of libraries in New Zealand: the admission ofindividuallibrarians aspersonalmembers,the establishment of the Country Library Service, and the creation of the Library School. 1
By this time the New Zealand Library Association was looked on as the voice and the hub of the New Zealand library world: the central organisation which linked all the various types of libraries and institutions and the people working in the profession, who were scattered throughout the country. For career librarians, the Association controlled or directly influenced the training courses which led to a qualification and advancement. It was also active in making submissions to select committees of Parliament on a
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variety of library subjects - and was occasionally invited to nominate representatives on public bodies. Of importance was the committee chaired by J.K. Hunn, set up in 1955 by the Public Service Commission to consider the Associations proposals regarding services of the various arms of the state’s libraries. 2 Another committee with Association representation was the tribunal set up after the passing of the ‘hasty and ill-considered’ Indecent Publications Amendment Act of 1954.
The 1959-60 NZLA Standing Executive Committee comprised stalwarts of the library profession: G.T. Alley (Head of the National Library Service), Hector Macaskill and WJ. McEldowney (NationalLibraryService),StuartPerry(WelhngtonCityLibrarian)J.O. Wilson (Chief Librarian, General Assembly Library), David M. Wylie (Lower Hurt City Librarian). These and several others were well-educated men who had learned their library craft through work experience and had ideals about making books available to all. They were also Wellington based, and it was a matter of intermittent criticism that so much power was held in the capital city. Most visible among them was Geoffrey Thomas Alley, who later noted that the important decisions he made for libraries included ‘the establishment of the School Library Service in 1941, the full support of the Book Resources programme and the setting up of the graduate Library School in 1945. ’ 3
In Wellington, Alley was a familiar figure, distinctive in size and bearing as he made the rounds of the many buildings occupied by the National Library Service and related institutions in his role as Director of the National Library Service and on Association matters. Although his critics viewed him as an autocrat,‘arrogant’in his opinions, it was widely appreciated that because he had worked his way upwards through the ranks, he had a broad and deep understanding of the whole profession. Staff at the School Library Service in the early 19505, when part of the organisation was housed in the basement of Parliament Buildings, down the stairs below the Maori Affairs Com-
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mittee Room, remember him visiting Hector Macaskill, then head of the service: ‘Mr Alley was always charming, a “gentle giant” who took an interest in our work.’ 4 Geoff Alley had the mana, the self-confi-dence, and the stature which enabled access to those in power. He was at ease with senior public servants, in particular the influential Alister (later Sir Alister) Mclntosh, who was on first-name terms with members of Parliament. Geoffrey Alley was appointed New Zealand’s first National Librarian in 1964.
If the Association was the hub of the library world, the hub of the Association was its office at 33 Sydney Street East, within one of the many buildings occupied by the National Library Service, which had ‘generously provided an office and storage space’. Doreen Bibby, its efficient but overworked secretary, handled the administration work, including that for the certificate course and the associate and fellowship schemes, with intermittent help from parttime assistants. Her office was conveniently close to that of Geoffrey Alley, the Association’s honorary secretary/treasurer; the major libraries in the capital; and Parliament Buildings. However, from the perspective of those not working in Wellington, it also meant the Association was dominated by the National Library Service and its higher echelons. And although accommodation was free, there was a downside. Doreen reported that since 1939 the Association had had seven different offices in six different buildings, mostly ancient wooden houses:‘Each move becomes more difficult as the Association’s records and equipment increase’ was one of her rare complaints. 5 The secretary’s work was very labour intensive, with minimal technical equipment - no photocopiers, only manual typewriters. Mary Ronnie remembers that in addition to her Association work, Doreen was also expected to file Union Catalogue cards. The difficulties she faced in those cramped conditions can be seen from a note in the first Newsletter (March 1956) that ‘collating the Union List of University Theses is now in progress and involves handling approximately 100 reams of paper.’
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Mail-out day was particularly hectic: huge bundles had to be transported to the nearest post office at the railway station. Mary Ronnie recalls that Doreen was very grateful to David Wylie when he arrived with his car to help out. In bad weather, mail-out day could be traumatic. The Newsletter of December 1957 included: 'Gone With the Wind. Some of the letters being despatched from the Association office on 25 November were blown away by an 80 mile per hour gust of wind which overpowered a young schoolboy who was carrying the mail to the station. As there were 218 items in the mail that afternoon it would be impracticable to send out duplicate copies of everything for the sake of the half dozen or so which were lost and members who have not received mail are asked to write and let the Registrar know >6
Doreen Bibby. NZLA Registrar for 37 years
‘Registrar’ was Doreens new job tide. In reconsidering her terms and conditions of appointment earlier that year, the Council decided that use of the one designation - registrar —for all her work and
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activities would be less confusing. 7 It was to be some time before existing stocks of stationery with the word ‘Secretary’were used up. In those days, neither the Association nor its employees would throw out perfectly good stationery, even if out of date.
After years of regular, gentle prompting by Doreen Bibby about the less than satisfactory accommodation, the New Zealand Library Association headquarters was about to move to a new home. Council had considered the alternatives: whether to find another rental office space or purchase a property. Further impetus to action came when the National Library Service informed Council that it could no longer provide rent-free accommodation. The Association then decided to purchase its own building, which in turn necessitated various administrative changes and amendment of the relevant Association rules 29A and 30 to give Council the power to ‘acquire, purchase, sell or take on lease’ property and power to ‘borrow money by way of mortgage.’ 8 Another concern was the Association’s status for the purpose of zoning. On 21 October 1959 the Standing Executive Committee noted that the Town Clerk, Wellington City Council, had written stating that the Association would be recognised as an educational institution and as such could be permitted under the Town & Country Planning Act to operate as a ‘conditional use’ in a residential zone. 9
At last, in October 1960, the big news went out to members: ‘lt is good to be able to report that the Association has paid a substantial deposit on the purchase of a property for use as its headquarters and that the purchase and transfer of ownership are expected to be completed within the next month.’ 10 Ten years earlier, with money from a Carnegie Corporation grant, the Association had begun to build up a property fund, which had reached about £4,000 but was still well short of what was needed. Further negotiation with the bank produced an overdraft of £3,000, which enabled new premises to be purchased for £7,250. Other expenses involved the purchase of desks, shelving, and office equipment. By
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November 1960, the registered office of the New Zealand Library Association, with Doreen Bibby minding the store, was at 10 Park Street, at the corner of Burnell Avenue, Thorndon: a two-storeyed wooden building with a brick garage and wooden shed. ‘The garage and upper storey of the house will be let [to provide an income]. In addition to a kitchen, mailroom, hall etc there are three rooms on the ground floor with a total area of about 650 square feet which will be used by the Association for its HQand small meetings.’ 11 Headquarters remained in Thorndon for another twenty years.
10 Park Street. Thorndon, Wellington. NZLA registered office 1960-1980
In September 1961 after receiving a report from the Finance Committee, Council noted that ‘a review of the general income and expenditure of the Association shows, however, that it is not quite living within its income.’ This was despite the fact that the membership had responded generously to an appeal for extra funds. Much discussion went on as to how the Association should go about clearing its overdraft, expected at the end of the year to be £1,500. 12
Two factors contribute to the higher cost of running the Association; one is the greater volume of business conducted by the Registrar’s office, for example the increased number
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FIFTY YEARS ON: THE 1960’S
of training course candidates each year and the consequent increase in membership. The extra work has reached the point where a full-time assistant for the Registrar is more than overdue and the Council has approved such a position being advertised. The other is the inevitable extra cost of running a separate office where formerly the Association enjoyed rent-free quarters ... 13
Clearly the Association was not paying its way. At the council meeting three proposals were put to the Finance Committee: first, to consider increasing revenue from New Zealand Libraries ; second, to consider increasing the training course fees; and third, to raise subscriptions. It was hoped that by implementing such moves the Association could pay off its overdraft. After considerable debate about raising the subscription rates for personal members, a remit was passed at the New Plymouth conference in February 1962. In December it was reported that there would be a surplus of income over expenditure in 1963, due partly to an increase in the number of students taking the certificate course, for whom subscription was compulsory and included in their student fees. The surplus created a reserve or working capital, to provide assistance for the registrar and, at some future stage, the appointment of an executive secretary.
In the 1960-70 decade, the huge amount of dedicated voluntary work of the past fifty years resulted in many significant dreams and aspirations bearing fruit. Jock McEldowney noted in particular the passing of the National Library Act 1965. By then the Association was a sizeable organisation having over one thousand members divided into three categories: life members (13), personal members (739), and institutional members (348). The last named category included, as well as libraries, research institutions, museums, law and accountancy firms, town councils, and government departments. (Later there were also large commercial businesses such as Fletcher Construction and Glaxo.) 14 Headed by its Council of senior librarians and local body representatives, the Association had branches in main centres in both the North and South Islands. As well it had as many as twenty specific interest committees and
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regional sections. The standing committees of the Association at that period were: activities; archives; children’s book week; conference; credentials; fiction; finance; legislation; librarians’ salaries; recruitment, conditions and qualifications; library buildings; library training; New Zealand book resources, which dealt also with interloans; nominations; public library service; publications; standing executive; and ad hoc committees. There were also three section committees: children and young people, small public libraries, and university and research. 15
Seeds for new directions were being sown. In 1960, for example, the Activities Committee identified three major policies: for a national library, for regional development, and for industrial and technical service. Council also suggested reorganising the Association’s branches in order to strengthen their role, but it was agreed that ‘there was nothing more that could usefully be done.’ Other topics and activities of the decade included the Esther Glen Award for children’s books and the importation of gramophone records. Stuart Perry, Wellington City Librarian with a legal background and on the Legislation Committee, reported that it ‘had prepared a complete revision of the rules incorporating the amendments which had been made from time to time to the 1948 rules.’ 16 In 1963, as a member of the first Indecent Publications Tribunal, he took part in battles over works such as Baldwin’s Another Country and Nabokov’s Lolita. The Association could always rely on him as an able representative and an advocate for ‘freedom to read’ issues.
By now the Association itself had an extensive publishing history, as listed in Jock McEldowney’s history, notably: Copyright Publications, Ihe Union List of Serials, Books to Buy, The Fiction List, The Handbook on Interloan Rules, the Index to New Zealand Periodicals, the Current National Bibliography, and work was proceeding on the retrospective New Zealand National Bibliography. Edited by A.G. Bagnall, the first volume was published in 1969. Arthur Olsson, a long-time member of the Publications
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Committee, had compiled two editions of Who’s Who in New Zealand Libraries. In addition the Association published its journal, New Zealand Libraries , and its Newsletter, which provided the main links between library employees and members scattered throughout the country. Receiving the journal was a prime motivation for library staff to join the Association. Perhaps even more importantly, the Newsletter listed new library appointments and job vacancies.
In December 1966 the Publications Committee met with J.E. Traue, who was about to begin his eighth year as editor of New Zealand Libraries, to discuss its future. First published 1937, the journal had eleven issues a year. Its function was to take a more academic and philosophical approach to librarianship than the Newsletters, and also, as Traue pointed out, to provide information for librarians working far from main centres and unable to take part in branch activities. Under his regime, he had negotiated an arrangement agreed to somewhat reluctantly - whereby the editor could sit in on council meetings in order to be able to report council discussions and decisions to the membership. In an earlier period, Jock McEldowney, editor from 1948 to 1953, remembered that people had to hang about outside the council meeting room waiting to hear which way an argument had gone.
Other honorary editors in the 1960—90 era were Robert Erwin, Michael Heine, Bill Blackwood, Michael Coleman, Michael Wyatt, Simon Cauchi, Vic Elliott, Ross Harvey, Ken Porter, and Philip Calvert. Several commented that producing eleven issues was burdensome and this was reduced to six per year; from 1977 the journal became quarterly. 17
The primary achievement of the Book Resources Committee (from 1963 the Library Resources Committee) was the 1967 preliminary edition of A Bibliography of New Zealand Bibliographies. This committee was divided into three subcommittees: Wellington (for practical matters); Bibliographical Projects; and Materials for
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Industry. A few years later Marjorie Warwick, by then working in a technical library and on the committee, argued with Jock McEldowney about gaps in collections. ‘I wanted to have access to the British Standards. Jock wanted more academic literature.’ 18
The Library Public Relations committee, set up in 1963 ‘to assist in the promotion of activities designed to improve library public relations’, had responsibility for the Association recruitment pamphlet, updated as ‘Working with Books’ (first published in 1957 as A Career in Library Work’) designed for school leavers with School Certificate or University Entrance. Committee members, who represented several types of library and information services, also commissioned artist Hamish Keith to design the poster on ‘Reciprocal Holiday Privileges’, an arrangement whereby borrowers could use public libraries when holidaying in other parts of the country. The committee also approached artist Patrick Hanley, who submitted four designs for a brochure distributed at the 1966 conference in Auckland.
The close of the decade brought with it the centenary of the Public Libraries Act 1869. Council proposed marking this occasion with a nationwide Library Week along the lines of the already extant Book Week and annual Children’s Book Week. The Library and Book Week National Committee, set up in 1968 with Wynne Colgan as convener, included the president of the Association and representatives of the book trade. The first Library and Book Week was held 1-8 August 1969 and became an annual event. 19
Geoffrey Alley, despite having been injured in a motor accident in March 1960, had recovered and showed no sign of slowing down or losing interest in the library world. One of his particular interests was professional status. At the 1965 conference in Christchurch, Wynne Colgan hadreported that the Professional Section had shown little activity and needed lifting from its ‘moribund’ state. 20 This section was set up at the 1951 conference to represent interests involving the professional status of librarians and assistants. In practice
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it operated through a committee of librarians based in one area, revolving to another every three years. Committee members included several Association seniors to give the section a more powerful voice. Issues tackled included ways to improve liaison between the section and branches, standards of appointment and employment, the NZLA Code of Ethics, and recent advances in librarianship. 21 The section had also held a seminar in 1963 on the ‘Future of the Training Course’.
In February 1965, at Wynne Colgan’s suggestion, Geoff Alley, National Librarian, rose to his considerable height and ‘deplored’ the idea that the section go into abeyance. When he offered his services to keep it going, its status rose considerably. The new committee - Brian O’Neill (chair); G.T Alley (honorary secretary), Catherine Bishop, E.M.M. (Betty) Millen, John Gully, Trevor Mowbray, pi us a branch representative - met in Wellington on 2 April 1965. It proposed making a New Zealand-wide study showing ‘the extent to which professional library work is being done by professionally trained people or by untrained people’. A subcommittee comprising Trevor Mowbray, Betty Millen, and Malvina Overy (later Jones) reported on 13 January 1966 with criteria for a ‘Study of Professional and Non-Professional Duties in Libraries’. A report of the results was published in June 1966 and, at the 1967 conference in Wellington, Brian O’Neill gave a presentation on the breakdown of types of library work. The report concluded that as well as providing a body of information, the study showed that much more could be undertaken by librarians with intermediate qualifications, leaving seniors to carry on with ‘professional’ work. 22
Over the next two years the Professional Section was again subject to criticism. In 1968 the Otago Branch proposed that it be reconstituted to focus on furthering the ‘objects of the Association by examining problems which may be referred to it for professional scrutiny ~.’ 23 The following year the section produced a new version of its aims: ‘to further the objects of the Association as they affect librarians in the belief that library service will be improved through the promo-
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tion and welfare of librarians ... specifically the Section is concerned with improving the status of librarianship and with any things which are conducive to the betterment of librarianship as a career.’ 24 The aims and the conclusions of the report on professional and nonprofessional duties at first had little impact on the profession as a whole, but in the long term provided a reference point and basis for future action.
In 1967 Geoffrey T. Alley had retired. He had been New Zealand’s first National Librarian and had dominated the library scene for a large part of the twentieth-century. Marjorie Warwick remembers a conference debate when an argument arose about whether a librarian needed to know and understand the subject matter in order to help with reference inquiries. ‘Mr Alley spoke up and as usual expected others to agree with him. Suddenly a young male librarian said, “Balls.” There was a stunned silence during which we all buried our noses in our handkerchiefs. Nothing happened.’ 25 It was a sign of the times.
Alley was succeeded as National Librarian by Hector Macaskill, who from 1947 to 1953 had headed the Country and the School Library services. Between 1953 and 1959 he was simultaneously librarian of the School Library Service and acting director of the Library School, taking over from Nora Bateson. John Sage wrote that it was Macaskill’s ‘misfortune to take up the position at a time when arbitrarily imposed staffing limits placed on a National Library staff, already weakened in the previous few years by the loss of some of its best people, created an extremely frustrating administrative situation.’ 26 A gross understatement.
NZLA Conference, Christchurch, 1965 G.T Alley in middle of front row (author colln)
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CHAPTER 6
Years of transition
The 1960s and seventies were in many ways a period of transition and evolution. The Association had grown in size and diversity of membership, and it was notable that new issues such as race and gender were coming to the fore. As in the wider society, change was happening at an ever-increasing rate.
In 1970 the Association held a symposium to mark its sixtieth anniversary. It also published a special issue of New Zealand Libraries with papers providing an overview of the current situation and issues seen as important to the library profession. David Wylie, honorary treasurer and a recent past-president, summarised these as:
1. The National Library
2. Book Resources
3. Education for Librarianship
4. Public Library Service
5. School Libraries.
Also in the special issue, M.C. Sexton, a city councillor and current Association president, raised hackles when he wrote of‘smug self-sat-isfied colleagues of the university library system’. He noted: ‘librarians have not yet come out of their ivory towers to sniff the invigorating polluted air of the new century and to recognise that the techniques of librarianship of the past will not satisfactorily serve the electronic age of the future.’ 1 Of qualified librarians with either the certificate or diploma, figures showed that while the largest percentage of the NZLA membership worked in government or university libraries,
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significant numbers of Library School graduates were choosing to work in those much derided ivory towers rather than in the shabby run-down echelons of the National Library Service.
In the same year James E. Traue made an assessment of the Association. His provocative description of Council as 'Stalinist' caused shock waves in the New Zealand library world. 2 Traue had been a member since 1957 when, as a Library School graduate, he began work at the Country Library Service. A strong behever in the ideals of the trade union movement, he also joined the Public Service Association (PSA). On moving on to the General Assembly Library in 1962, he began attending Wellington branch functions. Within two years he became advertising manager for New Zealand Libraries, and reported on council meetings. He was disappointed that the Association did not act as a trade union, like the PSA. However, because the Association comprised institutional and personal members, and library staff at various levels belonged to a variety of unions such as the Local Body Officers', trade union activity was specifically excluded from Association rules.
Traue - known at one point in the Association as a ‘young Turk’ also expressed widely held concerns about the organisation’s structure. Its branches, with one or two exceptions, were weak and under-resourced: they could make recommendations to Council but had no real power to influence policy or take responsibility for some of the work. As a result, branch members felt powerless and council members - mainly senior librarians of public and university libraries - carried a huge burden.
Jim Traue, NZLA President. 1980-1981
As the Association grew, the honorary secretary and the national administration were also finding the workload a burden. When Geoff
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Alley had headed the National Library Service in the 19505, he liked to keep his finger on the pulse and ensured that Jock McEldowney, as honorary secretary, had sufficient time to carry on with Association work - but times had changed. Council, while aware of the workload problems and noting that the office headquarters needed more staff, was slow to respond. Council’s power was clear to members whose involvement with the Association was at branch level. Alan Richardson remembers the prevailing view was ‘it all goes on in Wellington’.' But alongside feelings of resentment that Council had all the power came the understanding that good people were there getting on with the job.
Frustration with the structure, in particular that branches were weak and should have more power, was not new. As early as 1960 at the Dunedin conference, the Auckland Branch had put up a remit: ‘that the NZLA should consider making annual grants to branches on a per capita basis so that branches may be able to conduct more ambitious activities and thus make a stronger appeal both to members and persons interested in libraries.’ 4 For those working in the smaller towns and rural areas, the branches provided a meeting place. Librarians would travel long distances to attend these gatherings: for example, from Hamilton to Auckland; from Invercargill to Dunedin.
Significant for those wanting a direct link between each of the six branches and Council was a recommendation to make the elected chair of each branch an ex-officio council member. As this required a major overhaul of the constitution, in 1972 the Professional Section was asked to comment on council membership. At that time the twenty council members were the president, vice-president, immediate past-president (three members); honorary secretary, honorary assistant secretary, honorary treasurer (three); personal member representatives (six); local authority member representatives (four); institutional member representatives (four). The proposal was to have six branch members on Council, one
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representing each of the four main centres, one from Palmerston North and one from Waikato, and to reduce personal and other member representatives proportionately.
In the meantime Council had responded to Jim Traue’s challenges about organisational structure. In February 1971 it had appointed him convener of a Committee on Future Organisation. Members were Dorothy Neal White, WJ. Blackwood, D.H. Bowie, SJ. Cauchi, E.L. Gilchrist, R.W Hlavac, WJ. McEldowney, H. de S. Mac Lean, and M.J. Wooliscroft. 5 They commissioned several studies as a basis for discussion, and held a session to gauge membership opinion at the 1972 conference in Rotorua. Sections and branches were asked for their views on such things as the division of functions between Council, branches, sections, committees, and officers of the Association; communications between Council, branches, sections, and committees; greater involvement of members in Association affairs; other matters relating to the conduct of Association business, including ongoing relations with the government. As remembered by Mary Ronnie, the Rotorua conference on Future Organisation was not a very gracious affair. There was strong feeling among members that plans were over-ambitious.
The committee presented its draft report at the Invercargill conference in February 1973, recommending among other things that the branches be strengthened financially and given a greater role in decision-making. They recommended communications between branches and Council be improved, suggesting that six branch councillors be appointed from the Auckland, Waikato, combined Hawke’s Bay-Palmerston North, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago branches. After much consultation with branches and members over the next two years, amended rules were adopted at the 1975 annual meeting. The composition of the Council from 1976 was: president, vice-president, honorary secretary, honorary assistant secretary, honorary treasurer, immediate past-president, and the chairs of the Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, Waikato, Wellington, and ei-
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ther the Hawke’s Bay or Palmerston North branches together with the chair of the Professional and Local Authorities divisions (which replaced the sections). In addition there were the representatives of the ordinary, or personal, members (four), representatives of local authority institutional members of the Association (three); and representatives of institutional members other than local authorities members (three), making a total of twenty-five. 6
The change in representation brought an influx of new councillors and new challenges, as Dorothea Brown recorded:
In 1976 I joined Council as a representative of institutions other than local authorities - or by the back door, as Ted Leatham used to put it succincdy ... In my first term I regarded Council meetings rather light-heartedly. They offered a break from routine, a renewal of friendships and an opportunity to debate professional matters leisurely without any threat to my livelihood. Representing the Canterbury Branch was different. It can be really difficult to combine the role of Branch Chairman with that of National Councillor. If you and your Branch take a firm but minority stance and Council in its wisdom decides otherwise, it becomes very hard if not impossible to promote that Council decision back home with any degree of success. But if you don’t you may be regarded as disloyal by your national executive, as I was during my term.’ 7
Changes in all aspects of society were reflected in the Association. Notable was the type of library now dominant in the membership and council representation. Previously these had mostly been public libraries. The sixties and seventies, however, had seen an increase in other types of libraries. Industrial and other businesses, finance institutions, firms of accountants, and law firms had what became collectively known as ‘special libraries’, while libraries at newer educational institutions like Waikato and Massey universities, the teachers colleges, and the polytechnics were gaining in size and importance. Until the 1980s, it had been the custom to have a local body representative alternating with a senior librarian as Association
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president. The former were usually city councillors with experience in library work and several had made a big contribution. E.L. (Les) Gilchrist, Hamilton City Councillor, whose wife, Valerie, was a librarian, was president in 1974 and brought considerable standing to the role and again showed the benefit of the close connection between the Association and local authorities.
Tony Milled
Prior to becoming president, Les Gilchrist had convened a Hamiltonbased committee on public relations, set up after the 1972 conference in Rotorua. Members of the Hamilton committee were Joan Duthie, John Gully, Mrs A.J. Holloway, Alan Richardson (later replaced by R.M. Gray), A.P. Millett, and M.R Park. Tony Millett recalls the meetings held after work at the Gilchrist residence - ‘we consumed a great deal of Less port’, but few memories remain regarding the actual content and purpose of these ‘hilarious’gatherings. 8 Neverthless, Les Gilchrist duly compiled a report for Council in 1972, which passed on his recommendations to the Committee on Future Organisation. The report was published with an addendum in New Zealand Libraries . 9
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As the public library sector became less dominant, the members increasingly felt that having local authority representatives and non-librarians heading the Association was inappropriate. As mentioned, the position of president alternated between a local body representative and a librarian. It was also customary for only one candidate s name that of the vice president to go forward and be pronounced president unopposed. An exception had occurred in 1972—3 when Bob Duthie, Auckland City Librarian, was vicepresident. Because of other high profile commitments, he decided to stand aside; Mary Ronnie was elected instead. In 1978 council members considered the vice-president - a local body councillor - to be less than suitable for president. A senior librarian would have to be persuaded to stand against the councillor and this would force an election. Not everybody who might otherwise have been suitable was keen to have his or her name go forward and face the possibility of losing with consequent public humiliation. H.O. (‘Bert’) Roth, a supporter of social change, was persuaded to stick his neck out. As it happened, the plan was successful. Bert Roth took over the presidency from Richard Hlavac, and since then every president has been a professional librarian. Although many were relieved that an outmoded and inappropriate tradition had been broken, others, including Mary Ronnie, remember that it had not been intended as a permanent arrangement and regretted that the Association had lost benefits gained from the local body connection.
Association committees and sections continued to operate visibly or invisibly during this interim period, depending for the most part on the energy and enthusiasm of participants. In the late 19705, when chaired by Tony Millett, the University and Research Section Committee became the University, College, and Research Libraries Section to reflect the inclusion of libraries at teachers’ colleges and colleges of education in the Association. One of its tasks was ‘laboriously’ printing Ph.D. Theses in Progress at New Zealand Universities, ‘churning copies out on an old Gestetner duplicator in the University of Waikato Library’ The section also invited James Thompson,
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Librarian of Reading University, to tour New Zealand giving papers on librarianship at branch meetings and at the 1980 conference. Millett remembers enduring
severe criticism at the Section AGM because we had gone ahead ... [with the invitation] without clearing this first with the NZLA Council. At the meeting when I was floundering around trying to think of good reasons why we had not done so (the real reason was that it hadn't occurred to us that we needed to) Jock McEldowney came to my rescue by getting up and saying 'Well at least the Section committee has actually done something,'after which all criticism faded away. 10
Another initiative of the 19705, and perhaps a sign of the times, was a ‘Management for Librarians’ seminar arranged for the Professional Section by the Massey University Department of University Extension. Papers were presented byM.A. Ronnie, R.W.HI- - J.P. Sage, P.B. Durey, and PE. Richardson. Sent to the seminar by Petone Public Library, a young librarian was somewhat overwhelmed at being in such illustrious company. All the top brass were there. Reviewing the proceedings, edited by Bill Blackwood, Jock McEldowney expressed concern that librarians might be swayed into believing that pure administrators were the only ones who really knew about management. 11 Management theory and practice was to be an ongoing issue for the next three decades.
Back in the real world, public libraries were facing many practical problems, not the least that of space. Many were bulging at the seams and were concerned about the increasing pressure to dispose of old or seemingly outdated books. The National Library administered a scheme whereby libraries listed their unwanted back copies of non-fiction books and serials, which could then be made available to libraries in need. In 1966 two of the committees, Library Resources and Fiction, had also developed a national retention plan. The major libraries would take responsibility for retaining works by authors from a particular section of the alphabet.
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A further concern for public libraries arose in 1970 when PEN, the international writers’ organisation, and the New Zealand PEN membership discussed the question of authors being compensated for library holdings of their works. Stuart Perry, a senior librarian and a former president of PEN’s New Zealand chapter, had already alerted New Zealand librarians about the Public Lending Right, as he was worried that the new scheme would be yet another cost and further reduce their book budgets. The Association was asked to assist the PEN study by ‘making a survey of stock of the books of a number of New Zealand writers held by a sample of libraries’. 12 The Standing Executive Committee agreed and appointed John Sage and Brian McKeon as Association representatives in preliminary discussions with lan Cross, President of PEN (NZ) and Ray Grover, the Vice-President and also Assistant Chief Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library. This joint deputation of PEN and Association representatives approached the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, proposing that the government set up a review committee. ‘Jack Marshall greeted us with smooth words. Norman Kirk appeared much more in sympathy’As it turned out, the Authors’ Fund came into being under the Kirk Labour government in 1973.
Public Lending Right (later NZ Authors' Fund) 1972 deputation: l-r: Brian McKeon, Ray Grover, lan Cross, John Sage
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Another issue raised - not for the first time - was that of the ‘free and rental’ system, introduced into public libraries from the late 1930s to gradually replace the system whereby joining a library involved paying an annual subscription. The advent of ‘free’libraries had, in the opinion of some, helped to break the old hierarchical top-heavy Library Association membership and make it a more comfortable place for less senior librarians. In 1953 President Stuart Perry had applauded the free and rental model as a great success.
The free and rental system in theory provided revenue for the library and a type of user-pays system for ‘very light or very popular books’ and was generally favoured by local authorities. The system, as it developed, applied only to fictional works fisted in the Association’s publication Guide to Authors of Fiction and its supplement, the Fiction List, put together by the Fiction Committee. New titles were annotated and graded by a committee of readers: ‘A, for example, was given to classics of English literature, Dickens, Galsworthy, Compton-Burnett, plus some works of Hemmingway. Faulkner, Scott Fitzgerald, and Patrick White were recommended as ‘free’; Anthony Burgess, Evelyn Waugh, Jack Kerouac, Kingsley Amis, lan Cross, and Doris Lessing were Ah’ (mainly free). Books graded ‘Bl’ included those by Nevil Shute, C.S. Forester, H.E. Bates and were generally ‘rental’, while those in ‘stock commercial categories’ such Hammond Innes, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, and Ngaio Marsh were ‘B2’, definitely rental. Brian O’Neill once described the grading of fiction fists - by implication the free and rental system as being ‘intellectually indefensible but administratively indispensable’. 13
Not all local authorities agreed with the concept. While a Palmerston North city councillor regarded it as ‘discriminatory and unfair’, 14 the Mayor of Eltham believed that books on the ‘B’ fist should be free and borrowers should pay for the A fist - literary classics. Most public libraries also included a ‘pay duplicate’ system for books rated Ah’ that were in demand: the library would buy an extra copy and put it in the rental collection, the principle being that anyone wanting to
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read the latest book without having to wait, should be prepared to pay for it. Napier Public Library considered it had made progress when it changed to the free and rental system in 1965. Other libraries like Manukau Public abolished rental charges in the 19705, its librarian, Simon Cauchi, describing the free and rental system as a ‘quaint New Zealand custom’. 15 The Association thus found itself in the midst of a controversy in which the free and rental system had to be defended: ‘These services are not profit-making and ... are a declining part of public library service use having dropped nearly 30% in the last 5 year census period ... The Library Association is on common ground with PEN in asserting that any proposal which had the effect of reducing the amount of money available to libraries for the purchase of books would be most harmful.’ 16
The Newsletter reported on what was by then called the New Zealand Authors’ Fund, a more neutral title than the Public Lending Right, the fund being based on library holdings rather than library lending figures. To the great relief of public librarians, it was funded and administered by the Department of Internal Affairs with an appeal and review committee comprising an independent chairperson, one nominee each from PEN, the Literary Fund Advisory Committee, and the Library Association as well as the Secretary of Internal Affairs, and the National Librarian or Deputy National Librarian. Authors were required to register and apply each year for payment. Once the fund was implemented, the Department Committee organisedacensusofbookseveryfiveyears,usingasampleoflibrariesmade from the fist of authors registered. A technical subcommittee included representatives of PEN, the NZLA, and the National Library. John Sage was appointed NZLA representative. Of the Authors Fund, lan Cross commented: ‘New Zealand becomes the first country in the English-speaking world to acknowledge the writers’ cause,’ and emphasised writers’‘debt to librarians’. 1 '
In 1973 Helen (nee Cowey) Sullivan, the Director of the Extension Division of the National Library, was guest at a special function in
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Nelson. On 10 October, the Nelson Public Library, the last of the big public libraries still using a subscription system, had converted to ‘the standard free and rental system.’ Although not seen by everybody as a great advance, from the point of view of the Association, Nelson’s celebration was a significant ‘rite of passage’. 18
In the mid-1980s debate surfaced once again about libraries charging rental fees for fiction. Michael Wooliscroft, then Dunedin City Librarian, wrote to Library Life defending the system while a critical letter from the President of the New Zealand Women Writers’ Society, pointing out that New Zealand authors felt it a disadvantage, appeared in the same issue. Other librarians then wrote agreeing with the Women Writers’ Society. It was the beginning of the end for the old ‘free and rental’ system. 19 In response to public demand, it was phased out in most public libraries. Nelson Public Library was one of the last to ‘go free’. In December 1990, the city council voted for the removal of charges to be implemented over three years. ‘Nelson Public Library has come a long way from being one of the last subscription libraries in New Zealand to joining the growing list of free libraries.’ 20
Business as usual
The Association’s premises at 10 Park Street, Thorndon, although providing much needed space, were hardly luxurious. Wellingtonbased librarians remember a brown house with a garden at the front. Inside the front door was a counter, hinged to allow access when necessary, with a bell to summon assistance from the little office at the back. The interior had lino on the floor and was illuminated by one window and a single dangling light bulb. The walls were stacked with files from floor to ceiling. Doreen Bibby was very efficient despite the cramped working conditions. Although well educated, she belonged to the generation of women in library work who were in awe of the senior male librarians and was a devoted admirer of Geoff Alley: ‘What he said would take precedence.’ 21
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For some years Doreen’s work had been increasing in volume and complexity. On 16 May 1967 she had written to G.T. Alley at the National Library asking for assistance and co-operation in compiling and issuing the NZLA Newsletter , 22 It appeared that some help was forthcoming with the appointment of a full-time junior shorthand typist and clerical assistant. Later that year when writing to a certificate course examiner, Doreen added: ‘The Association is buying an electric typewriter for me which I hope will be a saving of energy, but I haven’t got used to it and cannot go quickly without making mistakes. I should never have typed this on letterhead, so I would be pleased if you would destroy it.’ 23 Obviously the recipient, being a good librarian, kept the offending letter.
It was not long before complaints were being heard about accommodation: the Park Street building was too small, and according to standing executive members, who had their meetings there, it was badly insulated and very cold. With space at a premium, the garage was no longer rented out and in May 1969 Doreen Bibby, concerned that it was not suitable for storing print runs, wrote to the Publications Committee. 24 The NZLA’s list of publications in print was about to be revised and reprinted, and she was facing difficulty with the sale and disposal of large stocks of back copies. Five years later the Council discussed quotes for repiling the building, but on professional advice decided instead to get a ‘jobbing carpenter’ to do necessary repairs including putting down a concrete floor in the shed and purchasing a night-storage heater. 25 Not for the first time, councillors recommended that the Association consider moving from Park Street within the next two to three years.
In 1975, when Doreen Bibby signalled her impending retirement, the Association employed several women staff who dealt with publications and were in charge of membership. Jill Griggs - described as the lynchpin of the NZLA certificate course - worked half time, ‘keeping track of applications, results, reading records, supervisors, examiners, exam papers and scripts.’ She also arranged
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accommodation for Section A students and tied the blue ribbon around certificates to be awarded. Doreen finally retired at the beginning of 1976, after a short changeover period, and was accorded many special tributes for her thirty-seven years of dedicated work. At the conference dinner in Christchurch, she was elected an Honorary Life Member of the Association and presented with a gold watch. Hillas Mac Lean recalls hearing Doreen say; ‘I would like to have a holiday before I die.’
Finding her replacement had been difficult. Council decided that the new position should, in addition to the work formerly undertaken by Doreen, take over part of the role of the Association’s honorary secretary. In line with the public service trend to adopt a corporate model, the Council decided that an executive officer would be more appropriate for the library workforce and New Zealand marketplace. The principal duties of this executive officer included: ‘the development of policies and programmes in keeping with the objects of the Association, the co-ordination of the Association’s activities through its branches and other divisions, assisting the council in formation of policy and implementation of its decisions and assisting the promotion of the welfare of librarians ...’ 26 This position was to be an interim measure, advertised as being for a three-year term with a salary of $7,000-19,000, equivalent of that of a senior librarian. The appointee would have a wide-ranging freedom and decision-making power in the running of the NZLA secretariat. Council wanted someone with a library background. Others took the view that it was ‘Better to appoint a good administrator and then provide them with the necessary library background.’ 27
The new executive officer, appointed in August 1975, was David H. Bowie. He had gained the NZLA Certificate in 1968 while working at New Zealand Forest Products Library and been an active member of the Auckland Branch from 1966 (chairman 1971-3). During the early 1970s on Council, he had been a member of the Committee on Future Organisation and also Vice-Chairman of the University and
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Research Section of the Association. Interviewed by Ray Grover, he remarked that, in his view, the prime function of the NZLA was ‘to promote library service generally by supporting the efforts of librarians in specific areas and by bringing the needs and aims of library services to governmental and financial authorities.’ He added that it was not the function of the Association ‘to conduct public relations on its own behalf.’ 28
When Bowie took charge, the only visible change to the Park Street premises was a new coat of paint on the outside and a second-hand Graphotype purchased for preparing and altering addressograph plates. There were inevitable difficulties resulting from the departure of Doreen Bibby who, councillors were beginning to realise, had achieved miracles of efficiency with minimal resources. Minutes of the 1975 AGM had many typing errors and ‘a serious omission’ - they had to be retyped. 29 In June 1976, the Association office took over the remainder of the top floor of the ‘elderly, ungraceful house in Thorndon’, necessitating a major rearrangement. 30 Office supervisor Ann McSweeney and the Association’s records moved into the front office; a new staff member took over Ann’s typing. The upstairs kitchen was used for tea, while addressing machines and supplies went into the old kitchen downstairs, which became a mailing room.The small bedroom was to be a ‘retiring room for the ladies’, but was mainly used for storage. 31 New office furniture (second-hand) and further carpeting were purchased, and the old blinds replaced with curtains. Wellington Branch stalwarts Helen Stephen-Smith, Brian McKeon, Justin Prain, and Michael Wyatt helped with the move and general shuffle around of shelving, stationery supplies, boxes full of publications, current files, and Association archives.
Over the next couple of years further makeshift improvements were made to the premises. A student was contracted to clean out the garage and move stacks of files piled on the floor. Rotten finings were also removed and stored material suffering from dampness, stacked onto pallets. A cabinet was modified for storing plate-making equip-
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merit and printing supplies. Meanwhile the executive officer and staff were facing increasing problems coping with the workload. Council members later realised that they should have provided more support for, and been much more pro-active in, the management of Association headquarters.
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CHAPTER 7
Women in library work
Until the 19605, although more than 80 per cent of librarians were women, the library profession was dominated by men, and as the new decade began the Association’s Standing Executive Committee (1959-60) comprised only men. At conferences and branch meetings, even middle-ranking women librarians would sit quietly, appearing to hardly understand a word of what was going on and certainly never daring to speak out. The Library Public Relations Committee considered that the numerical dominance of women was actually of disadvantage to the profession. A letter dated 15 October 1965 was forwarded to Wynne Colgan from the Director of the Library School on the subject of‘attracting more men to the profession’. It pointed out that the Library School had received that year twenty-two applications for studentships - all from women. The director wanted to ‘try to create a new public image of a librarian.’ 1
This negative public image of librarians was perhaps understandable. Even in the 19605, many libraries required the women on the staff to wear floral smocks: they resembled rather hideous old-fashioned sofas. And because libraries displayed signs requesting ‘SILENCE’ it was assumed, quite wrongly, that the staff were studious ‘goody goodies’. In reality librarians were as diverse in personality and interests as any other sector of the public. Hobbies listed ranged from long-distance ocean swimming to Scottish country dancing, and included photography, foreign films, learning Russian, and Esperanto. Some librarians had shady origins, were secret or not so secret drinkers and, as will be shown, at least one was a light-fingered
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embezzler. There were rumours that ‘a murderess’was at one time employed under an assumed name at Auckland University Library. And a murderess was once employed at Dunedin Public Library, coming in daily from prison to get used to the wider world before release. Only the city librarian and town clerk knew her background. She used her own name, safe in the knowledge that the crime had taken place ten years earlier and in Auckland.
Although the vast majority of library staff were women, often in positions of responsibility, comparatively few, as noted, had risen to the top ranks. Exceptions were found in the government libraries where Jean Wright and later Malvina (Overy) Jones in Christchurch, Jean Norrie in Wellington, and Helen (Cowey) Sullivan in Palmerston North headed the parts of the Country Library Service in those cities, and Phyllis McDonald was a director of the School Library Service. Jeanette King, appointed at Waikato University in 1964, was for many years New Zealand's only woman university librarian. In the smaller centres Anne Shipherd (New Plymouth), Ranee S. Mackay(Gisborne), Patricia Alexander (Takapuna), and Annie Blackett (Wanganui) were city librarians. The last named was Association President in 1945. Others included Natalie Dolamore (Gore Public Library) and Judith Pickard, the first qualified librarian to head Hamilton Public Library. In Dunedin Elizabeth Dunbar Bryant had run the library during the war when Archie Dunningham was on active service. Ada Fache was city librarian from 1960-8, the first woman chief librarian in a main centre. Mary Ronnie followed from 1968.
Jeanette King, Librarian, University of Waikato (LIANZA collr
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At the thirty-fifth conference, in Dunedin in February 1968, one seminar topic was significant for the future direction of the Association. Women in Professional Library Work: Report on the Survey of Women Library School Graduates 1946—1965 evoked much debate and was publicised in the media. It resulted from a project undertaken in 1967 by a sub-committee of the Professional Section comprising Miss G.M. Schoen (convener), Catherine Bishop, Brian O’Neill, Miss J.I. Reynolds, and James E. Traue. The primary purposes of the survey were:
1.
To obtain basic statistical information on the professional working life of women graduates of the school.
2.
To assess the attitude of married women towards returning to professional library work either on a fulltime or part-time basis.
3.
To assess the attitude of employing authorities to employing professionally qualified married women either on a full-time or part-time basis. 2
The matter of part-time work was particularly controversial with members speaking out both for and against. On the status of women in libraries, Doreen Bibby noted that in earlier times W.J. (John) Harris apparendy thought women librarians should be treated as the equivalent of men. It would seem, however, that others didn’t share his view. Miss [Dorothy] Neal was ... married but most library authorities would not employ married women and she retained her maiden name pardy for that reason, although also because she was better known by it.’ Dorothy Neal White - later Ballantyne - became one of the most influential New Zealand librarians and was one of only two women among the first twenty Fellows of the Association. 3 Mary Ronnie noted that it was the rule of the Dunedin City Council - and most local authorities - that married women resigned on marriage. Wartime manpower shortages changed all that.
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Meanwhile, in the wider context of New Zealand society, came changes affecting public use of libraries: the new liquor licensing laws and the advent of television. In 1970 President J.O. Wilson, while recording the downside - the drop in reading time, particularly for fiction, and borrowing by the general public - also noted a rise in publishing and reading in areas such as the social sciences, especially self-help and personal growth books. 4 Around this time too - as the New Zealand economy was facing massive upheaval with the 1973 oil shocks, a collapse in commodity prices combined with the accession of Great Britain into the European Economic Community - change was also gradually taking place in the attitudes and views of librarians.
The 1970s saw the rise of the so-called feminist movement: a notable event was the 1975 United Women's Convention in Wellington, with keynote speaker Margaret Mead. In United Nations International Women's Year the New Zealand government set up the Ministry for Women's Affairs and the following year appointed Mary Ronnie as National Librarian - the first woman to hold such a position in New Zealand and indeed in the world. It was heralded as the beginning of a new era. The October issue of New Zealand Libraries took 'Women in Librarianship' as its major theme, covering women's status as well as educational and career opportunities.
Many women were taking a fresh look at formerly accepted library staff practices. An Auckland librarian, Janice Thwaites, wrote to New Zealand Libraries-. According to figures analysed from the 1971 edition of Who’s Who in New Zealand Libraries, there are approximately five times as many women with library qualifications as men, but there is something like an inverse proportion of men in the “top jobs”.’ 5 She added that the main issue in libraries was not
Mary Ronnie. National Libranan. 1976-1981
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so much that of equal pay - a hot topic in the work force - but that of equal opportunity. The article’s eight-point statement of issues requiring attention included maternity leave, part-time work, and provision of non-sexist children’s books. It concluded with endorsement by twelve senior women librarians.
Elsewhere Janice Thwaites pointed out that no-one reading the first chapter of the Notes for the 1975 NZLA Preliminary Examination would realise that it was International Women’s Year. ‘This first chapter is a disaster from a feminist point of view, as it could well be an exercise in the application of the masculine pronoun wherever possible.’ Despite the fact that 95 per cent of candidates for the preliminary examination were women, ‘within just four paragraphs the masculine pronoun is used 28 times, relieved by only one token “he (or she).”’ 6 At the 1975 AGM of the Association, she moved and H.O. Roth seconded a motion proposing that where appropriate NZLA documents should be made gender neutral. Ruth Wylie, who had edited the Notes, felt bound to respond to the criticism and agreed with comments on the use of sexist language. She also hoped that more men would enrol in the course. (Sexist language would again be an issue at the 1985 conference in respect of the Association rules, even though by that stage gender-neutral language was becoming the norm.)
While Janice Thwaites’s comments raised the eyebrows even the hackles of many librarians, a flood of women’s literature was now appearing in bookshops. And although men tended to control library acquisition budgets, books by Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, later Germaine Greer, magazines like Ms and Broadsheet found their way into catalogue rooms. The challenge became how to catalogue feminist books. Dozens of subject headings were allocated for popes, kings, and generals, but almost none for material on battered women. As well as the books and magazines, pamphlets, leaflets, and posters - ‘ephemera’ - began to pile up in the corners.
Much would have been lost if it had not been for a lecturer at
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Waikato University. Rosemary Seymour applied for an American Fullbright Scholar to come and organise the Women’s Studies’ Collection at Waikato University Library. Jenrose Felmley duly arrived in June 1980 and in time the Women’s Archives for New Zealand came into being. Several other New Zealand libraries had also set up women’s collections: notably the Auckland Institute and Museum, the Hocken Library, and the New Zealand Women’s Research Collection at Alexander Turnbull Library.
Inspired by publicity about developments in the United States, a group of Wellington librarians, led by Caroline Brooks, Elspeth Wylie, Marie Russell, and Patti O’Neill, founded Feminist Librarians. Over the next three years before the organisation went into recess - regular well-attended meetings were held. An issue raised in 1981 was the apparent lack of keenness on the part of the Professional Division to press acceptance of the Working Women’s Charter. Other matters discussed were why there were not more women in the top library jobs, library training, and issues like equal opportunity, child care, returning to the work-force, and library acquisition of books by and about women. At the combined New Zealand and Australian Library Association Conference in Christchurch (1981), Feminist Librarians’ pamphlets and badges ‘went like hot cakes’. Feminist Librarians was seen by many as at best controversial and at worst threatening and subversive. Councillors expressed concern when women refused to join the Association and preferred to belong to Feminist Librarians. Mary Ronnie came to talk to the group and asked ‘why the NZLA was not meeting our needs?’ 7 An article in Broadsheet magazine on women in libraries provoked a scathing response from the librarian (male) of Invercargill Pubic Library, which rather than negating, actually served to reinforce many of the issues covered in the article. 8
The question of‘pay equity’was also in the news: comparing pay scales of female dominated professions like nursing and librarianship with male dominated professions like engineering. In the late 1970s a woman factory inspector had compared pay rates for Wellington City
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Council employees and found that pay scales for library staff, most of whom had educational and/or library qualifications as well as long service, were much lower than those of the labourers. 9
Change was happening, though gradually. In 1976, when Mary Ronnie was appointed National Librarian, she was one of only three women in the top seven jobs in the National Library: the others were Helen Cowey (later Sullivan) and Aileen Claridge. Six years later in 1981, all teaching staff at the College of Education Library Studies course were women, but there were no women lecturers at the School of Librarianship, Victoria University of Wellington. Indeed, the university library would be the last bastion of male dominance in New Zealand libraries.
In 1985 Deputy National Librarian Alan Smith was quoted as saying that he thought a broken employment record would put some women at a disadvantage when competing with a man who had continual service: a gross understatement. 10 Feminist librarians could point out that women in positions of responsibility tended to be single rather than married and if married - without children. Young married women were in a way doubly disadvantaged. Employers saw them as ‘temporary’, and were unlikely to consider them for promotion. Well-qualified women stuck in lowly positions became bored and disillusioned. One said: ‘lt’s enough to drive you to pregnancy’ If they left library work at a critical stage of their career - usually for family reasons when they returned to the workforce, perhaps in their forties, they were handicapped by broken service and relegated to less senior positions than those they had previously held.
A 1984 Massey University research report, describing librarianship as a female stereotyped occupation, analysed the 1980 Who’s Who in New Zealand Libraries which showed that 82 per cent of New Zealand librarians were women and added such factors as: women tend to hold the same positions for longer and have a longer waiting period ‘in rank’ than men; men tend to reach higher
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positions at a younger age than do women; women’s work continuity is more severely affected than men’s - [reluctance to] travel [to obtain promotion] and marriage and child rearing are stated as the chief reason for the immobility of women; sex-role stereotyping has tended to influence choice of librarianship as a career for women. 11
By the mid-eighties, however, progress for women was occurring in all spheres of library work, most notably within the hierarchy of the Association. Out of twenty presidents elected between 1980 and 2000, fourteen were women. It was hoped - or feared - that the ‘old boy’ era of the New Zealand Library Association was over.
Canterbury Public Library staff workroom. 1950s (Heritage colln. Christchurch City Libraries)
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CHAPTER 8
Branching out
* Tam biased towards Branches,’declared President Dorothea Brown, -L commenting on her experiences in the Canterbury Branch during the 1960s and 19705:
They are vital to the Association, because they are the reality of the Association to most members. Branch Committees do vast amounts of work voluntarily with very meager resources and Branch Chairmen not only supervise all of this work and represent their area on Council, but if they are any good, foster the professional development of the often young and inexperienced Committee members. You haven't lived until you have been a Branch Chairman ... 1
The Association’s 1935 constitution provided for the formation of branches. As noted by McEldowney, the subsequent influx of personal members brought a burst of activity. The earliest NZLA branches were set up in Auckland (1936); Dunedin, Canterbury, and Wellington affiliated in 1937. Later came the Manawatu-Hawke’s Bay, and, in 1967, Waikato. It was in the branches, particularly those of Otago and Wellington, that many important discussions on Association policy were held. 2 As noted in chapter 1, the nucleus for branches was provided mainly by librarians and library assistants at the university and large public libraries and, later, at the Country Library Service. Branches were further boosted after the 1941 introduction of the NZLA Certificate Course, available only to paid-up members, some of whom went on to become active in the Association.
Members throughout New Zealand automatically belong to their local branch or region and are encouraged to attend its meetings and
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take part in its activities and administration. Each branch is run by a committee and each region by a council. Branches and regions have representatives on the national Council. While being part of the overall Association and guided by its rules, each branch has its own administration and has evolved its own unique character. This has arisen in part from its library history and that of the city, town or region.
Many libraries had their beginnings in the nineteenth century and were set up by the early settlers. Nelson Public Library had its origins in 1841 on the ship Whitby where the Nelson Literary and Scientific Institute was founded. Its first reading room was opened in 1842. Christchurch City Library began as a Mechanics Institute in 1859 and was taken over by the Canterbury Provincial Council in 1863. By the 1930s Christchurch was in the anomalous position of having ten libraries: the central library owned by Canterbury University College, and nine suburban libraries all under separate local authorities. The central library, Canterbury Public Library, though run on a subscription basis, provided a free service for children. In Timaru, a reading room, established in 1862, provided newspapers and books for members. The town took over the library system in 1865. 3
In Dunedin a small collection of books arrived in 1848 on one of the first ships bringing immigrants to the Otago settlement. As a separate endeavour, Dunedin Public became the first ‘free’ public library in the country in 1908 - although, according to the 1934 Munn-Barr Report, the attitude of the Dunedin City Council, which had earlier benefited financially from subscriptions, was one of‘martyrdom’.
Invercargill Public Library came into being when the town council took over the Athenaeum in 1916. Ralph Munn, after commenting on the library’s urgent need for a new building stated: ‘lt is not often that we can say that, but your library in other respects is excellent, particularly in the reference department and in the non-fiction
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section of the lending department.’ The vexed question of a new building was one of the chief reasons for setting up the Invercargill Public Library Association in 1955. 4 Likewise, but some years later, the North Island city of Hamilton was to be singled out for having an unsuitable library building. Hamilton had become a city in 1945 and until 1960, when a ‘free and rental system’ was installed, had a Carnegie Library. According to the Osborn Report (1960), ‘Really bad public [library buildings] are now few in number. Hamilton is amongst the worst and this is no credit to New Zealand’s sixth city. The new building under construction in 1959 is inadequate. A totally new approach to library service is required if Hamilton is to have an appropriate library.’ 5
North Island libraries had come about in similar ways to those in the South Island. In Wellington, the Port Nicholson Mechanics Institute established one of New Zealand's first libraries, also operating under a subscription system. By the early twentieth century, its successor the Wellington Public Library, also for subscribers, had eight branches - and later a mobile library. Newtown Branch was especially commended in the Munn-Barr Report for its children's library. Auckland's city library, which like Wellington's had eight branches at the time, was described in the report as the 'oldest, largest and most fully developed library system in New Zealand', its main drawback being the 'subscription system. The Munn-Barr Report also placed considerable emphasis on regional groupings of libraries.
As well as students enrolling in the certificate course being required to join the Association, graduates with Library School diplomas were encouraged and expected to join, though it was not compulsory. Sometimes members were recruited by senior staff in the work-place. Mary Ronnie remembers that the Dunedin Branch helped to unite all levels of library staff. In the 1940s Ada Fache and Archie Dunningham were very active in the branch and expected junior staff to participate. When Mary, then in her teens, was told she had to
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give a talk ‘it kept me awake all night ... we were expected to get to our nervous young feet and talk about issue systems and the like.’ 6 Dorothy Neal White, also very active in that branch, encouraged junior librarians to visit schools and give talks on books and libraries. At her insistence Alison Grant - still a junior - gave talks on the radio: ‘Great training.’ 7 Roy Carroll, when working at the Hocken Library in the later 19605, remembers Jock McEldowney encouraging staff to become involved at both branch and national level. ‘That meant I was very quickly on the Otago Branch Committee and took part in a number of weekend schools ...’. It was notable that the branch ‘was very conscious of its regional focus.’ 8 This relationship between branches and regions in time became formalised.
In 1971 Ali Grant, now Auckland based, was nominated for the Auckland Branch Committee by her boss at the university library, Norval Gibson Smith, then branch chair. 9 Tony Millett, while Deputy Librarian at Waikato University, remembered the Waikato Branch in the 1970s being much involved in training for the certificate course. Librarians from the university, the teachers’ college, Hamilton Public, Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre, and the Country Library Service ‘spent a lot of time preparing and giving lectures to library assistants taking the course, which gave attendees an excellent grounding in the practicalities of librarianship. I remember talking to them about acquisitions, reference works and services, interloan, serials and other matters - and concluding each year’s set of lectures with instruction on how to pass written examinations.’ 10
Encouraging juniors to participate, giving lectures to library students, running weekend schools and workshops, arranging events and speakers for meetings kept branch committees busy, but a branch’s most intense phase of activity came when the annual conference was held in its region. Dorothy Neal White recalled with pleasure the Invercargill conferences in 1958 and 1973 when the dinner was held in the city’s ‘elegant Scottish Hall’.
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Tony Millett remembered problems faced by the 1978 conference organisers at the University of Waikato. The committee was chaired by the reference librarian, Ken Chunyu, ‘a tiny Chinese woman with a wicked sense of humour’. 11 An immigrant from mainland China, she had attended the New Zealand Library School: fellow students remember her saying that as a very young child she had been on Mao Tse Tung’s Long March in 1934. 12 Just before the Hamilton conference she became very ill and tragically died soon after. Tony returned from the Christmas break to find that ‘most of the other Committee members were still away and things that Ken had agreed to do (e.g. the conference handbook, the Association banner which had to be above the stage at the AGM, campus signs etc) had not been done and there was a mad scramble to get everything ready in time.’ 13 Afterwards Tony assembled the conference papers for publication.
For Roy Carroll ‘the best fun’ was the 1982 Auckland conference, held while he was branch chairman. ‘We had a huge advantage in having Ken Porter as conference organiser with his past experience. However, our branch was keen to organise a parallel conference for young librarians. It did not go down well at national level ...’ 14
These periods of frenetic branch activity associated with conference were interspersed with relative quiet, though all branches at various times issued a newsletter, for example The Auckland Librarian and Hooked. From 1981, initiated by Kay Coolbear (Worsnop), Wellington Branch produced Magpie. Both Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury branches also produced newsletters. During the 1980s with greater bicultural awareness, it was notable that, as with Library Life itself, some branches and regions began to adopt tides or subtides in Te Reo Maori. After the advent of regional representation in the late 1980s, Waikato—Bay of Plenty, which included Gisborne, issued Branchlines-, he rakau tipu ora. Magpie became the newsletter of the Wellington/ Te Upoko o te ika a Maui, and Canterbury-Aoraki produced Aoraki Librarians , which in recent years has appeared online.
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As social events, branch meetings everywhere were ‘of their time’. The regular tea-and-biscuits type of meeting had become, by the 19705, ‘a lot of wine and cheese functions’, as a member remarked. And all branches seem to have held well-attended and lubricated, dress-up, fun-packed Christmas parties.
Regional round-up
In 1989-90 the Association began a major reorganisation. Partly in response to local government reform, which changed the rating boundaries, it developed a regional structure designed to include libraries and librarians working in more isolated areas where there were insufficiendy large clusters of members to create a branch. A statistical analysis of Association membership made in 1988 before geographical areas were regionalised, showed Auckland and Wellington as the largest branches: Auckland, 288 members; Wellington, 358; Canterbury, 158; Central (North Island), 73; Hawke’s Bay, 23; Otago-Southland, 81; Waikato, 102. 15
In 1992 the national Council was restructured. At annual elections from 1998 the Council comprised representatives for Central, Waika-to-Bay of Plenty, and Otago-Southland, elected by the branches; and all regional chairpersons: Auckland, Waikato—Bay of Plenty, Central, Wellington, Aoraki, and Otago-Southland.
Snapshots of local happenings
Auckland/ Hikuwai
Auckland Branch held weekend schools in Hamilton in 1962 and in Auckland in September 1963. A weekend school in June 1964, ‘The Maori and Education’ in Rotorua, was attended by fifty people; speakers included Auckland City Councillor Harry Dansey and
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John Waititi, both prominent Maori elders. It wasn’t unusual for members to travel long distances,for example from Whangarei,to attend meetings.
In 1971 a subcommittee of the Auckland Branch undertook a survey of the salaries and conditions of employment of Auckland librarians. The three members, M.D. Coleman, Shirley Ford, and lan G.Thwaites received submissions from librarians in the public service, public libraries, the university, and special (research, scientific) libraries. A major finding was that variations did occur in librarians’ salaries for equivalent qualifications and experience and in their conditions of service. 16 In November 1973 branch members attended the second management seminar organised by the Professional Section.
Harry Dansey, MBE, was appointed Race Relations Conciliator in 1975. He became an honorary member of the branch and in 1978 spoke to members about the need for more Polynesian librarians. The branch took up the challenge and appointed an ad hoc committee of Michael Scott (convener), Harry Dansey, Peter [sic] Sharpies, Bob Duthie, Roy Carroll, and Peter Durey. Its tasks were to ‘find ways of increasing the number of Maori and Pacific Island librarians, of finding a way of increasing the scope of relevant publications and non-book materials in Maori and Pacific Island languages and published material in English of special relevance to them.’ 17 When Harry Dansey died in 1979, the Auckland Branch held a commemorative meeting to honour him. He had been a council member of the Association from 1975 to 1978. 18
At regular intervals after the Waikato Branch was formed in 1967, Auckland and Waikato held joint activities, for example a seminar on ‘Maori Education and the Library’ in September 1979 at Lake Rotoiti.
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Wellington/ Te Upoko o te ika a Maui
The Wellington Branch, located in the capital with its large government presence, was dominated by ‘heavyweights’ from government libraries people like Ted Leatham, head of the DSIR Library, and Jim Traue, also at DSIR and later Chief Librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library - whereas university librarians such as John Sage and David Wylie were more involved in the national body. In November 1957 the branch held a debate on ‘Co-operation at which ‘Mr Wylie spoke in a somewhat ‘destructive tone’ on the nature of the regional body. 19
In June 1960 the branch met to discuss such things as the Association’s new Code of Ethics and the relationship between the branches and the Professional Section, following a memorandum from Council that noted ‘more could and should be done through the Professional Section to ensure that the voice of the professional members of the Association is fully represented in the formulation of Association policy ...’ 20
In 1981 branch members attended a dinner at Victoria University to mark John Sage’s retirement as university librarian. The branch itself also held special meetings marking the retirements of Graham Bagnall, Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library, at Turnbull House in May 1973; Alison Grant, Lecturer in Library Studies at the Wellington College of Education, in 1992; and Brian McKeon, as City Librarian, after twenty-eight years with the Wellington City Council.
In 1992, in another sign of the times, the branch committee organised a series of seminars on bicultural issues. One weekend twenty members attended a hui at Tapu Te Ranga Marae in Island Bay. Writer and founder of this urban marae, Bruce Stewart, made visitors very welcome. 21 These seminars were so successful that the branch raised a considerable sum of money, earmarked for an investment
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plan for the professional development of the membership. Then came the crisis.
The branch chair, Bill Siddells, and its treasurer, Bruce Morris, were employed in different sections of the National Library. One morning late that year, the bibliographic network manager walked into Bill’s office. ‘Bruce’s gone, we’ve cleared out his desk and here’s the NZLIA file.’After glancing through the file and making a couple of phone calls, Bill discovered that Bruce Morris had disappeared and so had the branch funds - more than $5,000. It transpired that the treasurer had left the country suddenly, having cleared out not only the Wellington Branch but also the bank account of the Children’s Literature Association. 22
Bill Siddells, who had worked with Bruce for two or three years and trusted him, had on occasion signed blank cheques. ‘lt was a hard lesson for me. I still feel bitter about what happened.’ The money involved, though very important to the branch membership, was too small an amount for the police to take extradition proceedings. If Morris had returned to New Zealand, he would have been arrested, although legal opinion was that if convicted he would have been sentenced to little more than 300 hours community service. As it was, Morris never returned. The Annual Report 1993/4 included: ‘lt is pleasing to note that the Region’s finances have recovered well from the difficult situation they found themselves in early in 1992/3. This was aided by positive cash flows from Continuing Education seminars, two commercial sponsorships of Magpie and the growth in the number of local institutional members.’
Otago/Southland
The Society of Otago Librarians formed in 1936, with Mary Fleming the first secretary and W.J. Harris president. The following year it affiliated with the Association as the Dunedin Branch, then became the Otago, and later the Otago-Southland, Branch. In the earli-
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er years, members would travel from Invercargill for branch meetings, which were remembered as very convivial: a chance to meet people working in all the other libraries in and around the city as well as the region. Like other branches, regular Dunedin activities that continued to provide such opportunities included tea meetings, workshops, and weekend schools. 23
81964 the branch held a weekend school at the new Invercargill rary - a converted warehouse in the central city. Invercargill City Librarian C.H. (Corrie) Hulls and his staff hosted over thirty visitors from Otago, Southland, and Canterbury to a function in the new premises, a modern comfortable and attractive setting. Members enjoyed weekend visits to Oamaru (1973) and Gore. In 1984, the branch hosted a 'Time Management Seminar' for librarians and a special farewell to pay tribute to Jock McEldowney, retiring university librarian, in March 1987. 24 In 1993 the weekend school was held at Te Anau with the theme of 'professional development.' Library Assistants Day was held in Dunedin in November 2003. In March 2007 Balclutha hosted the weekend school for the region. Guest speakers over the years included writers such as Burns Fellow Graham Billing in 1973, and in 1978 poet Brian Turner, then editor with the publishing company John Mclndoe, spoke on publishing in New Zealand.
The McEldowney Years. Presentation ceremony to honour J.W. (Jock) McEldowney on his retirement as University of Otago Librai ian. 1987. Deputy Librarian, Rosemary Hudson looks on. (Hocken Library, University of Otago)
Canterbury/Aoraki
At the Canterbury regional conference weekend in September 1963, seventy attended the fourth general meeting in ‘very cold weather’. 25 At the
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1968 weekend conference, again very wet and cold, New Zealand author Errol Braithwaite (The Flying Fish, The Needle’s Eye, The Evil Day) was guest speaker. In early 1969 Christchurch members were invited to a special lunch and tour of the newly opened Ashburton Public Library. In September 1970 speakers at the Canterbury Branch meeting were writers Elsie Locke and Margaret Mahy on the subject of The School Journal and its implications for children’s literature in New Zealand. The following year the Canterbury Branch farewelled Jean Wright on her retirement as Director of the Country Library Service, Christchurch. Memorable was a meeting in 1971 when Margaret Mahy, now an internationally famous childrens writer, who was the branch representative on the Children and Young Persons Section, read her story The Librarian and the Robbers , later published to acclaim. 26 During the late 19705, the branch held a successful ‘Personnel Management’ workshop in conjunction with the Department of Extension Studies at the University of Canterbury.
The Aoraki region, geographically very large, comprises Nelson-Marlborough, West Coast, and Canterbury, stretching even as far as the Chatham Islands. Conference has been held in both Nelson and Blenheim. In April 2003 Aoraki Nelson-Marlborough held its second weekend school - a combined event for the Association with SLANZA (School Libraries Association of New Zealand Aotearoa).
In May 2004 librarians from the ‘Top of the South’ Nelson, Marlborough, Tasman - got together in Nelson for a weekend of professional development. Keynote speakers Mirla Edmundson and National Librarian Penny Carnaby spoke on the theme of ‘Communicating with your customers’.
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Central/ Ikaroa
Palmerston North Branch, formed in 1944, later included both Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki. Main meetings were held in Palmerston North, while the annual conference for what was called the central region was held on a rotational basis at Hastings (1955), Hawera (September 1956). To meet their colleagues, librarians in this region had to travel considerable distances. Barbara McKerrow when at New Plymouth Public Library made regular trips to Palmerston North for meetings.
In December 1977 New Plymouth Public Library came under the spotlight when Association President Dick Hlavac expressed concern at a New Plymouth City Council decision to remove Down Under the Plum Trees from the library. The president condemned the city council’s action in contradicting the Indecent Publications Tribunal’s opinion and failing to accept the professional judgement of its qualified librarian, Anne Shipherd. The outcome was a stalemate, though the Association continued to take a strong stand on censorship which appeared to arise from the personal prejudices of local body representatives.
In September 1978, at the branch weekend workshop in Palmerston North, Ross Harvey, a Library School lecturer, explained new cataloguing rules to members from as far afield as Gisborne, New Plymouth, Patea, Tawa, and Eketahuna. In June 1979 the Palmerston North Public Library, whose librarian, lan Malcolm, was also Association President, marked its centenary with a function attended by National Librarian Mary Ronnie, branch members, and others. In 1994 the region ran a weekend hui at the historic pa of Te Whiti, Parihaka, in South Taranaki. The opening of the new Palmerston North Public Library in 1996 was another major occasion. In May2ooo Steve Maharey, then Minister of Social Welfare and Employment and Associate Minister of Education, met members in Palmerston North to find out their views on future library services.
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The 1964 Association conference was held in Hastings and the following year a new Hawke’s Bay Branch formed to include Napier, Hastings, Taradale, and Havelock North. A regional conference of combined Palmerston North and Hawke’s Bay branches was held at Napier in September 1965.
The new Napier city librarian welcomed by the branch in 1970 was Maurice Gee. Now a major New Zealand author, at that stage Gee had published two novels but had not given up his day job. As it turned out he was in Napier for less than two years. In 1972 his book In My Fathers Den became the first of his big successes. Library colleagues who visited Napier Public Library considered Maurice was doing an excellent job in improving the book collection but problems arose with the local authority representatives, partly because they disapproved of Gee’s liberal views on such matters as the Vietnam War. There were also disagreements with the Napier City Council Library Committee over administration. 27 The Association supported Gee, and on 8 September 1972 the Town Clerk wrote to thank Association President W.J.H. Clark and Vice-President Bob Duthie for going to Napier to assist with discussions. In the interim the NZLA Newsletter had printed the following: ‘Until the situation has been clarified the Council is unable to advise any of its members to apply for the vacancy for city librarian.’ 28 Despite the Association’s support, in 1972 Maurice Gee was ‘constructively dismissed’. The Town Clerk’s letter included ‘... the Council expects the Librarian, as it does all other heads of departments to control the library within policy laid down by Council and administration by the Library Committee ...’ 29
The Gees, duly farewelled by the branch, moved to another centre.
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Waikato—Bay of Plenty
Waikato became a branch in April 1967, by which time Hamilton Public Library had begun upgrading both its building and collection. In the 1970s and 1980s, in an effort to reach out to members and potential members, the regional council held meetings in smaller public libraries. Nan Penberth of Whakatane Public Library attended a meeting in Te Puke organised by Hamilton-based Beverley Fletcher and soon after became a member of the regional committee.
As Association President in 1996, Nan’s focus was to make the organisation more inclusive, especially for the smaller public libraries. In 2000 John Redmayne as president toured the region, thanks to ‘superb organisation’ by Malcolm Hinton, Waikato—Bay of Plenty councillor, and Vye Perrone, the regional chair. He visited the Rotorua Public Library and the libraries of the Forest Research Institute and Waiariki Institute of Technology as well as the new Tauranga City Library and various Hamilton libraries. The Central City Library, in a converted department store, was planning some very exciting developments with archives. In May 2003 over forty members attended a ‘terrific’ weekend in Taupo. Among the speakers were the regional chair, Stef Clark, and Association President Lisa Tocker. The following year Tauranga hosted a North Island managers’meeting.
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CHAPTER 9
The Library School: choosing the right road
A cold Wellington day of 6 degrees Centigrade found 53 strangers gathered in nervous anticipation in a lecture theatre of the Wellington College of Education ... for the first block course of six weeks to start their training for the elusive NZLA Certificate ... Six weeks to learn as much as possible about the four basic core subjects: libraries, their history and diversity; bibliographies, indexes and abstracts; descriptive cataloguing and classification; technical services ...'
Although in 1970 such scenarios were still a decade away, there were signs that a long-held dream was becoming a reality. Throughout the history of the Association, library education and training had been of crucial importance, and therefore the subject of constant review and change. The two-tiered system remained: the certificate course, which was run by the Association itself; and the Library School for university graduates, which granted the diploma under the auspices of the National Library Service. From the late 1950s many had hoped that the Library School would become an integral part of a university and that such an arrangement would also make provision for the certificate course. At last it appeared to be happening. In the intervening years, the certificate course had evolved from being a long drawn-out correspondence course, to a shorter course combining both distance learning and block courses. And while the preliminary examination was still administered by the Association, from 1965 the Library School in Wellington took over parts A and B, previously known as part two.
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The two courses, certificate and diploma, from the late 1960s were held in Borthwick House on The Terrace, Wellington, but were essentially different not only in structure and delivery but in approach. Mary Ronnie, who had experience with both courses, wrote that the graduate school ‘left the certificate course as an intermediate qualification within the education structure and therefore within pay structures too. Despite location changes [of the last two decades], the fundamental relationship between the two courses has not changed.’ 2 This relationship, together with the respective purposes, roles and the administration arrangements of the courses, regularly came up for discussion. As early as February 1963, at a Professional Section seminar on the Future of the Training Course (i.e. the certificate course), Hector Macaskill, in a prescient view, suggested that the tutoring go to the Technical Correspondence School (now the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand) in Lower Hutt. The other proposal, presented by David Wylie, was that responsibility for tutoring go to the branches or major libraries in the regions. 3
After further reports on a proposed university library school submitted to Council by the Education Committee, in August 1964 representatives of the Association, including National Librarian G.T Alley, met Dr J. Williams, Vice Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington.Their report back to Council suggested that a school could be established at the beginning of the next university quinquennium, 1970-4. Discussions continued on an informal basis with Victoria University, which, it was still hoped, would offer the first university library course in New Zealand. In February 1967 WJ. McEldowney, convener of the Education Committee, received a letter from the Vice Chancellor ‘indicating his willingness to continue discussions with the Association and the National Library with a view to putting a proposal to the Grants Committee for the establishment of a Library School at the University before the next quinquennium.’ 4 After further lobbying by Council, Association President David Wylie was ‘extremely disappointed’ - to put it mildly - to receive a firm ‘no’from the Minister of Education, Hon. A.E. Kinsella: T regret that I must decline your request of 21 July for the immediate setting up of a
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committee to review the matter.’ 5 But all was not lost. A notable outcome of various deliberations and actions of the Education Committee was the setting up in 1968 of a parliamentary ‘working party to consider the future education of librarians’. Chaired by Lindsay M. Graham, a former Deputy Director General of Education, and convened by Professor of Philosophy G.E. Hughes, it included representatives of the Association (W.J. McEldowney) and the National Library (T. Brian O’Neill) as well as two others. 6
Library School class 1965: Back row: Janice Eames (later Thwaites). Ong Chwee Im. Janice Eskett. Rosemary Hudson. Carol Hawes (later Pitman). Jean Hailiday, Hugh Clift, Gillian Fletcher, Alison Grant, Elizabeth Dolby, Elizabeth Booth Second row: John Robertson. Lan Thwaites. Laurian Watts (later Gill). Joy Udloff. Jane Campbell (later Curry), Mary Grant. John Dwyer, Julia Millen. Susan Clark (later Schweigman) Third row: Alan Richardson. Jennifer Stout (obscured). Fay Jamett, Chai Hoon. Ann Burgin. Roy Carroll {Absent: Judith Proctor) Front: Hillas Mac Lean (lecturer). Brian O'Neill (Director). Jerzy Podstolski (lecturer). William Tanzer (librarian) (author colln)
Their report, Working Party on Education for Librarianship (the Graham Report, 1969), was duly aired to the membership at the February 1970 conference in Nelson. While all agreed on its importance, some members received it in a less serious fashion than others. Roy Carroll, then working at the General Assembly Library,
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recalls that in the lunch break before the plenary session he and his ‘boss’Jim Wilson had visited Robinson’s winery, owned by the brother of another librarian. After tasting a few wine samples, they bought several bottles and, returning rather late to the conference venue, attempted to slide into the back row of the session on the Graham Report. However, they were waved down to the front where, as luck would have it, ‘Jim dropped his precious package and bottles rolled out onto the floor. Not an appropriate way to behave.’ 7
The Graham Report was then sent to Victoria University and referred to its Library Advisory Committee to report to the Professorial Board. The Education Committee also studied it, highlighting certain matters: ‘The working party believes, in our view rightly, that education for librarianship at all levels should be in one institution’. 8 The committee recommended, among other things, the establishment of a university library school to offer, ideally, a graduate course, but with various stages to accommodate levels of achievement. Such a school would have the benefits of size in such matters as the ability to employ staff with a wide range of expertise. The committee also discussed the idea of setting up a new institution, a college of librarianship, noting that before deciding on such a plan, the profession should consider whether any of three existing institutions the National Library, the Central Institute of Technology or Victoria University - might serve this purpose. Overall, the college idea at the National Library was considered a compromise, although David Wylie cautioned that the ‘fundamental weakness of the existing arrangements is that the School is divorced from an educational institution and enmeshed in the public service’. 9 The Central Institute of Technology in Upper Hutt was not favoured because of its ‘distance from the major libraries’ and because it did not cover ‘advanced courses and research to which we attach importance.’ Neither was the university particularly suitable because of the content of the intermediate certificate course: ‘courses of this kind should not find a place in a university system.’ 10 In addition, a change in policy at Victoria University meant that once again proposals for a university graduate school did not go any further. Professor lan
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Cam pbell, apparently representing Victoria University in negotiations with the librarians, refused to countenance its involvement in library education. Later it appeared others at the university did not share his view. 11 The Education Committee also raised some ‘points of dissatisfaction’ with the Graham Report, criticising it for inadequate conception of librarianship, inadequate presentation of advanced training and research, sacrificing advanced training and research to the interests of the lower-level intermediate course, not discussing comparable certificate courses already offered by the Department of University Extension and English Language Institute, the inability of the proposed college to meet the need of advanced training and research, and inadequate university representation on the proposed governing body and board of studies. There was a feeling that the proposals made by the Graham Working Party l belittle[d] the profession of librarian’, an example being the comment that university library staff should have ‘good degrees’ but need not be ‘of the same standard as those needed for university teaching’. 12
David Wylie. NZLA President 1967-1968
Following the discussions arising from the Graham Report, the Education Committee, at its 12 August 1970 meeting, recommended to Council:
1.
That it welcomes the interest of Victoria University of Wellington in a school of librarianship at the university.
2.
That this view be conveyed to the Minister of Education and the Vice Chancellor, Victoria University of Wellington and that they be informed
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that the Association wishes to be represented in any future consultations. 13
Meetings between representatives of the university, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education and the NZLA Education Committee continued throughout the 19705. Mary Ronnie was one of many who remember the 1974 conference in Wellington when, with a blaze of publicity, the Hon. Phil Amos, Minister of Education (1972—5), gave a keynote speech and metaphorically threw a spanner in the works. At the time he was putting forward government policy, which was against the university plan for the Library School and ‘didn’t want the universities to have any more power. He was keen on developing the polytechnics.’ 14 His letter of 17 April 1975 was more conciliatory but presented the same massage: he regretted that ‘the Vice Chancellor now sees no prospect of getting agreement with the university for what seemed a promising proposal. I am most disappointed at this outcome and feel some members of your committee will be similarly disappointed.’ 15
As it turned out, at Victoria University a newcomer had recendy joined the Library Advisory Committee. Professor of English Don McKenzie was in favour of the Library School coming to the university. ‘From that time everything became much easier.’ 16 In May 1975 David Wylie reported to the Association’s Education Committee on his meeting with Dr Taylor, the Vice Chancellor. The NZLA Council subsequently resolved: ‘That the Association affirm its support for a re-organisation of library education involving a graduate library school at Victoria University of Wellington and a [certificate] course at a Wellington Teachers’ College Library School with an Advisory Council common to both ~.’ 17 By October, ‘with the approval of the new Minister of Education [Hon. Les Gandar] proposals [were] being explored for the function of the Library School to be shared by Victoria University of Wellington for a graduate course and by the Wellington Teachers’ College for intermediate [i.e. certificate] and school library courses .. .’ 18 The significance of the latter proposal was
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that Alan Mackie, the Principal of the Wellington Teachers’ College, concerned at falling student teacher numbers, was interested - even enthusiastic - about taking over the certificate course.
Publication of the Graham Report heralded further unrest. It was apparent that Geoff Alley, although retired, still exerted influence. The Library School was his 'baby' and he did not want it to go to the university and come under its institutional control. Many others were concerned that if the graduate Library School went to a university, the certificate course could become downgraded. This was an increasingly difficult time for the director and staff at the Library School, as recalled by Alan Richardson, who had graduated from the 1965 diploma course. After three years of cataloguing at Auckland University Library, aspects of which he found 'very boring', he moved on to work at Ardmore and Hamilton teachers' colleges. His interest in library education began with the tuition of students taking the certificate course. In this way he came to the notice of and began a correspondence with the director of the Library School. In 1972 he succeeded Hillas Mac Lean as senior lecturer in cataloguing at the Library School, by then housed in Borthwick House, 85 The Terrace. Ron O'Reilly was director; Frances Dienes was running the certificate course.
The uncertain future of the Library School was taking its toll on the staff, who felt as though there was ‘a black cloud over our heads ... it was hard to keep going’. When David Mclntosh, the National Librarian, came to inform them that the split-level library education was to go ahead at two different institutions, it was such a shock we said nothing the future was a big unknown. 19 Staff had no idea whether they would have jobs to go to at the new schools. Jan Mac Lean, who had been at the Library School since 1968, first as a lecturer then a senior lecturer, later described the practical difficulties of teaching the certificate and postgraduate course concurrently, of trying to meet the conflicting needs of employers and the then NZLA (who ran the course) and of the overwhelming deluge of well-meaning advice [we]
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received.’ 20 Sue Cooper remembers her library school year in 1976 as a time of student revolt. By then Jerzy Podstolski was director, and students complained at the lack of consultation about such matters as seating in the study rooms. ‘We all had to sit in alphabetical order.’ Students were openly stroppy towards lecturers one visiting lecturer walked out and refused to come back. Another time a student shook his fist at Mary Ronnie.
The physical surroundings made matters worse. Student numbers in the certificate course had outgrown the space available and classrooms were extremely cramped. At the same time, the staff had the feeling that they were ‘under constant criticism from the NZLA’. 21 Some students, however, did not notice anything untoward. John Redmayne remembered the 1977 diploma class as ‘an absolutely wonderful year’. Fellow students included Philip Tu, lan Loney, Kevin Cunningham, and Jeff Kirkus-Lamont: a good number were ex-teachers or teachers’ college ‘drop-outs’ like himself. The director would have an ‘elderly gentleman’s sleep’ every afternoon. The door of his office would be gentiy closed. 22 In 1979, with only months remaining before the Library School moved to the university, Podstolski retired as director and it was Mary Ronnie, then the National Librarian, who had to step in and help with the administration of the school. ‘Fortunately we were in the same building.’
During this difficult period, discussions and arguments had continued among senior members of the Association about the future of the school. On 24 June 1977, for example, Education Committee representatives, including David Wylie and Richard Hlavac, met the Director General of Education, WL. Renwick, to consider proposals for the future of education for librarianship. The plan was to go to Cabinet to obtain financial provision for 1978/9 with the first year of operation to be 1980.
Early in 1979 the Association requested a meeting with the Minister of Education and his officers. The Education Committee circu-
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lated its draft policy statement on ‘Education for Librarianship’ to all branches, divisions, and sections for comment, and subsequendy prepared a new draft, which Council adopted on 16 October 1980 as the basis for discussion at the meeting with the Minister. Under this draft proposal, the Association would retain representation on the governing boards of the two new schools which would replace the postgraduate diploma course, run by the New Zealand Library School under the Education Department umbrella, and the NZLA certificate course.
At last, in 1981, one hundred librarians and academics attended Professor Roderick Cave’s inaugural address for the newly created Department of Librarianship (later Library and Information Studies) at Victoria University. Because of his experience and also because he held a masters degree, Alan Richardson was appointed senior lecturer; other staff were recruited from overseas.
The Wellington Teachers’ College (later Wellington College of Education) in Karori duly inaugurated its School of Library Studies Certificate. Jan Mac Lean was appointed director, and her staff included two other former lecturers from the old Library School, Joan Moreland and Pat Lomas; Alison Grant, former children’s librarian at Wellington Public Library; and Kathy Boyes, a cataloguing specialist who had worked at the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) library. There was no shortage of work. Jan Mac Lean noted (in 1982) that there had been 206 applicants for the course, of which 120 were selected and began the first section in late 1980. In 1982, ninety-seven graduated. In age, students in that first course ranged from eighteen to fifty-five, most being over thirty. All applicants were interviewed personally so that staff knew more about their background and experience, ‘an improvement in the new system’. The course structure had also moved away from formal lectures to more group work and discussion. She added that changes ‘do not mean a break with the past, but are a logical development of what has been achieved by the National Library and the Association in the past.’ 23
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Sue Pharo was a student in the transition from the old Library School on The Terrace to the College of Education in Karori. A trained teacher, Sue had been appointed as Tauranga’s Deputy City Librarian, conditional on her completion of the certificate qualification. She has few special memories of the course, and certainly did not enjoy the accommodation in the old YWCA in Upper Willis Street: ‘basic in the extreme and institutional’. The chief bonus for her was meetingwith Nan Penberth from Whakatane, who became afriend and colleague. 24 Another student describing her experiences a decade later, in winter 1990, noted that students came from as far afield as Invercargill and Waiheke Island, and the average age was thirty-six years.
For students from outside the Wellington area, six weeks seemed a long time to be away from homes and family: there was, however, one big advantage - study was much easier with ‘few distractions, unless you go looking for them.’ After exams and a cheerful gathering at the Karori tavern, ‘the last day, a warm 15 degrees C, saw the lecture theatre filled with 53 people, strangers no longer but all anticipating their homeward journey.’ 25
At last, thirty years after the dreams and ideas had first been voiced, the Association and the library profession had reached a significant milestone on its road to the future. After twenty years of hard work, lobbying, negotiation, and compromise not to mention the coming and going of several prime ministers and four ministers of education, two new-style library schools began teaching in New Zealand. The Association’s Education Committee heralded this as a ‘great step forward’, the results of many years of patient negotiation with the Association deeply involved. Most senior librarians, if not absolutely delighted, were hugely relieved that, after so many delays and setbacks, the New Zealand Library School had finally achieved university status and that its qualification would now be recognised throughout the wider world.
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CHAPTER 10
National Library: the hole in the ground
In 1967, a correspondent to New Zealand Libraries noted that front bench members of Parliament on both sides of the House acknowledged that National Library Service employees worked in conditions variously described as ‘scandalous’, ‘disgraceful’, ‘appalling’, and ‘totally inadequate.’ 1 Of equal concern was the fact that since the 1950s the Association had been pressing the government to address the need for a national library, but nothing had happened.
Conference remits as far back as 1911 and 1912 had urged that the Parliamentary Library become a nucleus for a national library. As the deposit library for publications received under the Copyright Act, the Parliamentary Library - also known as the General Assembly Library - was steadily building a comprehensive collection of New Zealand books, as well as holding all the parliamentary and official papers under the auspices of the Legislative Department, the fore runner of the Parliamentary Services Commission.
The Munn-Barr Report of 1934 had recommended that the General Assembly Library develop as a national reference library and also take over the library of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Alexander Turnbull Library. The latter, with its important rare books and New Zealand historical research collections, had been gifted to the nation in 1918 by Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull (1868-1918), businessman and bibliophile. 2 It was subsequently administered by the Department of Internal Affairs.
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The twenty-five years following the Munn-Barr Report saw another development which made its recommendations more urgent: the large and growing general collections comprising the National Library Service, which was part of the Education Department. As Jock McEldowney noted in 1960, ‘the two factors that caused a revival of interest in the idea of a national library were first, the need to rationalise a situation in which three separate institutions operating under three different Departments of State were each performing national library functions ... and second, the need of each of the three for better housing.’ 3 The Association set up a National Library Committee in 1952, convened by its president, Stuart Perry, who actively lobbied sympathetic MPs, such as Leader of the Opposition Walter Nash, and presented a remit that passed unanimously at the 1953 conference in Auckland:
That this conference is alarmed by the increasingly unsatisfactory condition of many of the buildings in which state library work is done, and by the serious effect this has on their administration and service and recommends council to urge on the Government that a select parliamentary committee be appointed to consider the need for a national library building with adequate storage for future national needs, the elements such a library should contain and how far existing state libraries and the national archives can without detriment to their particular functions, be brought together in such an institution. 4
It was later said that because of this focus on a national library, another important issue, regional library service, had to take a back seat. In due course, however, the government set up a Public Service Commission committee, to which the Association made submissions, and which reported in 1955. While in the main accepting the Association’s views, the committee ‘soft-pedalled the demand for a building.’ 5
Soft-pedalling was not, however, the recommendation of the Osborn Report (1960) which referred, among other things, to the problems
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of library accommodation. ‘A new building for the Turnbull Library should be regarded as a work of extreme urgency ... an adequate building [for the National Library] should be given high priority.’ Meantime, staff conditions deteriorated. In 1973 came yet another angry expression of frustration: ‘The work of the [National Library Service] headquarters has been increasingly hampered by the accommodation difficulties ... The scattered and over-crowded nature of the collections makes effective service impossible.’ 6
In these conditions staff could not work efficiently, and by the 1960s the cataloguing backlog was huge and growing. New acquisitions were just given a number and shelved in accession order, often on the floor. The critical and almost desperate appeal quoted at the beginning of this chapter makes it clear that the situation by 1967 was becoming a national issue. The scattered entities of the National Library were something of a grim joke, with various departments using sixteen separate buildings in Wellington alone. As these buildings were outgrown, sold or condemned, the book collections were loaded on trucks and moved from one location to another. Many of these places were old wooden houses, which presented other hazards in addition to overcrowding. In July 1959, for example, the Union Catalogue, then comprising more than fifty large cabinets full of cards, was housed at 44 Sydney Street East where it was threatened by fire. Three years later the catalogue and sections of National Library stock moved to the old Cecil Building at the northern end of Lambton Quay: it was concrete and therefore less of a fire risk. A story circulating at that time was that when a member of the public asked,‘Where is the National Library?’the reply was: ‘Just stand on the corner of Lambton Quay and Molesworth Street and sooner or later it will drive by’
The ‘appalling’working conditions made the job unattractive to many librarians, and this in part resulted in National Library staff being a somewhat mixed even polyglot collection of individuals. Many, like Polish-born Jerzy Podstolski, Hungarian-born Julius Dienes, and
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William (Bill) Tanzer from the Czech Republic were European immigrants who, though highly educated, found it difficult to find suitable work, sometimes because their qualifications were not recognised in New Zealand. In addition Geoff Alley, when Director of the National Library Service, ‘frequendy went out of his way to help someone in need. One storeman employed was a double amputee. Another had been a crew member on Shackleton’s last voyage to the Antarctic and indeed thought himself lucky not to have been eaten [presumably by starving shipmates] while awaiting rescue on Elephant Island.’ 7 A student who worked in Acquisitions in the 1960s later described the National Library staff as ‘the oddest bunch of people I’ve ever known.’
National Library working conditions in the 19505; J.W. McEldowney in the background (Alexander Turnbull Library PAColl -5920-09-03)
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Meanwhile, the goal of obtaining a New Zealand National Library was coming closer. On 26 November 1963, Association President Maida Clark welcomed Prime Minister Keith Holyoake’s announcement of a Cabinet decision to establish a national library, and that appbcations were being called for the post of national hbrarian. Geoffrey Thomas Alley was duly appointed as from 1964. The National Library of New Zealand Act had come about through much hard work - and not a little controversy - in the Associations Council, committees, and membership, as well as the recommendations of the Royal Commission on State Services. 8
Accommodation was another matter. The National Library Act 1965 included at 13 (1) ii:
The provision of suitable and fitting library accommodation for the purposes of the National Library, including a modern library building which is adequate for the present and reasonable future needs of the Library in Wellington, and which is of a quality in keeping with the responsibilities of the Library and its place in the community.
Not everyone in the Association was in favour of a new National Library building as such; there was concern that this could mean a loss of identity and independence for the library’s component parts. While Geoff Alley a supreme centralist was pushing hard to have all public collections contained under one roof, outspoken ‘belligerent’ Ted Leatham from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) Library was totally opposed. This was especially after Alley suggested that all processes, including acquisitions and cataloguing, be centralised. Victoria University Librarian Harold Miller was one who, while remaining detached, saw the flaws in the perception. All agreed, however, that the scattered and deteriorating collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library many of which were very valuable - and the various National Library Service collections needed to be properly housed. For many Association members, the creation of a New Zealand National Library as a unified body, preferably with its own specially designed
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building, would not only be a national resource but a flagship for the whole profession. Others felt that this could be to the detriment of existing libraries, particularly the Alexander Turnbull and General Assembly libraries. Ray Grover commented that when housed in the original Turnbull House, the staff had a clearly defined purpose and a wonderful atmosphere not only of musty old leather bindings, but of history and tradition as well. Administered in a hands-off fashion by Internal Affairs - which actually kept the library short of funds - it was independent and could retain its identity. 9 There was a problem with Turnbull House, however: it was too small for the growing collection and an earthquake risk.
Heated debate continued - both public and private - among those concerned about combining the various major collections into a new entity termed the ‘New Zealand National Library’. In particular the fate of research and rare book collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library aroused strong feelings and ‘bitter battles’. Between 1962 and 1965, the Turnbull Librarian, C.R.H Taylor, and a group of Turnbull Library staff campaigned seriously. The Friends of the Turnbull Library, formed as an incorporated society to promote public interest in that library and support its activities, made submissions to the Statutes Revision Committee entitled: Alexander Turnbull Library: a plea for continued separate identity’. As president of the Friends, poet Denis Glover produced what Alley described as typical ‘histrionics’. He railed against ‘the steam-roller bureaucratic tendencies which beset our national life.’The Friends labelled the Library Association ‘the mouthpiece of a few.’ 10 Other literary figures such as senior journalist Pat Lawlor and Listener editor Monte Holcroft were also vocal. 11 A Listener editorial commented that the Turnbull Library ‘was particularly vulnerable to any threat of subordination.’ 12 Newspapers throughout the country carried protests on behalf of the Turnbull as well as letters of support for the National Library. ‘Librarians wrote for and against as did poets and lawyers and mothers of five.’ 13 J.C. Beaglehole wrote of the need for ‘coordination of our resources for the sake of scholarship. 14 Others continued to express concern that the focus of the General Assembly Library in providing a service to
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Parliament would be lost.
On 24 May 1965 Cabinet confirmed the establishment of the National Library. After amendments the National Library Act was finally passed on 1 November 1965 and came into force in April 1966. The Act (which was further amended several times before its repeal and replacement in 2003) clearly set out the role of the Turnbull Library. The Turnbull’s obligation was to ‘develop and maintain a national collectionoflibrarymaterials(includingmanuscripts,paintings, drawings, sound recordings, musical scores etc.) including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to New Zealand and the people of New Zealand.’To National Librarian Geoff Alley and close friend Graham Bagnall, who headed the Turnbull from 1966, the negotiated roles appeared satisfactory. Important to Bagnall was that ongoing bibliographic work, such as the retrospective New Zealand National Bibliography , would continue and remain within the Turnbull Library cataloguing department.
Site for National Library building. 1974 (Evening Post colln. Alexander Turnbull Library)
In the next decade, senior members of the Association in Council
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and elsewhere expended much time and hot air debating the role of the National Library as defined under the Act. And there was still no National Library building. In 1971 the Central Division of the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library collections moved into the former Free Lance Building at 44 The Terrace. In June 1972, the Minister of Education, the Hon. H.L. Pickering, announced that approval had been given for the preparation of working drawings for the National Library building:
the new building is a vital prerequisite to the adequate development of information services to government, industry, other libraries and the public. For the first time the Alexander Turnbull Library will have both adequate research facilities and the opportunity to display all its treasures, including much valuable material at present stored in other parts of the city ... A six-floor building including one basement floor is planned. It will have a total gross area of 248,000 square feet.. . 15
The President of the Association immediately sent a telegram to the Minister welcoming the news and the Trustees of the National Library issued a press statement congratulating him. In the meantime, a site was earmarked on the corner of a Molesworth Street block, opposite Parliament Buildings.
Four years later, the only visible progress was a white painted fence surrounding the site and a hole in the ground: a block fronting on Molesworth Street, with the words ‘New Zealand National Library’ painted in large red capital letters. Stage one of the project, the foundations, was completed in December 1976. Then came a long period without any visible progress.
When Mary Ronnie, appointed National Librarian in 1976, came to take up her position, she was ‘struck by two things. First, the National Library did not have the status or salary of a department of state and worked quite independently of the Education Department to which it was attached. But through already established connections, she gained informal access to the Minister, the Hon. Les Gandar, first thing
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every Monday morning before Cabinet. Secondly, she felt that the National Library had no real public identity: ‘it was a myth to believe the erection of the National Library building would correct this ... the public must be made aware of what the Library is and does.’ 16
Wellington branch members protest lack of action on the National Library building. 1978 {LIANZA colln)
Wellington Branch members, tired of the ‘hole in the ground’ and bearing the brunt of public ridicule, decided to fight back. They were photographed standing in front of Parliament with placards. One read: ‘Pull your fingers out of this hole. And put the National Library in it!’ 17 Shortly after, in August 1978, came welcome news. The Minister of Education announced that the government had approved the calling of tenders for further work on the National Library building.
The library collections were still spread amongst widely scattered and constantly changing locations. In 1972 the Serials Unit had to move once again - from the Wiggins Building on The Terrace to new premises in the Gollins Building in Vivian Street. The Alexander Turnbull Library and the National Library’s General and User Services were still in the old Free Lance Building at 44 The Terrace. During a hailstorm,
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water cascaded down the walls with consequent damage to over one thousand of its valuable books and serials -‘further evidence ofthe critical accommodation problems faced by the National Library.’Association President lan Malcolm said: ‘We have been advising the government for years that the present housing of the national collections is inadequate and that a properly designed National Library building is the only answer.’ 18 Mary Ronnie recalls that despite public protests, the Prime Minister had been resistant to spending money on the National Library building. Fortunately the Hon. Bill Birch, Deputy Finance Minister, came to a CabinetWorks Committee when the minute was once again on the table. ‘We drew his attention to the hundreds of thousands of dollars we were paying in rent by not building the National Library.’ She heard later that: ‘Mr Muldoon was about to reject the Minute (as usual) when Bill Birch stopped him, pointed out the costs and - hey presto - we were up and running.’ 19
Intense frustration was compounded by another setback. In February 1979 Prime Minister Robert Muldoon announced that the National Library- designed in steel-would be redesigned in reinforced concrete.The following September 1980,JimTraue,who followed lan Malcolm as president, said in a public statement that the profession was ‘bitterly disappointed at the continuing delay in re-starting work on the National Library building’. He pointed out that the fifteenth anniversary of the National Library Act, which among other things had promised a new library building, would be marked with ‘only a six-year-old hole in the ground.’ 20
Late in 1980 two librarians took positive action. Anne Goodman and Diane Morris were employed at the General Assembly Library - within sight of the infamous ‘hole in the ground’ - and well aware of the consequences of continual delays. Chief Librarian lan Matheson lent his voice to their concerns by a public statement: ‘The General Assembly Library can no longer shelve all its holdings. Researchers such as academic staff and research students are advised to consult the library in advance before coming to work on material to avoid a wast-
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Ed visit. ’ He added that the prospect of transfer of appropriate stock to the projected National Library building was regarded as the solution to overcrowding in the General Assembly Library: At the passing of the National Library Act the [library] possessed over 300,000 volumes. Now its size is equivalent to almost 600,000 volumes ...’ 21
Anne and Diane launched a petition. In less than three weeks they had 4,800 signatures: people were queuing in Molesworth Street alongside the hole-in-the-ground ready to sign. Significantly, it was Jim Traue, Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library, many of whose staff had been opposed to the plan to include the Turnbull collections within the National Library, who on 10 December 1980 as President of the Association presented the petition to the Minister of Education, the Hon. Mervyn Wellington. Traue was not only concerned about the desperate accommodation problems but he was also satisfied that the identities of the General Assembly and Turnbull libraries were fully protected by the National Library Act. On the steps of Parliament, he addressed the 200 supporters: ‘lt is not just that public money is being wasted. What is really important is that the public is being denied proper access to the rich information resources of the National Library because of woefully inadequate accommodation ... a properly designed National Library building is needed now. ’Members ofParliament Dr I an Shearer (from the National government caucus) and Russell Marshall (from the Labour opposition) also spoke briefly to the crowd. Traue went on: ‘lt is high time that Parliament, which created the National Library and the trustees that parliament appointed, spoke out and told the government that its inaction is frustrating Parliament’s intention.’ 22
The following year the government approved the calling of tenders for construction of the shell of the National Library building. The Association expressed cautious optimism. President Peter Durey responded: ‘Librarians and library users throughout New Zealand will rejoice at the decision but the Government has still to decide to accept a particular tender ... until that decision is made construe-
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tion of the new building cannot start.’ 23 Meanwhile the future of the Turnbull Library (in seven buildings) and the National Library (sixteen buildings) was uncertain. The accommodation at 44 The Terrace was no longer adequate and once again staff would have to shift to temporary premises along with hundreds and thousands of books, journals, newspapers, papers, and other records. In 1981 General and User Services of the National Library and the Bibliographic Unit moved to a separate building, and the following year the bulk of the National Library staff and services moved out of The Terrace into yet another building, down on Thorndon Quay.
On 3 November 1982, a fine, typically windy Wellington day, the National Library building, now visible above ground level, took another step forward. Prime Minister R.D. Muldoon laid the foundation stone. After the ceremony, hopes were high. A year later, on 25 November 1983, the Ministry of Works and Development took over the brief for completion of the project. Amongst those working in the library world, there was a feeling that at last the end was in sight. 24 Even so library staff hardly dared to hope, and older librarians wondered somewhat sadly whether they would five long enough to see the new building in operation.
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CHAPTER 11
New directions, new people
From the 1970s the library world faced the growing need to accept new technology. Photocopying and microfilm were prevalent in libraries, as was planning for the automation of library services: the word ‘computer’ was starting to appear regularly in discussions, reports, and seminars. The Association’s Special Libraries Section (later Special Libraries and Information Services Section (SLISS)) was particularly active in promoting computer information systems. In 1979 the Auckland Special Libraries Section hosted a seminar on ‘Minicomputers in Libraries’ and the following year invited experts to speak on the Washington Library Network (WLN), the forerunner of the major databases of the National Library. Marjorie Warwick, one of those at the seminar, reported that the WLN system ‘is unique because it is a network devised by librarians to cover not only public but also academic research and special libraries .. . n In that year also, 125 people from throughout New Zealand took part in a seminar on computers in libraries, organised by the Waikato Branch in conjunction with the Centre for Continuing Education and held at the university.
Change was also apparent in the Association’s headquarters. Council members, worried about ‘serious shortcomings’ in the office management, established a committee to review the matter. 2 David Bowie was contracted to serve as executive officer, while the requirements for the permanent position were evaluated. The idea was that the position would be less secretarial and - by taking over part of the role of the former honorary secretary more entrepreneurial. At the expiry of Bowie’s three-year term, a new
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executive officer was appointed. In preparation for his arrival, Jim Traue and Sheila Williams went through piles of papers and stacks of files, sorting everything out and creating some sort of order for the new broom.
Havell Stephen-Smith commenced in February 1979. He held a BCA and had worked as a ministerial press officer, at the State Services Commission, and as Assistant Secretary of the New Zealand Law Society. With his appointment, Council felt that the NZLA had ‘come of age’ as a truly professional organisation, ready to move into the technological fast lane. In August 1981 the Standing Committee authorised the setting up of a computer system, which, when finally implemented in 1982, cost $32,000 - a very expensive process.
Other expenditure involved corporate image and visibility. In February 1978, on the recommendation of the Publications Committee, the more professional-looking Library Life had replaced the NZLA Newsletter. Justin Prain, an enthusiastic Wellington City Assistant Librarian, was by this time on the Council and agreed with Havell Stephen-Smith that Association publications needed quality stationery and printing, and a new professionally designed logo. Other council members became nervous about the costs of this ambitious publications programme. In July 1979 the Standing Executive Committee noted an ‘expected substantial cash deficit in the current financial year’, and hurriedly took action. As a first step, the committee resolved on reducing publication costs, which in the previous three years had shown a loss of $14,000. Planned as a revenue-generating programme, the market and consequent print run of Library Life was not sufficient to warrant expensive printing. It was notable also that the membership was not growing. At just over one thousand, it was not much larger than it had been in the early 1960s and could not provide a strong financial basis. In 1979 President lan Malcolm wrote to all members and potential members seeking support for the Association, which was ‘financially weak’. He was hoping for a flood of donations. Instead, the response was ‘depressing’. To many in the wider library world, the Association, despite branding
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efforts, was ‘invisible and irrelevant’, highlighting the need for better communication about its work and achievements.
The Professional Section, which in 1976 had become the Professional Division, continued to focus on membership needs and issues. Rosemary Hudson, honorary secretary when the section was based in Auckland, remembers the enthusiasm of those days. The committee ‘wrote to a selection of public, academic and special libraries asking for a copy of their most recent annual report.’ From the sixty responses received, they formalised the following priorities: accommodation; systems; stock; non-book materials; computerised databases; library staff. The committee then mapped out a programme of goals, which they fed into Council for discussion.
In the early 19705, the Professional Section had also surveyed the membership, sending out questionnaires to all libraries to ascertain why people joined, why they did not, and what benefits were expected and received. One reply, from a disgruntled library assistant who had failed the Certificate course, was to the point: T saw no reason to continue membership of an association where (the only) exam course was no longer open to me and whose Professional Section members had regarded me - even if I had passed the course - as a source of cheap and mindless labour.’ 3 . A different perspective, probably shared by many, came from a library assistant: ‘l’d like to say that there’s something rotten in the state of librarianship - something that stems from a common assertion that the NZLA is a “club for senior librarians”... As a NZLS Certificate student I have been in an audience addressed by past NZLA [council member] Janet Caudwell in which Janet made no mention of the membership available to those students.’ 4 A student in the certificate course remembers that when Havell Stephen-Smith came to speak to her class about joining the Association, the response was far from enthusiastic. When the certificate course went to the College of Education, the Association no longer had a captive market, a guaranteed income from the students who were mainly library assistants. The Association took some time to realise that now, as never before, it was imperative to convince the students of the advantages
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of belonging.
A high priority was to find a new home for Association headquarters. David Bowie, when executive officer, had continued the search, getting valuations on properties in and around Wellington. Months went by with no decisions, despite the ‘unsatisfactory state of the premises at 10 Park Street; in particular the danger to staff from holes in the carpeting’. 5 Further plans were afoot. Justin Prain, by then honorary treasurer of the Association, had experience in the property market and was keen for the Association to upgrade its accommodation and image. He suggested that Council take advantage of the buoyant Wellington property market. Not all council members agreed. They felt it was inappropriate for the Association’s purpose and were appalled at the idea of having to raise a mortgage. 6 This minority group maintained that if the Association could not afford to freehold a property, it would be better to rent rather than go into debt. Any others who had qualms about Justin’s approach refrained from speaking out, perhaps not wanting to appear unworldly.
Early in 1980 councillors went to view a property on The Terrace, which Justin Prain thought would be suitable. Sheila Williams was one of those who thought it most unsuitable - ‘it had chandeliers’. Such reservations aside, negotiations went on between lawyers, valuers, consultants, and accountants. One concern was that the use of 192 The Terrace as offices was not compliant with the existing town plan. On 5 September 1980 Justin Prain urgently convened a special joint meeting of the Standing Executive Committee and the Finance Committee. Solicitors advised that the Association’s purchase contract be conditional on gaining planning consent. Then another buyer offered a deal whereby the Association would buy the property unconditionally and immediately on-sell it at a small profit. The resale was ultimately negotiated at 1138,000, providing a net capital gain of about $lO,OOO after the purchase price (about $125,000) and costs of professional services were paid. 7 The outcome in financial terms was satisfactory, but council members were disappointed at this unnecessary diversion in the hunt for permanent accommodation.
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Within three months another venue was found and purchased. After so much procrastination, the Park Street house, home to the Association for twenty years, was sold to the National Council of Women, whose national secretary, as it happened, was none other than librarian Ruth Wylie. Unfortunately, because negotiations on the matter of zoning had not been satisfactorily concluded and the property remained ‘residential’, the sale price was not as high as if it had been zoned ‘business’. This was one of several matters that were not under sufficiently tight control by Council. A new council member, Helen Tait, recalls meetings when these matters were thrashed out: ‘[l felt] totally out of my depth as others whisked through the figures and having a feeling that, because they were obviously so much more clever about these things than I was it must be all right. I guess that’s why these problems occur in companies and more particularly, voluntary organisations. People just feebly assume that someone else knows better.’ Other council members took the view that the purchase deal for this new office would have been quite feasible if the provisos such as the strict time schedule for moving on, noted at the time - had been followed. 8
Moving NZLA headquarters from Park Street to Brandon Street. Wellington, 1981, l-r: John Gully. Trevor Mowbray, Justin Prain, Megan Clark. David Archer
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On 15 December 1980 the Association took legal possession of two floors - the third and fourth - of 20 Brandon Street in downtown Wellington. The office would occupy the third floor, which included a conference room, while the fourth floor and penthouse was to be leased to provide income. The big move took place on Waitangi Day 1981 (Friday 6 February) and Saturday: as a public holiday weekend, there was comparatively litde traffic. The move was accomplished in a typically thrifty fashion. While a carrier took the largest items, a team of Wellington Branch members did the rest. Trevor Mowbray, John Gully, Alan Smith, Justin Prain, Megan Clark, and David Archer spent all day loading boxes and files into a van, driving through Wellington streets, unloading, and lugging them up to the third floor. By Monday 9 February, office supervisor Ann McSweeney was seated at the reception desk ready to welcome visitors to the new office. Helen Tait recalls the change: At one stage while the Association was at Park Street and had no boardroom, the Council used to meet in a committee room in Parliament Buildings. Arranged through the Parliamentary Librarian, Hillas Mac Lean, it was rather enjoyable. Once we had the new headquarters in Brandon Street, which had its own boardroom, we met there and I rather missed that special feeling 0f... meeting in Parliament Buildings.’
In 1984 the Council and Standing Executive considered a report on and review of the NZLA: the result of long-standing recognition that somehow the Association had lost its way. One recommendation was to alter the Association’s structure: to make Council smaller and increase communication with the sections, divisions, committees, and branches. Five years on the situation was even more complex. At September 1989, the Association had 1,621 members made up of 1,179 personal members and 442 institutional members. Council had twenty-five members: president, vice-president, honorary secretary, honorary treasurer, honorary assistant secretary, immediate past-pres-ident (six); branch chairpersons from Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Central Region, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago-Southland (seven); the chairpersons of the Professional and Local Authorities divisions (two); ordinary member representatives (four); local author-
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ity and other institutional members (six).The full Council met at conference as well as two or three times a year.
NZLA Headquarters, Brandon Street, Wellington. 1981-1991
Yet there was much the Association could be proud of. By the end of the 1980s, several major goals had been achieved: the National Library was about to move into its own building; the future of the two library training courses had been assured at a university (diploma in librarianship) and college of education (certificate in library studies). Major bibliographic work and other publication projects had been produced. As noted by Jock McEldowney ‘there was no longer a clear focus as there had been earlier, on a limited range of important jobs to be done by the library world.’ It was not that there was nothing left to be done, but that ‘the things that needed doing or needed to be identified and analysed, tended to be more complicated. The question was: Who would identify and tackle these issues?’ 9
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CHAPTER 12
Old timers and fresh starts
The early sixties through to the late eighties was a time when the Association could look back on many achievements. And there was more to come: the about to be completed National Library building was a huge gain for the Association and the nation. In the same period, however, the Association lost though retirement or death several long-standing and notable members.
Mary Fleming, a pioneer librarian whose career had culminated as lecturer in cataloguing and classification at the Library School, died in 1964 aged fifty-seven; a memorial prize was later established in her honour. The 1959-60 Standing Committee - stalwarts of the profession and the Association - were beginning to bow to the years: G.T. Alley had retired as National Librarian in 1967; Hector Macaskill retired as National Librarian in 1972; W.J. McEldowney was about to retire as University of Otago Librarian in 1987; J.O. Wilson had transfered from the General Assembly Library, in 1971, to be Deputy National Librarian and held various other positions before finally retiring in 1975. Stuart Perry died in 1982, aged seventytwo. A colourful, well-known figure, always well dressed and dapper, Stuart was Wellington City Librarian for over twenty-five years. With his LLB degree and legal knowledge, he gave invaluable help to the Association with rules and regulations and the various Acts of Parliament. An old style ‘gentleman’, he had delightfully eccentric interests and his New Zealand Whisky Book was published shortly before he died.
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In July the same year another library stalwart, Ronald N. O'Reilly, died suddenly in Wellington, aged sixty-eight. A graduate of the Library School's first diploma course, in 1951 he became Librarian of Canterbury Public Library. He had notably devised an extended version of the New Zealand numbers - 993.1 of the Dewey Classification scheme. From 1968 to 1974 he was Director of the Library School where he tended to polarise opinion among staff and students. Jock McEldowney wrote: 'He was a stimulating person to work with ... even if his ideas as they flowed from him were not always completely worked out and often not understandable when first produced. He could be wonderfully tactless, because to him ideas were things to be discussed, not to be touchy about.'He added that, as an administrator, O'Reilly 'needed to have someone following behind to pick up the pieces, but there are many things that would not have happened but for his work ... M Library School students would have agreed with only some of these comments.
Stuart Perry, retired Wellington City Librarian, NZLA Presi dent 1952, wntes a book
Three years later, in October 1985, David Wylie, aged sixty, died suddenly from a massive brain haemorrhage. Looking back his widow, Ruth, recalled that many years earlier he had fallen through a trapdoor in the attic of the old Lower Hurt Public Library building and fractured his skull. It seemed to her that, although he had apparently recovered, this trauma contributed to his death. As well as holding a number of senior library positions - he was University Librarian of Victoria University of Wellington from 1981 - David Wylie had been a member of the Association
Council from 1953 to 1979, was honorary treasurer for ten years, involved in the Education Committee, editor of New Zealand Libraries,
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and president in 1967-8. This multiplicity of involvement was in itself a problem when he died leaving a mass of paper work, which Council members like Sheila Williams spent a great deal of time sorting out. John Sage wrote in his tribute to Wylie: ‘The contrast between the apparent disarray of the files in his office and David’s memory and power of recall was often marvellous to behold.’ 2 Anecdotes also arose from David Wylie’s presence at conferences. As one of the few who stood up to Geoff Alley’s bulldozing tactics - the two were often at daggers drawn - he played an important role in representing opposing views. Many recall impassioned debates which gready enlivened the rather sedate conference proceedings. At the 1956 Rotorua conference, as Helen (Cowey) Sullivan wrote, David Wylie had prepared a closely reasoned paper on the idea of ad hoc federations. But time was running short and ‘he had only just begun when [Alley] asked him if he intended to speak much longer. David went white with fury and sat down before he had finished his sentence.’ 3
Others who retired from the library scene included early Association notables Clifford Collins, Jean Wright, D.C. Mclntosh, and Harold Miller. In April 1986, not long after David Wylie’s death, came that of A. Graham Bagnall. Born 1912 he had been a noted scholar and historian whose name is linked with the six-volume New Zealand National Bibliography. He lectured at the Library School and was Chief Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library from 1966 until his retirement in 1973. With a focus on bibliographical projects, he had been active in the creation of the National Library and the building. In the Association he was on numerous committees and was president in 1964-5. He edited several important publications including Index to New Zealand Periodicals and the Union List of Serials and, for a time, New Zealand Libraries.
Towards the end of 1986, the grand old man of New Zealand libraries, Geoffrey Thomas Alley, died aged eighty-three. His long career had culminated with his appointment as New Zealand’s first National Librarian in 1964, from which position he retired in 1967. Sometimes described as the ‘great white chief’ or ‘a colossus’, he strode
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through the library profession - literally head and shoulders above the rest. A comment made about the National Library shows his tremendous character: ‘ln the early 1960s it took a brave man to tell the Chairman of the State Services Commission that he needed 250,000 square feet when the National Library Service was then occupying less that 20,000.’ 4 Many people wished to mark the life and work of Geoff Alley in some appropriate way and create a permanent memorial. In due course a trust established the G.T. Alley Fellowship. Launched in 1990 and promoted by the National Library Society, the fellowship provided ‘assistance to librarians from any part of New Zealand to gain wider experience and complete a work-related study at another institution in New Zealand or overseas for a period of up to six months.’ 5 After his retirement in 1987, long-standing friend and sparring partner Jock McEldowney, with assistance from Rosemary Hudson, Deputy Librarian at the University of Otago Library, spent the next decade writing the Alley biography, published to much acclaim in 2006. While the New Zealand library world had benefited immeasurably from Geoffrey Alley’s work, perhaps his greatest memorial and legacy was to be the National Library of New Zealand and its building, which was well on the way to completion.
Progress on the National Library building, conceived in 1964 and under construction in fits and starts since 1974, was by 1985 clearly evident. In April 150 people attended a ceremony when Prime Minister David Lange carved his initials in the concrete at the top of the new building. Due for completion at the end of 1986, it was two years ahead of schedule - though it had taken twenty years to get there - and had by then cost $5O million. It was planned to hold five million books, one million microfiches, 50,000 maps, and thousands of newspapers, manuscripts, pictures, and photographs. A valuable addition was the creation of the National Children’s Literature Collection, a research collection mainly comprising books acquired by the School Library Service since its establishment in 1942. Then in 1980 the Dorothy Neal White Collection was donated to the National Library. Another addition came into the library’s orbit when in 1989 Susan Price offered to donate her collection of 5,000 children’s books. The
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agreement negotiated over the next two years was that Susan would continue to house and add to the collection, which now has nearly 20,000 works, but the National Library would be the owner and have access for research purposes.
In the meantime negotiations - and heated debate between the major components of the National Library had at last been worked through. As a by-product of Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer’s parliamentary reforms, the General Assembly Library seceded from the National Library to become a single-purpose legislative reference service library. Its newspaper collection would transfer to the Turnbull Library and the legal deposit office and copyright collections would go into the new National Library. From 1 October 1985, the General Assembly Library became part of the newly created Parliamentary Service for members of Parliament, officers of the House of Representatives, and others employed within Parliament Buildings. From 1 January 1987, it became officially known as the Parliamentary Library. On the subject of the name change, elder statesman Sir Robert Muldoon was heard to comment with typical asperity: ‘There’s no Mr Bellamy but we still call the restaurant Bellamy’s.’ 6
Also in the mid-eighties the Friends of the Turnbull Library went into battle in a last-ditch defence ofTurnbull’s independent status and identity with its focus on in-depth research, particularly that leading to new publications. As it transpired the Turnbull Library collections were to be separate within the building, while general-user inquiries for New Zealand material would be dealt with by a Public Reference Service, and a reading room would give access from closed stacks to the general collections.
Fears were aroused in 1986 over the status of the Turnbull’s chief librarian in view of the appointment of a second deputy national librarian. A deputation from the Association to the Minister also stressed that the name Alexander Turnbull Library should be prominently displayed on the building. After questions were asked in Parliament, the Association was among those who came to the Turnbull’s defence,
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as many librarians were concerned about the direction the National Library was heading in. The second deputy national librarian position was disestablished in a major restructuring two years later. 7
The big move to the new building began as two separate projects, the first being the vacating of 44 and 48 The Terrace by 31 March 1986. Three more buildings were rented to house the displaced staff and collections, which meant fourteen sites had to be cleared. The National Library officially took over the building from 6 December. The second project - the move into the new building - began on 6 January 1987. This transfer of the National Library’s Wellington stock collections from their many storage places into the Molesworth Street building, where shelving was set up ready, went comparatively smoothly. The first group of National Library staff moved into the new building in March. When fully operational the National Library would house 320 staff including 50 new appointees. By May the interloan and administration services were operating in the building. The valuable Alexander Turnbull Library collections went into a specially designed area on the first floor along with their storage stacks, while the major newspaper collections arrived from the Parliamentary Library. The 200-seat auditorium, an integral part of the new building, opened with a recital and reception for the Wellington music community, at which the National Library’s Bechstein grand was played by visiting international pianist Jorge Bolet. The Wellington Branch of the Association scheduled the last week of May as Professional Week, and Wellington librarians were invited to a programme of talks, tours, and demonstrations. So great was the demand that two additional days of talks and tours were allocated.
The moment had arrived. The magnificent new National Library of New Zealand: Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa finally opened to the public on 1 July 1987 and was officially opened by the Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves, GCMG, on 5 August. Yet all was not well. Fifty years after Parliament passed the New Zealand Library Association Act 1939, the Association was facing extinction.
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National Library building, Molesworth Street. Wellington, as envisaged in 1978
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CHAPTER 13
Going, going, going...
4~V Tever in my wildest dreams did I think I would preside over a x y meeting to discuss the strategies to be followed if the NZLA were to be liquidated.' So wrote Peter Durey, Auckland University Librarian and former president of the NZLA, in August 1989. 1 What should have been a celebratory time for librarians, with the opening of the new National Library building and exciting developments in library training, technology, and information storage, was sobered by the knowledge that their professional association was facing public humiliation and possible extinction. It was especially distressing for older librarians who had worked for so long to further the Association's goals.
Part of the problem seemed to be that in the past decade the Council and its leading lights had changed the focus of the Association towards such matters as raising the profile, and changing the image and outlook of the profession (see chapter 11). These efforts, particularly the publication programme, had gone beyond what was realistic and diverged from the Association’s primary purpose of uniting and promoting the interests of New Zealand libraries and those engaged in the library profession. As one member later remarked, the
Peter Durey. NZLA President, 1981-1982
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Association had been suffering from delusions of grandeur: ‘What does it think it is?’ 2
The Association was in deep financial trouble. Mutterings and warnings had been heard for several years. In 1979 the Finance Committee had taken various measures to ‘mitigate the expected substantial cash deficit in the current financial year’, but unfortunately these had been insufficient. In 1982 realisation came of the need for drastic action. 3 The Council had come to its decisions after a long debate about finances. Income from publications had fallen well below budget while both council and committee expenses had risen, as had salaries - the major ongoing expenditure. The statement of accounts for 1982/3 showed a deficit of $25,000. As it had turned out, the market-place of the time was a much tougher arena than most librarians could have either known or experienced. In her presidential address at the AGM of 18 February 1983, Dorothea Brown said; ‘The Association is going through a serious crisis and for better or worse I was your President while the storm was gathering and I owe you a reconfirmation, or reassurance if you like, that the Association will pull through.’ 4
On advice from the Finance Committee, the Standing Executive had proposed to reduce office staff to three from 1 January 1983. It was time for straight talking: the Association’s financial malaise required long-term solutions. The general feeling in the Council was that the Association was getting half the output of work that had been produced under Doreen Bibby’s regime, at twice the cost. In addition ‘failure and inability of the publications programme to reach its 19812 and 1982-3 targets were a major contributing factor to the current crisis, but not the only one.’ 5
The Standing Executive Committee commissioned a review of the Association’s finances from a firm of chartered accountants and passed a vote of‘no confidence’ in the executive officer. Alan Smith then resigned from his position as honorary treasurer. He and some others, who disagreed with the Council’s handling of the matter, protested
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that much of the fault lay with Council itself, which had naively assumed that the Association’s financial direction was appropriate but had not been sufficiently hands-on and vigilant. It was a hard lesson. Alan Smith also felt that whatever the merits of individuals concerned, the Association had not acted as a ‘good employer’. 6 Dorothea Brown commented that she ‘had heard it argued that Council should confine itself to matters of high policy. I am of the opinion that finance, housekeeping and the management of our national office have become so fundamental to the Association that Council cannot and should not abdicate its responsibility in these areas. What is the point in setting policies if you can’t afford to promote them?’ 7 It was a view many had cause to reflect on in the not too distant future.
Alan Smith. Whangarei Public Library, 1973 (Northern Advocate)
By March 1983 Havell Stephen-Smith had relinquished his position as executive officer, the clerical assistant had left, and remaining staff were on notice to work reduced hours. (Within two years the general secretary, Marian Kleist, would resign, to be succeeded by Lydia Klimovitch at the end of 1986.)
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The Council devoted most discussion to finance; the proportional expenditure pattern of the Association over the last few years; the level of staffing in the national office and the costs involved in providing basic services to members; the computer system; the property. A debate about raising subscriptions in order to increase income resulted in a decision against at least in the meantime. Other discussions were inconclusive with a general awareness that there would be no ‘quick fix’ solution. At the AGM in early 1984, it was reported that although much reduced, there had again been an operating deficit: yet subscriptions had by then been increased, as had the valuation of the Brandon Street property. 8
As the owner of two floors of that property, the Association was partly responsible for body corporate costs, which were much larger than expected. New Wellington City Council building regulations necessitated expensive upgrading, like closing in the admittedly rather charming old cage lift as well as other work. As the Association had invested so much in the property, councillors - perhaps wrongly - felt they had no choice but to stick to this track in the hope that it was the right one. With Justin Prain leading the charge into up-market property, and others on the Council seeing this as a way to the future, it was, as Alan Smith remarked, ‘a mismatch of aspiration and business reality’
One proviso of the purchase was that the Association would sell the building within ten years. Instead, in early 1987 Council debated whether to purchase another floor which had come onto the market. 9 With the advantage of hindsight, this was an almost fatal move. Ken Porter remembered someone saying, ‘lf we go ahead, what’s the worst thing that can happen?’ Michael Wooliscroft remembers that Janet Caudwell was one of those most uneasy about going ahead with the investment yet, ironically, had to help pick up the pieces when the vote went against her. As reported the decision was made ‘in order to consolidate the NZLA’s stake in the property’ (then valued at over $3 million), ‘intending to raise additional rental income and ensure greater control over the eventual development of the building’. 10 To-
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gether with the property’s joint owner, M.D. Woods, the Association took out a second mortgage of $275,000 and bought into the second floor. The timing could not have been more unfortunate. The ‘worst thing’was about to happen.
In the wider world, New Zealand’s economy had become overheated and following the stock market crash in Wall Street on what became known as Black Tuesday in October 1987, the New Zealand share market took a nosedive. During the next twelve months, many businesses folded with serious ongoing consequences in the property sector. The valuation of the Association’s Brandon Street property was drastically reduced, yet mortgage repayments and other costs continued to rise. Businesses wanting rental property at that time could take their pick from the many new premises coming on the market. By early 1988, despite having reduced the rent, the Association had no tenants. Accounts for the year ended 30 September 1988 showed ‘net loss on rents’ at $83,094. u Sue Sutherland, who had business experience, later said that, even as a ‘new chum’ on Council, it was clear to her and many others that the Association was in trouble. ‘Nobody was saying anything but we all realised the problem we were facing.’
At the end of the financial year 1987/8, after consulting with the auditors, all agreed that the Brandon Street property must be sold at the best possible price. Jan Bierman and Sue Pharo, recruited by incoming Vice-President Vic Elliott, were both new to Council and found it a shocking experience: ‘The first meeting I went to was in Brandon Street and in order to fit everyone in, we had to go down in the cranky old lift to a lower floor to a big room full of chairs in circles. It was very cold and there was no carpet on the floor.’ Not knowing the background, they found all the financial problems confusing and scary: ‘we were worried that as Council members we could be personally liable.’ 12
The Association, acting on experts’ recommendations, began negotiations with the co-owner of the building. At this point, the Association’s property adviser, Justin Prain, resigned from the Council.
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For the executive officer and remaining office staff, the crisis meant months of uncertainty over whether they would retain their jobs. Early in 1989 the Association’s share in the Brandon Street property (two-and-a-half floors), was put up for sale and aggressively marketed by Paul Hastings. By March the agent was recommending that the price be reduced to around 1200,000. 13 The executive realised that to sell at that price would leave a large debt, which the Association would be unable to repay. After further consultation, the Association’s honorary solicitor and accountants gave their opinion that the New Zealand Library Association was already technically insolvent.
Over 200 members attended a Special General Meeting of the NZLA on 14 June 1989, at the National Library Auditorium in Wellington. President Geoff Chamberlain had the unenviable task of explaining the situation and inviting the membership to discuss options and proposals. The following resolution was passed, 'that the NZLA, subject to confirmation at a second SGM to be held on 25 July ... be wound up voluntarily (subject to Section 8 of the NZLA Act)', a second resolution endorsed the need for a national body'whose basic tenet is to provide a voice for librarianship in New Zealand'. 14 Other resolutions involved carrying out a postal survey of members and various technicalities. Finally, after much controversy, from a field of eighteen candidates, the meeting selected an eight-member steering group: Jane Hill (Wellington Public); Helen Tait (Auckland Public); Sue Sutherland (Canterbury Public); Sue Pharo (Tauranga Public); Adrian Birkbeck (New Lynn Public); Sue Cooper (Auckland, Fletcher Challenge); Helen Stephen-Smith (consultant librarian) and Beverley Fletcher (National Library, Hamilton). From this evolved the Futures Group. Following the Special General Meeting came an open meeting chaired by Peter Durey where it was agreed that a new association be formed and provisionally registered as the 'Library and Information Association of New Zealand (Inc) LIANZ. 15
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After these meetings when members were very critical of the Association, Wellington City Librarian Brian McKeon wrote a letter of support, asserting that the president was doing an excellent job explaining the Association’s predicament. ‘lt is the right of members of the Association to agree or disagree with the proposals which have been put in front of them by the Council, but I think that due acknowledgement should be given of the hard work that has led to the formulations of those proposals.’He went on;
Helen Tail. NZLA President. 1985-1986
I believe that the Association, if it goes into liquidation, will have done so over a technicality. An error of judgement was made in one area of the Association’s administration. It had nothing to do with the Association’s essential functions. In no way could it be said to have arisen from a deficiency in the Association’s rules, unless one takes the view that incorporated societies and their like should not be permitted to own property, invest funds or borrow money. I do not believe that it was a reflection upon the general and professional competence of successive generations of Councillors and officers.’ 16
Peter Durey reiterated and endorsed McKeon’s statement:
I am concerned that one decision by a previous NZLA Council which, with hindsight turned out to be a major mistake, should in the eyes of some negate everything else the NZLA has done in the recent past and required a major reconstruction. Librarianship in New Zealand is a fairly small
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profession, but... there are people who still seem to think that an 'old guard' runs the NZLA - that shows how little they know about their Association, since it is that group which has been under-represented in Association affairs since the last reform in the early seventies. There are formidable difficulties for a small Association to achieve a structure which allows satisfactory regional and sectional influence in decisionmaking but without crippling costs.
He urged the Association to refocus on major issues such as copyright, censorship, local government reform, user pays, inter-library loan, continuing education. Dealing in property was not one of them. 17
At the meeting on 25 July 1989 members agreed not to go ahead with winding-up the Association. 18 After six months of negotiations and hovering on the brink of both voluntary and forced liquidation, the Association’s share of 20 Brandon Street, Wellington, was transferred to the other owner of the building in exchange for no debt or liabilities on the property. In the end, the NZLA had survived with liquid assets intact and lost ‘only’ its property and share interests in it. In the final settlement on 1 November 1989, the Association agreed to continue renting space in 20 Brandon Street for three years for an annual sum of $26,444. The figure was higher than market value but was considered a worthwhile arrangement in order to reach an agreement.
At the 1990 conference, President Geoff Chamberlain appeared much relieved as he reported, ‘This has been an extraordinary year for the Association, one with a much happier ending than would have appeared possible in February.’ 19
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CHAPTER 14
Taking stock: into the 1990s
The September 1992 issue of Library Life noted that three years had passed since ‘the troubles’, and the Associations lease of the Brandon Street building - part of the transfer of ownership settlement - was due to expire on 31 October 1992. 1 Meanwhile new premises had been found with a seven-year lease for part of a floor on Level 8, Petrocorp House, 86 Lambton Quay, next to the office extension of the Beehive in downtown Wellington and with a delivery entrance off The Terrace. It appeared that the Association was still image conscious. Its Accommodation Working Group employed a design firm to create effective use of space and ‘help the Association to stand tall (whilst not deluding any visitors as to the membership-based source of income and the basic non-profit nature of the organization).’ 2 The Association’s Wellington Regional Council commissioned a special quilt which was presented to the chief executive to adorn one of the walls of the new office.
Somehow the Association had survived. A new generation of librarians was becoming prominent in an era of massive social, economic, and political upheaval. Mainly graduates with the diploma or certificate qualification, many were women in middle and upper management positions with a very different life experience and outlook. While some librarians still subscribed to the view that the Association was a ‘club for senior librarians’, Sue Sutherland, then at Canterbury Public Library, commented, ‘ironically it seems to me that in the last 3-4 years Council has been rather short on experience and the “old guard” (whoever they may be!) have been conspicuous by their absence.’ 3 With the advantage of hindsight, it was notable that
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the financial troubles had begun in the years following the retirement and death of several senior members.
Until the mid-1970s the Association had been a relatively small operation in financial terms, with senior Wellington librarians taking a keen interest. Although members in the more remote places felt at times that Wellington had too much control, there were few financial worries. Rosemary Hudson remembers discussions in the Professional Division about the Wellington members’ involvement. While some were resentful, Wellington’s dominance was considered inevitable. It was also seen as unreasonable that Wellington members should have to shoulder the burden of keeping the Association affairs, not to mention the running of its office, on track. It had to be a shared responsibility.
But from 1980, when the Association took ownership of its new Brandon Street premises and had large financial burdens, there had been a series of problems and financial crises, and the contributory causes were hard to remedy. Councillors scattered in the far-flung corners of the country flew into Wellington for one-day meetings and then flew out again. Apart from one or two teleconferences and faxes, there was little contact between meetings. Successive presidents made a point of travelling to the regions. Sue Sutherland reported in 1992 that she and the Auckland chairperson, Helen Woodhouse, Visited librarians and libraries in Gisborne, Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Havelock North ...’, adding that it was ‘encouraging to hear of planned extensions at Hastings Public Library and a new library at Flaxmere.’ 4
Despite the tough financial regime following the 1987 share-market crash, Association work continued. Interloan had been an important Association activity from the earliest years, and over time improvements were suggested to make the system more efficient. In 1973 Euan Miller advocated that a Telex network linking the university libraries would reduce delays. He described interloan as ‘a pleasant leisurely system of information retrieval. Pink cards slowly cranking
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their way through the machinery of the National Library and Union Catalogue and books pleasantly settled in mailbags chuffing their way up and down the country.’ 5 After reports and complaints that some libraries using the scheme were not Association members and did not meet its requirements for participation, in 1983 the Council had appointed a Working Party on Inter-Library Loan comprising John Sage (convener), Janet Copsey, Jan Mac Lean, Brian McKeon, Peter Scott, Paul Szentirmay, Marjorie Warwick, and David Wylie. This working party presented a 49-page report, with an appendix covering a survey of interloan in 1983—4. Perhaps its most important recommendation was that interloan should cease to be the responsibility of the NZLA Library Resources Committee: instead there should be constituted a new governing body. The Joint Standing Committee on Interloan (JSCI) of the New Zealand Library Resources Committee of the Trustees of the National Library and of the NZLA Council duly came into being. 6
In the user-pays environment of the 1980s came a proposal for charging at what one correspondent to Library Life regarded as ‘outrageous rates’. 7 Inter-library loan had been the subject of a SLISS Auckland Chapter workshop for librarians on Special Library Planning and Organisation in August 1988. Marleene Jean Boyd reported heated discussion on interloan problems and the rapid changes which had taken place over the last two years. 8 At that time JSCI was surveying the costs of inter-library loan to requesters and suppliers. In 1990 JSCI, after considering the statistics, ‘vigorously encouraged’ changes to existing borrowing and lending patterns with a view to improving the balance between lending and borrowing. Some libraries were identified as heavy borrowers, and others as heavy lenders. Total borrowing figures were over 200,000 in 1989, and 190,106 in 1990. Under the new system, interloan coupons or vouchers were used and redeemed by the NZLA office. From 1991 libraries with coupons to redeem were required to create an invoice for the dollar value of the coupons (number of coupons multiplied by $5 plus GST) and send them to the office. The Association paid out on invoices received on a quarterly basis.
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The Association continued to make submissions to government on pay equity, on copyright, and on the Statutory Publications Bill; provided comment on a review of the role, structure, and membership of the Trustees of the National Library; and lobbied for a teacher-librarian course. Work in the divisions, sections, and committees went on as usual. Jan Thompson, chair of the Professional Division, took a lead in formulating the Association’s submission to the Royal Commission on Social Policy and developing policy statements on freedom of information and copyright. Although some initiatives had unfortunately gone into recess with the reorganisation, new issues called for the Association’s attention - notably the government’s 1988 proposed local government reforms. On this matter the Association took the initiative, as Dorothea Brown noted in her conference paper of 1989: ‘Our submission was cobbled together in a great hurry, but whatever its shortcomings, it served the purpose of giving the Association some standing at the national level.’ 9 The resultant law changes effectively altered administrative districts, and library financing and related processes. The number of regions was reduced from twenty-two to fourteen while territorial authorities were reduced from more than two hundred to seventy-four. Public libraries were very hard hit. With local authority income from rates considerably reduced in some areas, and expenditure rising, library budgets were squeezed, and as Jane Hill at Wellington City Library recalls they had to work hard on finding ways to survive. Allison Dobbie (Auckland), Geoff Chamberlain (North Shore), Brian McKeon (Wellington), and Dorothea Brown (Canterbury), representing six large metropolitan libraries, formed a support group. The newly created Metro Net later grew to seventeen members.
Conspectus - the collection management system for university libraries - came into being in 1989. Sponsored by the Association’s Resources Committee and the National Library, Conspectus gave participating libraries the opportunity to learn how to use the Conspectus methods and tools for improved collection management. Papers from training workshops held in 1990 were submitted
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to Frances Dienes, then Director of Collection Management in the National Library. At the September 1991 conference, a panel discussion and papers canvassed the subject more fully. The National Library set up a national database and the major libraries started using the Conspectus system to evaluate their collections and reported the results.
After the Brandon Street building debacle, the Futures Group, comprising Vic Elliott, Sue Pharo and others, were charged with working out terms of reference and general guidelines. An open forum to air views of members looked at such things as membership numbers and fees, and commissioned a report from Helen Stephen-Smith. The idea then was to ensure the Associations structure and organisation was equal to its role in the changing world of information providers and libraries. In February 1990, the AGM in Christchurch, notable for the relaxed atmosphere and ‘absence of property problems’, endorsed the future direction of the Association. The meeting proposed that the Association become an incorporated society under the Incorporated Societies Act, as this would protect individual council members from personal liability. A motion to change the name to the New Zealand Library and Information Association was passed: fifty-three votes in favour and thirty-one against. Incoming President Vic Elliott noted that a name change also necessitated a change of the Rules - especially Rule 1, which specified the name of the Association. Because of other technicalities, the National Executive did not implement the name change, but made the recommendation to the incoming 1991-2 Council, which would present proposals to the AGM in Auckland in September. 10
To monitor the administration of the Wellington office during this period of restructuring, the Association established the Office Management Committee, which of necessity included a Wellington member. Diane Maloney, convener in 1992, later recalled that the committee had rewritten the job descriptions and signed off the employment contracts. ‘Objectives and performance measurement
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systems were negotiated with all staff and put in place. Review meetings were held four times a year.’ 12 As president in 1993—4, Diane fielded complaints from Wellington Branch members regarding the office staff and tried to address them. She noted that on the surface [office staff, several of whom had been there for years] appeared to be doing their jobs.’ 11
From the reassessment process came the N-Strategy. Described as an ‘exciting new project’ of the Association and the National Library of New Zealand, when it was launched at the Auckland conference in 1991 it initially went ‘down like a lead balloon’. Undaunted, Vic Elliott and Peter Scott (National Librarian) as chief initiators recruited Celia Gallic, Diane Maloney, Elizabeth Jones, Moira Fraser, Alison Nevill, Barbara Blake, Rebecca Kennedy, Jeff Kirkus-Lamont, and Sue Pharo. This working group applied for and obtained significant funding and then expended huge energy and organisational skill in revitalising the New Zealand library scene. During all-day meetings at the National Library, they made courageous decisions and plans with a focus on strategic information issues. Biculturalism was identified as important. Three major initiatives followed: an award for Innovation in Library and Information Services; a seminar in July 1992; a focus at the annual conference.
The October 1992 conference, ‘N-Strategy: Actions for Prosperity’, was held in Nelson. The working group spent much time and energy planning a build-up to the conference itself. Moira Fraser recalls that feedback from members had shown that one of the most important aspects of conference - networking - took place at morning and afternoon teas. Jeff Kirkus-Lamont and the N-Strategy Group decided that this participatory aspect should be incorporated into the main programme. It was, according to John Garraway, ‘immersion by fire’. Nan Penberth remembers: ‘lnstead of formal lectures, it took the form of workshops and informal groups where everyone was able to contribute and had a voice.’ 13
Gail Pattie, in her 1995 presidential address at the Masterton
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conference, outlined the main ‘threads of the Association activities’:
1.
Lobbying
2.
Funding
3.
Marketing
4.
Education
5.
Management
6.
Biculturalism
7.
Technology.
Unfortunately, within less than a year, fate - in the form another financial crisis - overtook and for a time swamped all other issues and activities.
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CHAPTER 15
Body blows!
Arrangements were going as smoothly as could be expected for the 1996 conference in Queenstown. There were moments of panic: it had dawned on the organisers in the ensuing months that although the area had many natural scenic advantages, it would be difficult to plan suitable events where there were so few libraries. Joint conveners Philip Casey from Gore Public Library and Penny Carnaby from Christchurch Polytechnic dealt with the problem by co-opting help from librarians in the Aoraki and Otago—Southland regions. Members looked forward to gathering in the glamorous Lakeland Hotel, but at Association headquarters in Wellington once again a major crisis was unfolding.
In the last eighteen months, several senior councillors, including President Gail Pattie at Canterbury University Library, had developed a ‘gut feeling’ about the deficiencies of the Association’s head office and in particular those of the accountant, Mathew Thomas. Gready concerned that something was going badly wrong, but reluctant to be seen discussing the matter by the staff involved, Gail Pattie asked Jane Hill, the Wellington City Library Manager, if the Management Committee could meet in her library office. After a couple of‘secret’ meetings, on 18 December 1995 the Office Management Committee met with the accountant. Nan Penberth, the convener, followed up by sending the accountant a written ‘first warning’ about his performance. Major issues were: an unacceptable number of personal telephone calls (some international); extended unexplained absences from the office; concern about the length of time between receiving cheques and banking them; unacceptable delays in payment of
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invoices; and failure to record a mail trail. 1 This letter also outlined ‘agreed objectives’for the accountant to follow.
It is notable that these senior librarians focused on putting in place better management systems, and were also beginning to realise - as advised in crime fiction the importance of ‘following the money’. With hindsight it appears significant that the NZLIA Office Management Committee did not automatically include the honorary treasurer. The committee had a further discussion with Mathew Thomas in February 1996, and a follow-up letter noted some areas of improvement. But there was ‘still some concern that the remaining objectives relating to response time in financial activities are not being met ... which reflect badly on the professional standing of the Association.’
Perhaps, as various people have said, librarians are ‘too trusting’ even ‘gullible’. Sue Cooper recalled, ‘We were too nice.’ At meetings with the accountant ‘we asked him questions, tried to get information. His report was just rubbish. We couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Gail, who had been longest on the Management Committee, asked him where was the money for projects? And where was the interloan account? He just mumbled.’ Back at work, Sue Cooper asked the advice of the Fletcher Challenge accountant. He said, ‘Don’t muck about - get a cash analysis.’
Alerted by letters to and from the committee, including complaints about non-payment of interloan requests, cheques not deposited at the bank, lost invoices and other examples of poor office management, President Gail Pattie wrote to the executive director at the Lambton Quay office that she was very worried and would ‘present the facts as known to us all now ...You will receive a formal response from Council as soon as possible after the teleconference.’ Two further letters, dated 17 April and 24 May 1996, included criticism of the accountant’s performance. 2
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At this stage Julie Hawkins, User Services Librarian at the Wellington College of Education, entered the picture. Her background combined school teaching and experience in overseas libraries. In Hong Kong she had worked for a firm of accountants, obtained a Library Association (UK) Certificate, and completed a bookkeeping course. Back in New Zealand, she was appointed the Association’s honorary treasurer in 1996 and was officially due to take over as signatory on 25 July. By then she had already spent some time trying to sort out the financial situation. Among other things she was shocked that the accounts were presented so inadequately and that her predecessor had been routinely signing blank cheques. Julie later said it was a matter of frustration to herself that she did not see the problems sooner: ‘lt took me two months to catch on to what was happening - though I had my suspicions right away, it took time to prove it.’ There were ‘breath-taking’ layers of subterfuge and deceit. Others, however, have affirmed how grateful they were for Julie’s professional approach: that she actually did catch on. In the midst of the checking process which she described as ‘simple, Auditing 101’ - she requested further information and documentation. On Wednesday 17 July, the executive director, Lydia Klimovitch, went to the college and gave Julie copies of the monthly income and expenditure accounts going back several months. Perusing the June accounts, Julie suspected they did not balance with the funds statements. She requested Lydia to ask the Association’s accountant to supply the amounts of receivables and payables due and do a trial income and expenditure account and balance sheet for the year, in time for the council meeting on Friday 19 July. Having obtained some of the figures, and aware that incoming Association President Nan Penberth was ‘wanting to establish how much we had overspent for the year’, she tried to make an estimate. She later testified, ‘I put these discrepancies down to Mathew’s sloppiness.’ As it turned out, when the full extent of the problem was realised, these estimates - based on the false information were completely useless.
Julie found inconsistencies in the balances between the figures on funds transferred in the receipts and the payments summary and the
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bank statements. ‘Transfers between the accounts seemed to have gaps in the accounts. There were other inconsistencies as well. I prepared a list of questions for Mathews clarification.’ Answers were vague, and the accountant continued to be uncooperative. On Wednesday 31 July, Julie Hawkins and Lydia Klimovitch worked on the budget. ‘Mathew had prepared some partial answers, with some of the amounts identified as being transferred to the interloan account. There was no documentation to back anything up.’ Julie also requested the bank statements of the interloan and call accounts. Writing to the firm of accountants who did the auditing for the Association, she included the instruction: ‘During the annual audit we would like you to investigate fully the cash flow for the year, examining the movement of cash between accounts as the monthly financial reporting has not given a clear picture of this. Often the amounts given as being transferred do not tally with the amounts recorded and presented.’ The matter was then left until after Mathew Thomas had prepared the annual accounts for the auditors, due to start on 12 August.
At about that time Wellington member Christine Vivian entered the fray and turned detective. She saw the accountant in the street when he was out of the office and followed him. To her amazement he entered a restaurant and went into the back, as though he belonged there - and owned the place. Even at this stage, though so many suspicions were aroused, the full extent of the problem was not known.
In August 1996, at a marathon NZLIA Council meeting, representatives worked on a full staff structure review ‘to determine whether [the Association] still meets the increasingly complex expectations of members. Then followed nine ‘factors which have prompted this review’, the first being perhaps the most significant: ‘there has been no rigorous examination of the role and structure of the National Office for a long time.’ 3 However, nowhere in the four-page document is there a suggestion that illegal transactions had taken place there. All was about to be revealed.
The checking went on, with Julie Hawkins requesting that account
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statements be faxed to her office. Nothing seemed to fit discrepancies were everywhere: July bank statements were missing for 1994, 1993, and 1992. The auditors were now due, and Julie tried to obtain information about money which appeared to be missing. ‘What did show up was three large sums totalling around $89,757 which were deposited on 28 June 1996.’ She later discovered that these payments were by cheque from another company associated with Mathew Thomas - a key part of his modus operandi. The annual account balance used by the auditor was dated 30 June, and on that date the account would appear to have those deposits as a credit. The bank then dishonoured these cheques on 3 July.
After a final stormy meeting at the office on Wednesday 14 August, Mathew Thomas handed Lydia a letter and walked out. It was a brief letter of resignation addressed to the president. On hearing this news, Julie remembers telephoning Nan Penberth in Whakatane and saying: ‘Are you sitting down?’ Nan recalls the next few months as a ‘dreadful time’. She immediately instructed Julie Hawkins to check with the bank. She also contacted the auditors and asked if they would authorise the bank to send an Auditor’s Confirmation Report. At some point a staff member in the office remembered that in the last few days Thomas had requested and picked up a new chequebook. Those cheque numbers were hastily cancelled.
Julie Hawkins, authorised by the president, rang the police, and her call was duly transferred to the Fraud Squad. The detective notified Customs, in case the accountant attempted to leave the country. The police got the bank to release copies of the cheques. Julie was instructed by the detective to phone the Association solicitor immediately and get an injunction in place. Court orders were served to freeze the assets of the accountant up to the value of $200,000. The police said they did not have the resources to investigate the background to the case and instructed Julie to write down all the information in a logical fashion, showing the full picture of the embezzlement. For Julie the ‘scariest’ part occurred on 15 August when she had to swear an af-
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fidavit at the Wellington District Court. ‘lf I’d got it wrong, Mathew could have sued me.’
Julie had already prepared several examples of the sort of problems she had found: that certain amounts had been withdrawn and then ostensibly repaid in time for June statements to appear to balance. But regular amounts of money were being siphoned off and deposited into accounts belonging to Mathew Thomas and his wife and to two private companies, one of which operated a restaurant - the one Christine Vivian had seen him enter. Julie noted in the affidavit that, at that early stage, she was not able to say what the total sum missing was ‘it is at least the $89,757 sum being concealed by the deposit/reversal stratagem in the 02 Account’. 4 As it transpired the amount misappropriated was far greater.
Events happened very quickly. Nan Penberth from Whakatane, Sue Cooper from Auckland, and Gail Pattie from Christchurch flew into the capital. They spent the weekend at the office with Julie Hawkins trying to ascertain the true state of affairs. Jane Hill at the Wellington City Library was helpful in a practical way, as was John Redmayne. Sue Cooper and Gail Pattie, with the support of their employers, were able to obtain financial and legal opinions. In the next few weeks, Nan Penberth had to make several trips to Wellington and was fortunate to be able to stay with Julie.
A letter dated 17 August 1996, signed by Nan Penberth (president), Sue Cooper (vice-president), Gail Pattie (past-president), Julie Hawkins (treasurer) went out to all members; A serious discrepancy in the Association’s bank accounts has been identified by the Treasurer. The full amount cannot yet be fully quantified but it may be in the region of $150,000 over a period of at least five years.’The letter outlined happenings to date, and informed members of civil action taken to recover the money: the accountant’s assets had been frozen and caveats placed on properties. Included was the information that Mathew Thomas had resigned and the police had been notified. The
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executive director had been suspended on full pay until 6 September; it was, however, noted: ‘there is no basis for suggesting that she is implicated in any way.’ 5
Members were most shocked to realise that misappropriation of funds in the national office had been going on for five years, starting soon after the 1989 building debacle. It was also less than four years since the embezzlement crisis in the Wellington Branch. Had no lessons been learned? Some were very angry. What was wrong with the Association that they could not handle their finances? More positive news for members came in paragraph four of the letter: ‘The conference will take place in Queenstown as scheduled.’
A sombre mood prevailed at the council meeting on 27 August in Wellington. Julie Hawkins outlined the process by which the alleged fraud had been carried out. Auditors were preparing accounts for the 1995/6 year, and the Association was taking legal advice. ‘The Council supported the view that it was essential for members to see that an independent investigation was taking place ... to deflect the expression of their anger away from the office to allow the investigation to be carried out as quickly and thoroughly as possible.’ 6 President Nan Penberth and Vice-President Sue Cooper approached Russell McVeagh who agreed to act for the Association. A retired accountant volunteered to look through accounts and - overnight - produced a financial report showing the five-year decline in the NZLIA funds.
The Association’s financial situation was ‘starting to look very poor’. The Council had spent money it did not have, with a gradual worsening of the losses, to the point where ‘the NZLIA is now basically insolvent.’ Sue Cooper, working for Fletcher Challenge, had the difficult task of approaching Challenge Properties - which, as it happened, owned the NZLIA office building: ‘We can’t pay the lease. Can you help?’ She explained that the Association was insolvent. ‘The accountant looked at me and then said, “Let’s call it quits”.’ A great reprieve.
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A TIME OF RECKONING: 1996-8
CHAPTER 16
A time of reckoning: 1996-8
Despite - or because of - the revelations about the Association’s finances, the Queenstown conference was memorable. At the council meeting before the AGM, debates became heated over how to proceed. Aware of the feelings of anger in the membership and comments to the effect that the councillors were ‘a useless lot’, Nan Penberth was ‘magnificent’. She asked each councillor if they would stand up at the AGM and state their personal commitment to NZLIA. 1
Nan Penberth. NZLA President during the financial crisis, 1996-1997
At this marathon AGM, perhaps the best attended ever, over three hundred members listened with rapt attention as Nan and others on the Council gave details of the full extent of the effects of the theft of $142,512.13 over the past five years. 2 Options for action were stated: to close down the Association and wind up its affairs; to close down the Association and set up a phoenix association; to carry on and face present challenges; to compromise with the creditors. During the ensuing discussion, members confirmed their support for the continuation of the Association. They also had questions about individual member liability for debts. It was confirmed that as the Association was an incorporated society, members were not personally liable. Later in the
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meeting, after the councillors had spoken, Mary Ronnie got to her feet and with steely eyes exhorted members to support their Association and asked for donations. Not least because members realised they had to pull together and support their Association or it would collapse, people emptied their purses and wrote out cheques. Penny Carnaby remembers standing at the door holding out a hat as members left the AGM. Over $l,OOO was received. At the big evening party in the Skyline Restaurant, members danced so enthusiastically ‘it’s a wonder the place didn’t fall down the cliff.’ 3 The official agenda demanded such a hectic pace that one councillor was heard to remark, T’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to seduce anyone, and no-one has tried to seduce me.’ Members went home with renewed determination to keep their Association going.
The major problems facing the Association were a shortage of cash and limited opportunity to recover the losses. Most of the 1996/7 membership subscriptions had already been received and - along with other funds - embezzled by the accountant. Council meetings in those days were marathon all-day events. Sue Cooper remembers how exhausting it was: ‘We had pages and pages of agenda items to get through.’To help with cash management, the crisis team, including Gail Pattie, negotiated with the creditors to spread payments.
At the end of that tumultuous year, 1996, the police reported that Mathew Thomas had pleaded guilty of theft as a servant, had been convicted, and sentenced to eighteen months in prison. He was ordered to pay reparation of 1142,512.13. In the office, the two remaining members of staff had resigned, and issues with the executive officer were settled and her contract terminated. 4 Meanwhile Nan Penberth phoned senior Wellington-based councillor Brian McKeon and asked him to keep an eye on the office.
Between Christmas and New Year, the Association office was hastily packed up, ready to move again. Because there had been plenty of space at 86 Lambton Quay, nothing had been sorted, weeded or thrown out. There was too much of everything furniture, files,
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and archives to cram into the new premises. Sheila Williams and Brian McKeon had the unenviable task of sorting and assessing the Association’s records; Sheila negotiated the deposit of over fifty cartons of significant papers with the Turnbull Library. Sheila and Brian also volunteered to edit New Zealand Libraries for the rest of 1996. Others gave time and funds. Branches even withdrew money from their bank accounts and sent it to national office to keep it going. Nan Penberth remembers that the regions arranged to take over the editing, publication, and distribution of Library Life : no. 208 December (Auckland Region, Beverley Fletcher and Kaye Lally); no. 209 (Waikato-Bay of Plenty, Sheryl Morgan and Sue Long); no. 210 (Wellington, Elizabeth Griffiths); no. 211 (South Island). Overall cost-cutting included Library Week for 1997 - cancelled.
After yet another council crisis meeting, the president informed members that ‘the basic aims have been to slash expenses, so that existing funds were used to the best advantage to attract donation of funds and services and to maintain services to members.’ 5 In its April 1997 report, Council indicated the following major concerns: the new head office venue; financial management; appointment of a new treasurer; subscriptions to be sought in May to assist cash flow. On the plus side was the large profit from the Queenstown conference.
The former accountant was declared insolvent. In May Nan Penberth wrote:
You may have read in newspaper reports recently that Mathew Thomas has had the reparation order for the repayment of 5142,512.00 to the NZLIA quashed on appeal. In spite of the comments in the media, as we have reiterated at various times, our recovery plans have not taken into account the repayment of this money so in practical terms nothing has changed. The matter is still in the hands of NZLIA legal advisers. 6
The advisers also explored the extent to which the Association could recover part of the losses by claiming against their former auditors. On the positive side, between October 1996 and February 1997 do-
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nations received from individuals and organisations had come to over $13,000. President Nan Penberth wrote on a more optimistic note: ‘1997 will give the Association many opportunities for a vigorous new start. Nominations for officers and regional councillors for Auckland, Aoraki and Wellington will be called for in March ... Your support and active enthusiasm is the key ingredient for success.’ 7 Behind-the-scenes work was continuing to sort out the Association finances. Julie Hawkins had reported in November 1996, ‘lnterloans are developing into a real problem as redemptions are leaping well ahead of sales ... we may have to leave all payments for some months until our situation is clearer and make part payments in proportion.’ 8
At the time of reckoning in 1996, because the money for interloan vouchers had not been deposited in the fund account, this matter continued to be a headache. It was estimated that the gross value of vouchers still in circulation was in excess of $70,000. Because of this, refund requests were frozen for several months. In 1996 the Joint Standing Committee on Interloan (JSCI) proposed a revised interloan system which would be administered jointly by the NZLIA and the National Library of New Zealand.
After due consultation at yet another crisis meeting on 9 May 1997, Council announced that sale of interloan vouchers would cease immediately. Allison Dobbie reported that the new Interloan Biffing System (IBS) would begin in July. Based on payments of‘real money rather than an invented currency’, it involved very little liability for the Association. The Council’s report of its 28 July meeting included: ‘The Association’s financial position is not bad. Refunding all the interloan vouchers is the outstanding problem which may be resolved by a 58% offer ~.’ 9 President Sue Cooper wrote in August 1997: ‘a new business plan has been presented to the Council for 1997—98 and I am looking forward to moving forward, albeit under the financial restraints which will be in place for at least the next 12-24 months as we get to grips with the outstanding interloan voucher debt.’ 10 The following March 1998, the JSCI held an all-day meeting in Wellington to review the IBS. Chaired by Tony Millett, it
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recommended a small increase in accounting fees for both electronic and manual transactions, which would enable the interloan account to break even by July 1999. New editions of both the Symbols and the Interloan handbooks were to be published that year along with revisions to the document ‘lmplications for Interloan of the Copyright Act 1994’. 11
By the time members gathered at the Wanganui conference in October 1997, the Association was fighting back. Incoming President Barbara McKerrow, with her flair for marketing and positive approach, was ‘the right person at the right time.’ At the conference dinner, a group led by Nan Penberth set the mood, singing: ‘We Will Survive’, a rap version of the 1978 Gloria Gaynor hit.
Sue Cooper meanwhile had some good news: ‘the NZLIA has reached a full and final settlement with the auditors ... of $40,000 (without prejudice or admission of liability). This money will be used for repayment of the outstanding claims against the Document Supply Coupon Scheme. The Council is grateful for the forbearance of its creditors while we reached this settlement. We also appreciate the contribution of those libraries who have generously waived their claims.’ 12 She wrote in her Annual Report of 1997-8 ‘it has been a gruelling year of hard work for the Council. We had an ambitious plan to renew and rebuild all operations of the Association and to return the Association to financial viability by June 30 1998. With that extraordinary conference profit [from Wanganui] the NZLIA is definitely back in the black and back in business.’
Julie Hawkins, having done a magnificent job in working through the tangled financial records and identifying the problems of the Association, resigned as treasurer in 1997 to take up a new position. A year later the Association sent her a special Letter of Recognition, which includes the statement that her ability had ‘been a major factor in the survival of the Association.’The framed letter hangs on a wall of her home.
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CHAPTER 17
Towards biculturalism: the long, hard road
Looking back, the most notable even radical - developments of the past thirty years have been the progress made in the area of biculturalism. Throughout its existence the New Zealand Library Association had made sporadic statements about and forays into providing library services to Maori, especially in the northern half of the North Island.
‘People rode over the hills on horseback or pulled up the creek in boats to these meetings.’ 1 So wrote Mrs Ruth Ross on 21 January 1956, from Motukiore Maori School, Horeke, Hokianga. The letter was addressed to Allan E. Mercer, Librarian-in-Charge, Country Library Service, Hamilton, and enclosed an application to open a branch of the Country Library Service based at the school. This appeal had come about after a visit from Brian O’Neill, who had apparently made the suggestion. In her next letter, Mrs Ross mentioned the types of reading matter which would be preferred: women would be interested in books about the royal family, books on Maori history and the Pacific Islands; for children, classics such as Treasure Island, The Jungle Book, legends, fables (including of course Maori); also ‘Westerns, detectives and love stories’. Ruth Ross described the opening of their new branch on 8 April, ‘a dirty wet night’. Within half an hour the Motukiore Library was up and running, having enrolled twenty-one members (eighteen Maori and three Pakeha) and T should say we’ll reach the 30 mark this week.’ Her subsequent letters included regular requests for ‘another Maori
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book’ and that the school had noticed ‘an improvement in written and spoken English.’ 2
The Country Library Service (which from 1966 became part of the National Library Extension Division) used mobile book-vans to bring books to people in scattered, isolated communities. A high priority was to encourage local authorities to provide a free service in counties, boroughs, and town districts: help from the Country Library Service was never meant to be a substitute for local enterprise. It reached its peak in 1963, serving 930 libraries throughout New Zealand. A large number of these were in North Auckland, which had a high proportion of Maori among the general population. It was later remarked, that although it was amazing that the book-vans reached as widely as they did, many readers were not properly catered for - Maori and itinerants, for example. 3 This awareness led to various attempts and special efforts by the Association to find a solution.
Country Library Service book van on the Hokianga ferry, 1968 (Rodney Gray)
Other developments were notable in areas with a dominant Maori population. In 1959 the Department of Maori Affairs presented a collection of some 500 books and pamphlets of Maori and New
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Zealand interest to the Turanganui Public Library in Gisborne. Ibis collection, now known as the Raumoa Balneavis Memorial Library, was built up by the secretary to the late Sir Apirana Ngata and at his death went to the Department of Maori Affairs in Gisborne. Judge Carr of the Maori Land Court felt that the collection would be useful to a wider public if housed in the public library and was instrumental in arranging its transfer there. 4
On 31 July 1962, Doreen Bibby wrote to the Chairman of the Maori Education Foundation, at the Department of Maori Affairs:
Dear Mr Ball, You will be pleased to know that the Standing Executive Committee will be recommending to the Council of this Association when it meets at the end of August that a Maori Library Service Committee be set up with the object of making recommendations which would assist libraries in giving services to Maoris and which would facilitate co-operation between the Association and the Foundation ... 5
The letter stressed that ‘a strong committee would be formed including one or two representatives of the Maori race’. Set up on 29 August 1962, the Maori Library Services Committee comprising Helen Cowey (convener), A. Andrews, Catherine Mathews, Allan Mercer, K. Spencer, Miss G.Tuhoe, and the honorary secretary, John Sage, met with representatives of the Maori Education Foundation, including J.K. Hunn and D.M. Jillett, on 14—15 November that year. Its report on 20 November 1962 stressed the desirability of a national campaign to make librarians aware of the need to encourage Maori to use public libraries and also to become qualified librarians. It recommended revising the Association pamphlet A Career in Library Work’ to emphasise the needs of Maori. 6
In 1963 4, as noted by W.J. McEldowney, representations were made to the Minister of Education and the Maori Education Foundation on the special library problems of Maori. 7 In March 1964 the committee suggested that a four-page pamphlet, designed to
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encourage the use of libraries by Maori, be printed with one section in Maori. It was planned for distribution through the Maori Affairs Department, the Maori Women’s Welfare League, district nurses, schools, and Maori tribal committees. A print run of 10,000 was planned while highly regarded photographer Ans Westra was contracted to provide photographs. The ensuing publication, The Public Library is for everyone in the community, was a glossy black-and-white, all in English, and illustrated with three superb photographs. John Pascoe of National Archives - also known as a mountaineer, photographer, and writer - arranged for the printing of the pamphlet. Demand was huge and by 1965 only 150 copies of the original 10,000 remained. After much discussion about a reprint (‘Mr Mercer did not like it at all’) in November 1965 a further 5,000 were issued. Rotorua Public Library requested 1,000. 8
Another initiative was announced in 1964. A Maori Education Foundation Library School Bursary was approved for study for a bachelor’s degree. The successful candidate was required to enrol at the New Zealand Library School and work in a New Zealand library for one year or more.
In 1967 the Association’s Maori Library Services Committee went into recess, but the Country Library Service and School Library Service continued to do much to promote and encourage understanding of Maori needs. Apart from the presence of individual library staff like Jacquie Baxter, in areas where Maori made up a significant part of the population, library policy worked towards providing a service. An example was Turangi Public Library, which was initially funded and set up by the Country Library Service in co-operation with the Tongariro Welfare Association and the Ministry of Works. Turangi township came into being when the then Ministry of Works began the Tongariro power project and workers - predominantly Maori - moved into housing for families and ‘huts’ (the ‘single men’s camp’), which had been trucked over from Mangakino. The library, which began as a small collection serving the Ministry of Works
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camp at Aratiatia, was greatly augmented by the Country Library Service and opened in 1966 in a ‘prefab’provided by the Ministry. Betty Millen, attached to the Country Library Service’s Palmerston North office, was its first librarian-in-charge. Power project workers were the main library users and the library itself employed Maori assistants. A new purpose-built library opened in 1972. 9
Sorting books for the Turangi Public Library at the Country Library Service store in Palmerston North. 1966: D. Robinson student; G. Gooday, assistant; E M. (Betty) Millen the newly appointed Turangi librarian. (Manawatu Evening Standard)
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During the 1970s various publications raised the profile of the Maori language and highlighted issues regarding relationships between Maori and Pakeha. In 1972 it was noted that 14 September was Maori Language Day, sponsored by the New Zealand Federation of Maori Students to encourage the use and study of the Maori language. In this period H.D.B. (Harry) Dansey, a respected Maori leader particularly dominant in the field of education, and also an Auckland city councillor, became a member of the Association's Council - one of the benefits of the close connection between the Association and the local authorities. In 1979 the Council received the report of the hui organised joindy by the Auckland and Waikato branches, 'Maori Education and the Library'. It included the recommendation that 'Maori students should be assisted to obtain a degree and go to Library School.' 10 Changes in attitudes and systems involving recognition of Maori happened gradually in the public libraries. Roy Carroll, who had earlier worked at the Hocken Library as well as the General Assembly and Auckland Teachers' College libraries, recalls his experiences after taking charge at Manukau Public Libraries in 1976:
Turangi Public Library, c.1970 (author colln)
I was confronted with a completely different social mix with a high concentration of Maori and Pacific Island Poly nesians in Otara and Mangere, middle to low income in Manurewa and very upwardly mobile Pakeha in Pakuranga. Otara and Mangere forced me to confront a society with
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different expectations and mores while still needing many of the services the library had available ... I came to a public library with no previous experience in that work and so no preconceptions to hinder and/or guide me ... it was a library service that needed a different approach ... M1
He had previously noted, ‘the Otara Library had been open for approximately five years. It had splendid Pacific Island materials and exhibits - I remember two large tapa cloths, a kava bowl and a number of smaller items. We had dispersed through the collection a large number of books on Maori custom, culture and history.’ 12 In his work over the next few years, Roy Carroll found himself travelling a long, hard road that involved much questioning of accepted norms in a search for true biculturalism. ‘I have heard many librarians throughout the country make the same comments as I used to make, “we would love to attract Maori staff but when we advertised they don’t apply”.’ He was also conscious of a failure to retain as library users the children who were so enthusiastic during school visits, after school, and during the holidays. ‘lt is not much use having a service which is tremendously successful in getting the five-twelve year olds [but] which cannot retain a reasonable proportion [of them] as they get older and their information and recreation needs have grown more and more diverse.’ 13
This view is endorsed by the experience of Chris Szekely, who as a young child was taken by his parents to the Otahuhu Library: ‘Beyond early childhood I have no memory of libraries at all. You were not necessarily primed for success growing up in south Auckland in the late 19705.’ 14
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CHAPTER 18
Biculturalism: the 1990s
Kia ora tatou. The bicultural hui at the 1991 NZLA conference began with an electrifying, spine-tingling greeting. Following Maori protocol, a karanga was performed (by Wira Ata), and a whaikorero was given (by Te Aootarangi McGarvey).
The later 1980s had brought significant events in New Zealand legislation and heightened awareness of Maori language and culture, and at this time bicultural concerns began to take prominence in the Association. That they did so took many in the establishment by surprise - to put it mildly. Wilf Saunders, a highly respected figure in the library scene of the Old World, was apparently astonished. Biculturalism was, reported Alan Smith, something which had never entered the Englishmans consciousness in considering library education.
Following the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, the Waitangi Tribunal was set up to review Treaty claims which the Labour government’s 1985 legislation allowed to be respective back to 1840. This brought a huge increase in research of historical records and archives for iwi wishing to establish their claims. Also important for libraries and librarians was the wider recognition of the Maori language, amid concerns that it might be dying out. Under the Maori Language Act 1987, Maori became an official language and the Maori Language Commission was set up to promote the use of‘te reo’.
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In 1986-7 a ministerial review of the National Library’s Services to Rural Areas, conducted by Anna Chalmers, made recommendations about the provision of books for kohanga reo. Under a pilot service to a Northland kohanga reo, an adviser from the School Library Service worked together with local groups to select materials, many in the Maori language. Another initiative of the School Library Service in the 1980s was to encourage staff to gain a better understanding of Maori culture: one result was Te Ao Maori discussion kit. Chris Szekely, who took a position with the School Library Service at that time, appreciated efforts being made for Maori and the advantage gained from working with dedicated people.
This renewed awareness of Maori was generally welcomed in the library community. Association posters and merchandise began to take a bilingual approach. As part of New Zealand Library Week in July 1988, Roy Carroll, then at Manukau City Library, was interviewed on radio specifically on biculturalism and its implication for New Zealand libraries. He wrote of his experiences;
I was extremely fortunate to follow Simon Cauchi, who had strong views on stock quality and was prepared to experiment with unconventional approaches ... This meant I inherited staff used to 'mad' ideas and prepared to see what happened ... I was also lucky that Manukau City Council had a strong social ethic and successive Mayors who wanted a community development approach. 1
Roy's views were endorsed by others in the library profession:
In the case of the Maori population we are dealing with those whose home and origins are in and of New Zealand. In recognizing the special claims of the tangata whenua we recognize that it is only within New Zealand and within its resources that they can seek out and sustain their culture. Every other person who seeks the origins of their culture has somewhere else that they can go. Because the majority population is of European English-speaking stock and because the widest range of information comes from within that
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language, then our library service must reflect that need. If we are to satisfy specific cultural needs we must begin with the Maori people. 2
In 1988 Library Life published a letter from students of the Victoria University of Wellington’s Department of Librarianship. It began with a Maori greeting and expressed concern
that the existing course content, structure and perspective does not adequately reflect the needs and aspirations of our user community in Aotearoa/New Zealand ... It is our view that the course prescription must change in the following ways. Tahi: That Maori become an essential element in all aspects of information study and science ...
The letter ended by criticising the Saunders’ Report as: ‘derived from an exclusively Western European experience and ignoring] the nature and relevance of taha Maori’. 3 Although this view was disputed by Roderick Cave, Professor of Librarianship at Victoria University of Wellington, it was a clarion call for change and heralded a movement which grew and strengthened in the following years.
The Treaty of Waitangi was on the agenda of Wellington Branch meetings in late 1988. Members also metTe Ropu Takawaenga (the Mediator Group) to discuss their submission to the Joint Advisory Committee on the course prescription for the diploma in librarianship in 1990. At the AGM at conference in 1989, the president had announced that, in August, Council had accepted a recommendation from the Professional Division that the Association (which by then had endorsed its commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi), form a Bicultural Committee. At this conference in Christchurch, Jane Mcßae, Maori Studies Librarian at Te Hukatai, University of Auckland Library, presented a paper, ‘The Maori People and Libraries’, on where libraries were succeeding and fading the principle of working towards biculturalism. 4
In September 1990, at a national bicultural seminar in Whangarei, one of the concerns was ‘how to ensure the future of the NZLA and
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that it meet its commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi.’ 5 Building on the momentum, later that year Sue Pharo, persuaded once again by Vic Elliott, took on the NZLIA bicultural portfolio. She gathered together a group of librarians, including Stephen Murphy from Porirua and Irene Johnson from Manukau, for a meeting at Auckland Public Library in December 1990. The following February, at the 1991 conference in Auckland, a large contingent of 100 librarians attended a two-day hui organised by the Association’s Continuing Education Committee at the Tira Hou Marae in Panmure. Maori protocol was followed (as noted at the beginning of the chapter), and members sat on mattresses inside the wharenui to listen to various speakers, who included Haare Williams, a former lecturer at Auckland Teachers’ College, who pioneered Maori radio as the General Manager of Aotearoa Radio.
Chris Szekely (former Te Rau Whalahau Kaiwhakahau member) and Lisa locker (LIANZA President), panel presents at the 2002 Auckland regional hui.
The hui culminated with the formation of the Bicultural SIG (Special Interest Group). 6 A management committee comprising Sue
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Sutherland, Dick Grace, Anna Chalmers, Ann Reweti, and Chris Szekely, in conjunction with the N-Strategy Steering Group, which had also identified biculturalism as a key issue, commissioned a report on biculturalism in New Zealand librarianship and information services. The aim was to find answers to questions such as: Who are the users? What are their needs? and to find ways in which libraries and the NZLIA could evolve and operate as bicultural organisations. Tui Mac Donald, who had library training and had worked as a researcher for the Waitangi Tribunal, was contracted to undertake the project, entitled TeAra Tika -guiding voices.
The initial report was completed in time for the 1992 conference in Nelson, and the first phase was completed in 1993. In May 1997 the completed phase two, which involved ascertaining the opinions of Maori on library and information needs, was launched by the Wellington Regional Council on behalf of the NZLIA and Te Ropu Whakahau; the Maori Library and Information Workers’Association, at the Wellington Polytechnic Marae.
Meanwhile in June 1992 the Bicultural SIG, with additional funding from Auckland Public Library and the National Library, Auckland, had held a one-day training hui for Maori library workers at Te Puea Marae in Mangere. Forty people attended from as far afield as Dargaville,Tauranga, Gisborne, Wellington, and Blenheim. Participants passed several resolutions, the most important being the need for ongoing training opportunities; in addition there was a sufficient groundswell of interest to establish a network of Maori library workers.
In preparation for the Nelson conference in October 1992, the Bicultural SIG held some very lively meetings. Penny Carnaby remembers the hilarity on the occasion when Christchurch librarians like Dick Hlavac and John Redmayne were being taught to perform waiata and haka for the conference. On the serious side came some important rule changes. At the Association AGM, held at the Nelson
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School of Music, Sue Pharo introduced the name-change proposal: ‘That Rule 1 be repealed and replaced with: “The name of the Organisation shall be the New Zealand Library and Information Association: Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa Incorporated”.’The suggestion for the change was first put forward by the NZLIA Council in consultation with the Bicultural SIG after extensive canvassing of members by the Futures Group in 1989 and a postal vote in 1990. The vote was carried 122 votes for, 18 against. 7
As can be seen, the vote was not unanimous. A letter published in Library Life expressed disappointment that there had not been earlier notification about the Maori name. T am not against the con-
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cept but I would have wished for ... more debate about the name suggested and possible alternatives prior to its placement before the AGM at which meeting it had to be either adopted or defeated without amendment.’The writer also pointed out that the Bicultural SIG had a membership of 69 of the total membership of 1,655. Others agreed with this view but took no action. In 1994, the N-Strategy action group and the Association jointly published Ka mahi tonu: biculturalism in New Zealand librarianship 1992-1994. It was compiled by John Garraway and Chris Szekely as a resource to assist libraries and the profession in general with bicultural development.
The Bicultural SIG committee, successively convened by Sue Pharo, Jimmy Hawenga, Sheri Heta, Robin Hakopa, and Danae Etches, attracted many members to its meetings in Wellington and Canterbury. Its terms of reference included: to foster commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand libraries; to initiate and advance strategies to develop biculturalism in New Zealand libraries; to monitor biculturalism and support Te Ropu Whakahau as it developed. 8
Libraries were also actively developing Maori literature collections. In 1991 Huia Hemara was appointed the first Maori librarian looking after Maori Collections at the Alexander Turnbull Library. He had been inspired to take up a library career while working with Maori manuscripts at Auckland Public Library. ‘I saw Mary Ronnie work ... and ended up as a Maori Librarian.’ 9
About that time Ani Pahuru-Huriwai was drawn - rather reluctantly - into library work. While at Waikato University, she applied for the National Library Scholarship for undergraduates. At the interview she had asked, ‘Do I have to be a librarian?’ and was relieved when they said, ‘No’. She completed her bachelor of social science with a major in Maori and was encouraged to apply for the diploma in library and information studies. On her first day at Victoria University in 1993, she ‘saw only one other Maori’. Later as an assistant at Hamilton Pub-
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lie Library, she noticed two things - people mispronouncing Maori names and the fact that few ‘Maori kids’ used the library. She duly arranged a powhiri in Maori and for the kohanga and kura kaupapa to visit the library on a regular basis. She also ran pronunciation and tikanga classes with staff. On completing her diploma, Ani became Maori Liaison Librarian at Waikato University and after three years accepted a similar, newly created position at Massey. 10
From the early 1990s the Association began formalising its relationship with Te Ropu Whakahau, with a view to amending the constitution to reflect the new partnership. Chris Szekely, who was actively involved, remembers that Diane Maloney was very supportive when she was president. The first hui was held in October 1994 in Christchurch. In 1995 - Maori Language Year - the Association newsletter was renamed Library Life: Te Ran Ora: Newsletter of New Zealand Library and Information Association Te Rau Herenga oAo tearoa. Maori OPAC New Zealand’s first Maori language online public access catalogue - was launched at Kerikeri Library in November that year.
The change to the Association constitution was not made without expressions of disquiet from some senior members who, concerned that the relationship was weighted more in favour of Te Ropu Whakahau than it should have been, spoke out against the details of the proposed agreement. The objections were, according to one observer, ‘howled down’, and on the whole the membership was warmly in favour. Under the partnership agreement, signed in February 1995, the NZLIA agreed to make provision for two Te Ropu Whakahau representatives, one being their chairperson, to become part of NZLIA Council (Te Ropu Whakahau chairperson having the status of officer); and allocate resources to Te Ropu Whakahau to support Maori and bicultural initiatives. For its part Te Ropu Whakahau agreed to provide two representatives to the NZLIA Council; present an annual auditors’ statement to the NZLIA Council; provide guidance to the NZLIA Council relating to bicultural develop-
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ment and a Maori perspective on the Association’s general business; annually present its terms of reference to the NZLIA Council. Te Ropu Whakahau was incorporated and became an independent society in 1997. 11
In her president’s report 1997/8, Sue Cooper noted that NZLIA had ratified its partnership with Te Ropu Whakahau in a ceremony at the Wanganui conference and introduced a bicultural plan for the Association to be implemented in all areas of its operations over the next year. She added, ‘Te Ropu Whakahau have made valuable contributions with their advice and support to the NZLIA Council, especially in clarifying the role of kaumatua.’ In Te Ropu Whakahau annual report, Ani Pahuru-Huriwai recorded ruefully: ‘We too ... have had to survive the impact of our own funds being embezzled. Despite that we have survived.’ 12 The amount of 810,000 had been stolen from Te Ropu. Chris Szekely commented, ‘it was a wake up call and for members highlighted the need for better management and accountability.’
At the Association AGM in 1997 the Bicultural SIG Committee of Sue Cooper, Barbara McKerrow, and Spencer Lilley were charged with developing a bicultural plan for the next phase in building the relationship. Victoria University’s master of library and information studies (MLIS) had by then made a major shift in focus, offering Maori Information Sources as part of their open-learning certificate of proficiency course. Co-ordinated by Chris Szekely, the course focused on providing students with an appreciation of some ofthe major recorded sources of Maori information and associated issues such as intellectual property rights and access. In December 1997 three Maori students graduated MLIS. 13
That same year a group of Maori librarians joined a delegation of indigenous librarians travelling to San Francisco as guests of the American Library Association to meet with members of the Indian Library Association. From this meeting came the International
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Indigenous Librarians’ Forum hosted by New Zealand Maori members. New Zealand is now in the forefront of the indigenous librarians’ movement. Another bicultural project, begun in 1999, was to record and index Maori newspapers in the collection at the Turnbull Library - Niupepa 1842-1933 . M
As early as 1991 Maori students, genealogists, and researchers began gathering at hui to discuss the idea of developing a nationally recognised standard set of Maori catalogue subject headings. Jane Mcßae had noted that in 1990 the word ‘taniwha’ had been officially accepted by the New Zealand Bibliographic Network (NZBN) Standards Committee. In the next few years, the Maori Subject Headings Steering Group worked on this matter, from 1997 in association with CATSIG. Co-ordinated by Mihi Harris, this group held a series of hui in various centres. The outcome was a thesaurus which, although not suitable for cataloguing, was useful for indexers. The project entered its second phase in May 2000, being facilitatedby representatives of three organisations; the National Library of New Zealand, LI AN ZA, and Te Ropu Whakahau (T RW). Students at wananga and universities as well as public library representatives were consulted. The names list was available on the National Library website from July 2004. At the AGM during the Association’s conference in September that year, Lisa Tocker launched the Iwi Hapu Names List. In 2007, following the meeting of the governance group of the Maori Subject Headings project, the National Library and CATSIG organised a series of workshops to promote the use in libraries of Nga Upoko Tukutuku, the Maori subject-headings thesaurus. 15
In the year 2000 Aroha Chamberlain, a TRW representative stated: ‘There aren’t enough Maori in libraries. We need to be proactive about tapping people on the shoulder ... many Maori don’t see the library profession as a career ... LIANZA and TRW need to put something together.’ 16 Shortly after Council approved Te Rau Rua Mano, a new LIANZA award for Maori studying for a library qualification.
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Further to this, Chris Szekely identified the need for more Maori in senior positions as a concern. In February 2001 John Redmayne was the first LI AN Z A president to attend Te Ropu Whakahau hui-a-tau: A good chance to meet and talk ... at least half of those there ... are incredibly supportive of the Association.’ 17
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CHAPTER 19
Conference highs and lows
When restructuring is threatening
There's a borrower you can't stand
When the funding cuts are beckoning
The Friends of the Library lend a hand.
This is the turning of the page of librarians,
This is the spurning of the beige of librarians,
This is the dawning of the age of librarians,
Engage the Librarians,
Librarians.
It was 1999, Auckland Region’s turn to host the conference. ‘The Librarians’ Song’, set to the tune of ‘The Age of Aquarius’ and performed by Manic Opera, was a special feature of the gala night, organised by Mary Schnackenberg and her committee. It was held at the Bruce Mason Theatre on the North Shore. 1
Over the years, with few exceptions, the Association’s annual conference has been held in one of the regions. Since 1981 there have also been regular joint New Zealand and Australian conferences. Planning for the annual conference usually begins two or three years in advance, the reality being that each year another conference committee somewhere is on a steep learning curve. As with the profession generally, conference tends to reflect changes in the membership and society, becoming from the 1970s much less formal - at least in outward appearance. Brian McKeon remembers the shocked reaction at a conference held in one of the hotter places Hastings or Nelson when David Wylie walked into a
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plenary session wearing a beach shirt, shorts, and sandals
While the main purpose of conference has always been serious, the perennial question of identity was reflected in social events which became more relaxed, even frivolous. It was one way to shake off the dull, dowdy stereotype which still seemed to dog the profession. ‘People don’t always realise that librarians love getting dressed up.’ One of the bar staff at the 1978 conference in Hamilton said he had served drinks at many different events, but ‘never had he seen so much drink consumed as at the NZLA conference’. A whole new perspective on librarians.
Hon. Hugh Templeton opens the 1980 NZLA Conference, Lower Hutt
In addition to the AGM with notices of motion, and division meetings and working groups, conference is the time for presenting awards: associateships, fellowships, letters of recognition. For Margaret Greville, a former Aucklander who received the John Harris Award in 2000, conference offers ‘an opportunity to network (that great synonym for skipping a session to gossip with old colleagues).’ It is also a time and
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place for recruitment. Brian McKeon was first noticed at a conference; Michael Wooliscroft was asked if he would like to be the next Dunedin City Librarian. At the 1982 conference also in Auckland - David Wylie received recognition for his long service. Active in many areas of the Association, he had become an expert on the constitution and rules: ‘He was always getting up and moving amendments which most people didn’t understand and found confusing and irritating.’ When he was offered life membership, it was assumed that he would retire from active involvement: a relief for some that there would no longer be these interminable amendments to the rules. Instead David assured the gathering that, while he was grateful to accept the honour, he ‘had no intention of stepping down.’ At which Ted Leatham was heard to say, Will someone move that we take the bloody thing back.’
That same year Auckland Branch organised a conference for young librarians, to run concurrently with the general meetings. The idea was to encourage juniors to become involved with the Association. Roy Carroll remembers that the programme ‘looked so good that a number of senior librarians declared they were going to attend its meetings. I went to Wellington to defend it (as Auckland Branch Chair) and I’ll never forget Jock McEldowney speaking up in my support saying that we should have the chance to do things our way as the others would have their turn in due course. We won.’
At the Association’s AGM in 2001, Auckland’s special librarians moved: that with technological advances enabling distance communication, conference be held every two years instead of annually - a situation that had occurred of necessity at various times in the Association’s history. Many agreed that it was time for a rethink. Hazel Dobbie summarised the issues. First the matter of money. Conference returns made a considerable contribution to the Association’s funds - between 3 per cent and 25 per cent. Indeed profits from the Queenstown and Wanganui conferences had enabled the Association to survive the financial crisis of 1996. When it came to venues, there was a trade off. In the provinces accommodation was much cheaper, but travel and transport more expensive. In the
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main centres accommodation was very pricey, but there was a larger range of suitable venues. Exotic conference locations were becoming a professional status symbol - ‘somewhere warm and gorgeous with good shopping.’ 2 But Council commented that conference should be less about the location and more about the reason for the occasion the Association.
In 2006 three former presidents - Lisa Tocker, John Garraway, and Mirla Edmundson - reviewed the issues that had been raised at various times in Council. Mirla Edmundson had spent less than a year in Council when, after being co-opted onto the Continuing Education Committee, she was catapulted to the presidents role. Within what seemed a very short time, feeling ill-prepared, she was presiding over the Napier conference; ‘A bizarre and lonely experience.’From being one of a team, she found herself isolated - and expected to take on all the responsibility: a feeling reinforced when, after the presidential address, she had to chair the AGM, aware that ‘Only the stalwarts go - everyone else goes shopping.’ln Mirla’s view, ‘The conferences as they are at present, profile the city and the region but not the Association and the direction it’s taking.’
In 2004 Association President Steven Lulich had noted: ‘The size of our conferences, which are the largest of their type in New Zealand, means we will need to place restrictions on how they are hosted. There is also a need to lock in our Gold and Platinum sponsors for more than just one conference.’ Indeed, size was one of the problems the review team highlighted: conference was too big, too spread out, they concluded. And conference had outgrown some parts of the country. It was important that businesses which paid a considerable amount to display their goods be given proper facilities - not ‘be relegated to a carpark’. 3
The review team’s report recommended that conference be held only in main centres, on rotation in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, and - after its new Events Centre opened Rotorua. The proposal was not popular. ‘We felt like Big Brother, but we felt we
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were being lt was also recommended that conference should be planned on a three-year cycle with continuity maintained by using professional conference organisers. Rather than creating a separate conference website every year, the Association website was redeveloped to include the conference.
Notes from participants
I’m at the Eketahuna branch, it’s only open 10 hours a week - so it’s been a real experience coming up here [to Auckland].
Over the years, conference has been - and continues to be - memorable for a particular happening or experience, its focus frequently reflecting contemporary life and times.
1971: Palmerston North "Ihe weather was very hot and I remember spending all my free time in the motel pool where I was often joined by David Wylie and other "gods" of the library world.'
1973: Invercargill 'Freezing,' recalls a former librarian of Petone Public. 'I went out and bought a heavy woolen bush shirt and wore it all the time - even to bed.'
Mirla Edmundson, NZLA President 2003-2004
1976: Christchurch , at the nearly new Christchurch Town Hall Geoff Alley remarked, ‘the NZLA is bankrupt of ideas and their meeting is badly planned, no papers prepared and circulated, no policy really, wining and dining, paid for by taxes.’ 5 Conference social convener, Helen Tait, has other memories. She hosted the post-
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dinner party: ‘lt didn’t start until 10.00 p.m., was in full swing at midnight and I didn’t get to bed until the early hours next morning.’ She then had to get up and go to her first ever Council meeting, sharp at 9.00 a.m. ‘Everything was a bit of a fog. But I remember being very impressed by Cath Tizard, who was then an Auckland City Councillor and had the ability to suddenly raise a very important point, when to all intents and purposes she’d appeared not to be listening.’
1978: Hamilton
The 'largest ever'.
1981: Christchurch
The first combined NZLA and Australian Library Association conference to be held in New Zealand. A steep learning curve and notable achievement for convener Dorothea Brown and her organising team.
1985: Dunedin
President Helen Tait reported: ‘ln 1985 we have made formal submissions in response to the White Paper on GST, the Parliamentary Service Bill and the draft amendments to the Copyright Act, and representations on the future of SATIS [Scientific and Technical Information Service], planning for continuing education and the establishment of training for school librarians.’ 6
1990: New Plymouth
‘Fun and vibrancy’ in a coastal setting with the stunning Mount Taranaki backdrop: a time to forget about the financial difficulties which had beset the Association during the late 1980s.
1991: Auckland
The full fist of the Association’s Significant Interest Groups (SIGs) comprised: Bicultural SIG; CHYPS SIG; INFORUM (Central Region); NZ Law Librarians Group; PAC SIG; PUB SIG; SLIF (CHCH); SLIS (WGTN); SLUGS (AK); Taranaki Inf. Group; UCRL SIG; CATSIG.
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Barbara McKerrow, 1990 New Plymouth Conference convener
1993: Tauranga
1992: Nelson The N-Strat-egy working group planned a new approach with the Bicultural SIG providing training and instruction on correct protocol for participating and understanding eventsattheWhakatuMarae:powhiri, mihimihi, kaumatua, and koha. As president, Sue Pharo had to lead the powhiri and recalls walking around the streets of ‘sunny’ Nelson in pouring rain, trying to remember the words and the correct pronunciation.
Continued the bicultural approach and took its point of reference from the conference’s theme, ‘Whakakotahitanga, Bridging the Gap’.
1994: Wellington
Combined New Zealand/ Australian Library Association Conference,' Embarking Together'. Opened by the Governor General, Dame Catherine Tizard.The welcome ceremony at the Pipitea Marae followed proper Maori protocol. At the powhiri Australian visitors, dismayed when asked to perform a waiata, in the end sang 'Waltzing Matilda'.
1996: Queenstown
The Association weathered a major financial crisis by dancing the night away. The Gay and Lesbian Librarians' dinner at the Roaring Meg restaurant was a 'roaring success'. The pianist was worn out.
1997: Wanganui
Disaster! Someone phoned the convener: 'I can see smoke.'The racecourse venue was burning down just one week before the conference. Fortunately they managed to put part of the stand back together in time - and also made a huge profit.
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1998: Dunedin
Had a beer and oysters night.
1999: Auckland
Driving to the Ellerslie Conference Centre, the main venue, was ‘a nightmare’ and there was ‘nowhere to go shopping’. Socialising for one member was reminiscent of Noel Coward’s ‘I Went to a Marvellous Party’. He noted: ‘I quickly got the message that librarians at conference had a reputation for kicking in a good time -1 just couldn’t figure out if it was one to live up to or one to try to live down.’
2000: Christchurch
The Garden City turned on a fine, crisp morning for the powhiri at Victoria Square. The mayoral description of librarians as ‘bossy’ did not go down well, but everybody loved Margaret Mahy who adapted ‘Chicago’ as the LIANZA 2000 song. The conference was notable for its controversial guest speaker. Mirla Edmundson, social programme organiser, wanted to make everyone sit up and take notice, and succeeded. At John Redmayne’s suggestion, she phoned Tame Iti, who to her amazement agreed to be a speaker, his topic ‘Hongihongi te wheinga - Know Your Enemy’. Some members thought it inappropriate, even downright outrageous, to invite someone who had flouted the law of the land - especially after he supported coup leaders in Fiji - and wanted to boycott the entire conference. One wrote: T strongly object to the presence of Tame Iti at the Christchurch conference because of the public stance he has taken in supporting the overthrow of the democratic nation of Fiji by terrorism.’ 7 Whether Tame Iti’s full moko would have been approved by those running the session on ‘image’ was another matter.
2001: Rotorua
Held in the new Convention Centre, a beautifully restored and extended theatre complex in 1930s art deco style with a Spanish-style tiled roof. Events included a spectacular night of Maori music and dance.
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2002: Wellington
Umbrellas provided with conference satchels. ‘First time at conference consisted of four days of negotiating continuous eddies, gusts and gales of new experiences, especially trying to walk upright in Wellington. The weather fitted the conference theme “Winds of Change” perfecdy.’ 8
2003: Napier
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand held a breakfast at Cafe DMP for library studies diploma students to meet tutors and mix and mingle with other library assistants.
2004: Auckland
‘Kiwiana’at the new Sky City Convention Centre. Theme for the dinner: 1960s style - ‘lots of Beatle wigs’. The morning after, President Steven Lulich woke with a hangover and then because someone else had chickened out, found himself reluctantly agreeing to abseil off the Sky Tower. Quite a wake up call.
Steven Lulich 'ready to jump', Auckland Conference, 2004
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CHAPTER 20
School libraries: unfinished business
T Virtually non-existent’ in 1933, school libraries came in at No. V 9 of the Munn-Barr ‘Ten Commandments’ or ‘wish list’ the following year. Over the years, despite much talk, work, and many praiseworthy and time-consuming efforts to persuade various government and local bodies to take action, progress has been slow.
An encouraging start was made in 1938. Dorothy Neal White and Kathleen Harvey returned from study in the United States and took over as conveners of both the North and South Island sections of the Association’s Committee on School and Children’s Librarians. Then in 1941 Dorothy Neal White initiated a children’s librarians course. ‘The programme was designed to be taken by correspondence over three years, but Dorothy made it clear that she was not concerned with techniques but with children’s books and authors.’ 1 The course survived for only two years but Dorothy Neal White, though based in Dunedin, remained an important focus and tireless promoter of library services for children throughout New Zealand. Her work, books, and other publications - About Books for Children (1946) and Books Before Five (1954) - gained international recognition. Meanwhile a major player had arrived on the scene.
The New Zealand School Library Service was established in 1942, with Geoff Alley as its first director and Kathleen Harvey as ‘Children’s Librarian’. 2 It was ‘to act as a catalyst for raising the standards of reading material in schools’and was one of the foundations of library service and the mainstay of the nationwide system which circulated book collections on loan to schools. It provided
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employment for many librarians. After graduating from Library School in 1947, Lyn Gardiner worked for three years in the Schools Section of the Country Library Service, Christchurch. ‘I did a lot of work in Reference and Requests as well and was seconded to other libraries for short periods from time to time, very challenging for someone short of experience. I left my job at CLS when I married in 1949.’ 3 In the 1950s and 19605, some New Zealand writer-librarians, including Margaret Hall and Margaret Mahy, were attracted to the Schools Section as they would be working with literature for children and young adults.
Throughout the 1960s school libraries and teacher-librarians were major issues. The Osborn Report (1960) had identified the problem: ‘Despite the contribution of the School Library Service there are few excellent school libraries in New Zealand, the shortcomings being at the local level. Most school libraries are mediocre or poor, and will remain so until local school administrations accord libraries a key place in the school programme, employ school librarians and allocate adequate funds.’ 4
The 1962 report of the Currie Commission on Education in New Zealand also commented on the less than satisfactory situation. The Association, which many years earlier had issued its standards covering school libraries, in 1962 published a pamphlet The Needfor School Libraries and, after much urging, in August the following year teacher-training courses at Frank Lopdell House, Auckland, included a one-week course for teacher-librarians - the first of its kind, attended by twenty teachers from all parts of New Zealand. 5
Library diploma and certificate courses included segments (usually optional) on the provision of books for children. At Library School in 1951, Diana Randell was delighted by the childrens book course and while there compiled an annotated bibliography on American writer Carol Ryrie Brink, most famous for Caddie Woodlavm. Diana considered becoming a children’s librarian but after several years in the Country Library Service, Wellington, took up a senior cataloguing position in the National Library. In 1967 Association records noted ‘a
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draft scheme for the training of teacher-librarians which had remained for years in an administrative Umbo'. 6 Two years later, 'Education for Librarianship, a Certificate of School Librarianship' re-appeared on the Association's conference agenda.
Progress finally came in August 1973, when the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA), in conjunction with the Department of Education and the Association, held another short course at Lopdell House on ‘Developing the Secondary School Library’. In 1975 the New Zealand Council for Educational Research and the New Zealand Library Association jointly published Library Services for Children in New Zealand Schools and Public Libraries, a survey undertaken by Professor Sara Fenwick. As presented, the situation of libraries in schools
School Libraries logo, 1978
was dismal. In November the Waikato Branch of the Association responded by holding a seminar to discuss the Fenwick Report at the university campus in Hamilton. Following this, the Department of Education set up a working party on school libraries, chaired by M.T Foley. Its 1978 report highlighted the fact, also noted by Phyllis McDonald from the School Library Service, that New Zealand was ‘the only English-speaking country which has not yet even commenced implementing a scheme for professional staffing in school libraries.’ 7 The report included the following recommendations: that a scheme be implemented urgendy to provide properly qualified staff in school libraries to ensure effective selection, use and maintenance of learning resources; that all school librarians receive specialised training and [gain] a special qualification before taking up their duties
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in school libraries; that school librarians be recruited from qualified teachers and qualified librarians; that specialised training courses in school librarianship be started as soon as possible. 8
In response the Association, in general agreement with the PPTA and New Zealand Educational Institute, approached the Minister of Education, the Hon. M.L. Wellington, to discuss programmes for establishing library positions in schools and the training of school librarians. The result of this deputation, led by President lan Malcolm, was summed up as: ‘Yes to the proper training of school librarians, but no to any immediate action.’ 9 Once again the school librarians had to take a back seat. Hopes were raised in 1985, however, when President Helen Tait welcomed ‘the approval of a course for the training of school librarians’, 10 and the following year, ‘after years of struggles’, a teacher-librarianship course began and ran for three years. At its demise, due to loss of funding, members lamented that ‘a golden opportunity to put school libraries on the map had been lost.’ 11
Delegation presenting the case for implementing the Foley Report, 1979: l-r. Jim Traue, Trevor Mowbray, lan Malcolm (President). Jan Mac Lean, Monica Hissink, Phyllis McDonald
Several surveys in the 1990s showed enormous variations among schools in basic library statistics like budgets, staffing, collections,
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and opening hours. Remuneration surveys made by the Association consistently showed very low salary levels for school librarians. 12 At the 1994 conference, the School Library Network held its first national meeting. Organised by Catherine Thomas and Rosa-Jane French, it was attended by over eighty people. Speakers at the all-day session included representatives from secondary schools and the Library Studies Certificate Course.
Once more hopes were high, only to be dashed when the Children and Young Persons (CHYPS) SIG was wound up at the 1999 conference. But the following year, the future looked brighter with the creation of two organisations: a national group called the Children’s Literature Foundation of New Zealand 13 and School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA), launched at the National Library in Wellington on 12 May by the Hon. Marian Hobbs. And in September 2003 over 250 professionals from the school library sector attended SLANZAs first conference in Christchurch, convened by Judi Hancock.
School librarians have continued to weather discouraging news items such as ‘a Cambridge school had replaced its library with a cyber cafe’ and the like. Alongside such negative reports, however, there have always been strong advocates for school libraries. One of them is John Garraway, who had several years’ experience in the School Library Service, Auckland, working with dedicated people like Lachlan Shea, Geraldine Howell, and Elizabeth Jones. He stressed the importance of school libraries as reaching out to all in the community including Maori, and critical in developing children’s perception of books and libraries: ‘We have to move on from the old idea of school libraries being a few books stored in broom cupboards.’ 14 For the Association the matter of services to schools and to school libraries and librarians has been and continues to be a long, hard road.
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CHAPTER 21
On the road again: library education and training
In 1987 Professor Wilfred Saunders from Sheffield University was invited by the Association’s Joint Advisory Committee on Librarianship (JACL) to make a five-week visit to New Zealand. Seven years on from the establishment of the graduate School of Librarianship at Victoria University of Wellington and the Certificate in Library Studies course at Wellington College of Education, JACL had commissioned an independent report on both courses. The Saunders Report, when published, made shock waves through the library world. The most important and potentially far-reaching - point was; A single, very strong department should be created to meet New Zealand’s present and future needs for library and information education. As a basis for such a department some appropriate form of merger should take place between the Victoria University Department of Librarianship and the Wellington Teachers’ College School of Library Studies. The enlarged and strengthened department should be within the Victoria University of Wellington.’ 1
Saunders concluded that the diploma ‘provides a professional course’ whereas the certificate is interpreted as a ‘para- or sub-professional qualification’, and commented on the apparent ambiguity amongst students and librarians as to the status of the certificate. He noted that this was partly because of the number of university graduates enrolling for and graduating from the certificate course, but that changes to the diploma course would ‘attract graduates who are presently deterred by its structure’ and also by having to move to Wellington for sev-
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eral months to study at university. The two forms of library education appeared to be almost in competition; a relationship never intended by the Association. Whereas the original diploma course had been the length of a secondary school year, when it moved to the university it was shortened to twenty-six weeks, while the certificate course had become slightly longer: the three block courses, each originally of four weeks duration, now ran for six weeks. In addition a certain amount of co-operative staff sharing went on between the two schools.
The blurring of distinction noted by Saunders had become especially apparent in the 1980s. Rosemary Hudson, a member of the Education Committee and on the Dunedin interview team, noted with disquietthatratherthanbeingencouragedtostudyforthe diploma,some university graduates were being persuaded to embark on the certificate course. Individual librarians could and did make a difference. When Mirla Edmundson first applied for a job at Canterbury Public Library, she was ‘pissed off’ to be told by Sue Sutherland, ‘Go and get a degree, do the diploma course and become a proper librarian.Tn retrospect Mirla realised it was the best thing that could have happened. At Victoria University in 1988, she found the diploma course hard work rather than the fun time described by former students. ‘lt was a matter for survival.’ 2 The lecturers were less than stimulating, though she liked Gillian Ryan, one of the few women in the Department of Librarianship. Steven Lulich and John Garraway, doing the diploma at Victoria University in 1991, had few special memories of their study: most pressing was the need to pay their way. Garraway supplemented a rather poorly paid part-time job at the university library with much more lucrative work running a Karaoke bar in Lambton Quay. 3
A combined library school was not a totally new idea. Back in the 1970s during the many discussions with the Association about the future of the Library School and the certificate course, Alan Richardson, when Deputy Director of the New Zealand Library School, had made a similar recommendation. He considered the teachers’ college inappropriate for a library course: ‘teacher training did not fit with library training.’ Ten years on Saunders had
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identified other concerns and recommended that the diploma course be extended to two years; it should commence with a foundation course and ‘there should be additional core courses and options’. Opinions on the Saunders report varied, but an ad hoc committee noted in 1988 that the Association ‘strongly supports his recommendations and urges that they be implemented as soon as possible.’ Among priorities for action was making the diploma ‘available to students not resident in Wellington (by block courses, distance education or a combination of these)’. 4 Certain other factors were also becoming apparent, one being that although the Association had representation on the organising boards of both establishments, inevitably the institutions themselves had introduced their own systems. This had changed the focus and lines of communication.
In what could be seen as a complete reversal - even a return to the past - came a proposal for distance delivery of the Certificate in Library Studies. This was the period immediately after the share-market crash, enrolments were falling, and students from public libraries and their employing authorities found the three six-week block courses too much of a burden. In addition came the possibility of a rival course being set up by Auckland’s Unitech, the pressure to offer courses in Asia to increase revenue, and the profession wanting local library education because of the long block courses in Wellington. 5 By 1992 distance learning had become a reality. That year saw the retirement of Jan Mac Lean, Director of the School of Library Studies at the Wellington College of Education, after twenty-five years of association with library education. The Advisory Committee of the School of Library Studies that year approved a plan to phase out the block courses in Wellington. The bulk of the course would be offered by distance education with the first intake in the third term of 1993. 6
Change was also happening in library education at Victoria University. The first foundation course for the diploma by distance learning commenced in February 1992, when Professor Roderick Cave resumed the chair and Alan Richardson took up a position at Wellington Col-
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lege of Education. The new distance course comprised two blocks of two weeks each at the university in Wellington with seminars held regionally during the two-year course. Within a few years students had the option to study at masters level. In 1997 the Department of Library and Information Studies introduced its distance education aspect and the extended programme for a bachelor of applied science degree and master of library and information studies, known as MLIS. The following year the department, which taught the MLIS (and until 1996 the diploma in librarianship), became part of the School of Communications and Information Management in the Commerce Faculty. This move was devised to ‘enhance the range of offerings available to students in the MLIS programme.’ 7
The Continuing Education Centre at Victoria University also offered various courses on library and information studies, Internet workshops, critical issues in children’s literature, bicultural workshops, skills workshops, and exhibitions. Michael Wooliscroft remarked that several Otago University Library staff had completed their diploma studies part-time from Victoria University of Wellington by their distance programme using such facilities as teleconferencing. ‘For those graduates who for family or other reasons could not go to Wellington, it was a wonderful system’. In 2000 came news that some papers for the MLIS programme would be taught from Auckland University of Technology after signing an agreement with Victoria University.
Another upheaval was happening in the administration of the certificate course. In 1997 planning for the new qualification began at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand in Lower Hutt under Director Rachel McCahon, and teaching began in 1998. The distance-learning programme comprised two NZQA-accredited diploma courses, both in information and library studies, leading to an undergraduate degree, the bachelor of applied science. Enrolled were 400 concurrent students, divided into three overlapping classes.
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A second-year library studies student describes her experience of being in the last course at the Wellington College of Education:
The two weeks flew by in a flurry of lectures and tutorials squeezing in all those things that are by necessity taught face-to-face (such as subject access ...)• There was a steady procession of inspiring speakers imparting their knowledge of a variety of topics from Maori Information Sources to the Timeframes project at National Library, from financial management and marketing to current management issues ... 8
Students went on excursions to the National Archives and a library, which they chose from a list of about ten in and around Wellington. As well as learning experiences, much was gained from being amongst budding librarians. ‘No matter where you were there was always an interesting conversation to drop into. The farewell afternoon tea on the final day was charged with excitement and tinged with some sadness.’ 9 A ‘sentimental and reflective’ ceremony marked the last certificate graduation at the School of Library Studies, Wellington College of Education, in July 1998. Dugald Scott from the college handed certificates to seventy-four students from the ultimate class: a further fifty-one students received their certificates in absentia. Jan Mac Lean, former director of the school, spoke of the practical difficulties experienced back in the earlier years when teaching the certificate and postgraduate courses concurrently. Alan Richardson, who had succeeded Jan as director in 1992, then described the development of the course through to the planning for the move to the Open Polytechnic. He also commented on the current state of the library profession, particularly the roles of men and women, and his concerns about the sidelining of professional training in cataloguing and classification. He added that the best moment for him was ‘the smile on the face of a mature student collecting their first-ever educational qualification.’ 10
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CHAPTER 22
Rocky road ahead: LIANZA and the new millennium
In September 2001 the world was shocked by the huge loss of life when terrorists destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in downtown New York. To a rather lesser extent, the preceding decade had dealt financial and technological shocks to New Zealand librarians. Much hard work and energy on the part of Council, its sections, and committees had been nullified by two major financial crises. It was also a time when librarians feared that the printed book would disappear altogether. Drastic changes in skills were needed for library work due to new technology, the advent of tools such as the New Zealand Bibliographic Network (NZBN), websites, digitisation of information resources, and online access. Association publications - those bibliographies and other compilations which had underpinned library work for most of the twentieth-century were being superseded.
For a long time the Association had been directed and led by experienced librarians with considerable status within the community as a whole: the seniors in the National Library, university and city libraries, heads of large government libraries, the directors of the library school. Although this was not to everybody’s satisfaction, in a way these ‘heavy-weights’ provided stability, institutional knowledge, and leadership. By the 1990s everything had changed. Government departments had been restructured, downsized or disbanded; the Association no longer administered the library school courses; regional services and public libraries had suffered from the effects of local body reorganisation and amalgamation.
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Management was at issue. One librarian said, the more senior you are in libraries, the more you become a manager, not a librarian.’To others this point of view was a threat and ‘cop-out’, and they stressed the importance of leadership; ‘Do we want libraries to be run by non-librar-ians?’ For many seniors the rising generation of librarians were a new breed. ‘They haven’t bought into the library concept and maybe even want to distance themselves from it.’ Once again identity was a factor. It seemed that the market-driven and digital world of late 1980s New Zealand had produced a new type; ‘They’re corporate-bred librarians who haven’t gone through “boot camp” at public libraries ... they re information and knowledge managers, not librarians.’ 1
Jim Traue, as president in 1980, had warned about potential dangers to libraries of American-style market fundamentalism. He deplored the description of libraries as businesses in an industry with senior librarians as managers and use of terms like ‘strategic planning’, ‘mission’, and ‘vision’ statements. ‘We should treat these ideas as we should have treated the introduction of gorse and the opossum.’ Twenty years later, although now retired and a self-styled ‘old dinosaur’, Traue was just as outspoken and provocative. To him, descriptions of libraries as being in the ‘information business’ were no more than slogans. An example was the 1998 mission statement for the Association: ‘[to be] the pre-eminent professional body in Aotearoa New Zealand for those engaged in librarianship and information management - and to be actively committed to the recognition of and implementation of the Treaty of Waitangi.’ 2 He concluded saying: ‘The time has come for [slogans] to be challenged and a rational debate begun about the true positioning of libraries in the third millennium.’’
At the 1998 conference in Dunedin, the Association had changed its name and logo. Necessitated mainly by the financial crises of the 19905, legal and financial advice was that the Association be wound up and reincorporated as a different body. The ‘rebranding’ was seen as a fresh start for the Association and the way forward into the new
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millennium. In the excitement, councillors lost sight of an important legal detail. The new name was launched ‘with flair’ on the last day of conference: LIANZA; Library 8c Information Association New Zealand Aotearoa: Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa. The colours were blue and red and the Z was shaped like the ancient fish hook or matau. President Barbara McKerrow wrote, ‘lt is both a strong modern symbol and representative of the Maori heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand’, also noting, ‘not everyone wanted a change of name but the response to the new logo was overwhelmingly positive’. 4
LIANZA’s Information Policy Summit (LIPS), launched in December 1999, became the National Information Strategy for New Zealand (NIS). Papers were sent out to the regions for comment and submissions in time for the summit in February 2001. High on the NIS agenda was lobbying MPs, mainly carried out by Penny Carnaby (president), Steven Lulich, John Redmayne, and Lisa Tocker. Isobel Mosley, Rosalie Blake, Aroha Chamberlain, Spencer Lilley, Tony Millett, and Gail Pattie wrote papers. Penny Carnaby, who followed Chris Blake as National Library Chief Executive and National Librarian in 2003, continued promoting new technology developments in libraries: strengthening the relationship between the National Library and the Association and building collaborative library partnerships enabling reciprocal borrowing within a city or region. ‘The Bigger Picture’ and ‘Partnership’ were the major themes of the Tertiary Librarians Special Interest Group (TeLSIG) conference in Dunedin injune 2003. Convened by AliJameson and Gael Kirkus-Lamont, it involved the Council of University Librarians (CONZUL) and a variety of tertiary representatives and was attended by more than seventy delegates. Penny Carnaby discussed possibilities for collaboration between the National Library and the tertiary community; Ainslie Dewe and John Redmayne took an international focus.
Despite positive action and a consequent confidence boost, the Association was still travelling on a rocky road. An unforeseen consequence of the new name, a legal anomaly which had been on the
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
agenda but overlooked when council membership changed, surfaced a few years later. The Association renamed LIANZA had been registered as an incorporated society in 1990, although the New Zealand Library Association Act (1939) had never been repealed. The incoming Council became aware of the dual incorporation. Moira Fraser commented that it was a hugely complex legal problem, but something had to be done. A legal opinion obtained in 2004 - for the sum of 140,000 - was that the Association was acting ultra vires: the name was still officially the New Zealand Library Association. Advised that it would be too difficult and would take too long to repeal the Act, the confusing situation was eventually resolved by a motion to rectify the Association’s legal structure at a special general meeting on 7 December 2006. s The membership voted to correct the legal status and remove the dual incorporation.The Association became officially the New Zealand Library Association (Incorporated) trading as LIANZA.
Falling membership was another issue for the new millennium. Once again it was below the one thousand mark. At the 2002 AGM, members discussed ways to address this. After receiving feedback, which came about as part of a LIANZA strategic review, a simplification proposal was published in November. 6 Members were asked if they would be willing to sacrifice the printed version of Library Life if it meant a reduction in fees. The new personal membership fee structure was in place by July 2003. Categories remained the same as set out in the Code of Practice: (a) ordinary (i.e. personal) member, (b) student member, (c) supporting member, (d) overseas member, (e) honorary life member. Included in the basic fee was free membership of the first special interest group of choice. Rates for personal members went down (for full members) to $lOO per annum including GST, while retired members paid $5O. At the same time the ratio of personal fees to institutional fees was altered so that institutions paid the higher percentage. As well as introducing the new fee structure, the Association launched a membership drive. The effect of these changes was that personal membership began to increase and had almost doubled within five years. From November
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2004 Library Life ceased in printed format and was available online only.
From January 1997 the Association office had occupied premises at Level 6, Old Wool House, 139-141 Featherston Street, in downtown Wellington. An economy measure, the new office was shared with congenial neighbours, the New Zealand Book Council; took up less floor area than the previous office; and the rent per square metre was lower. It was administered by John Wright as an interim measure until the new office manager, Steve Williams, took over in 1998. PCs and software were being upgraded while surplus office equipment of all sorts shelving, old computer keyboards, staplers - were sold off to raise much needed cash. With office space at a premium, council meetings were sometimes held at the National Library in the Trustees Room. From 1999 the Association had its own website and began to use electronic banking. Significantly the office manager noted; ‘To ensure that there is no recurrence of previous financial problems an authentication system is being installed.’ 7
In 2003 Steve Williams resigned and for almost a year the staff, most notably Kim Eggleston, managed the office. A major review commissioned by Council in 2004 recommended the appointment of a manager with a strong business background. The new Business Development Manager, Rob Arlidge, came in October 2004 with wide experience in industry. Not surprisingly he was somewhat dismayed, once he got his bearings, by the ‘horrible little office’ comprising two cluttered rooms behind the Book Council in Old Wool House. The last financial crisis had necessitated stringent economy on such things as office equipment and computer software: eight years later little had changed. Rob’s first task was to write a business plan, adopted by Council in December. It recommended that LIANZA should continue to play a dominant role across the sector, and noted that interloan was of critical strategic importance. Also noted was the need for some type of accreditation for professional librarians a clear demarcation between them and others who worked in the sector. Significantly whereas in the past
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the Association had had control over library training and professional qualifications, it now had minimal representation on boards of both university and polytechnic librarianship courses. As a result, it had lost direction and power.
In 2005 the office moved from Old Wool House to a new location on the seventh floor of 71 Boulcott Street. For reasons of economy, once again the space was shared with the Book Council. The Association’s financial turnover since the late twentieth-century had been insufficient for the basic role of a professional organisation: to foster and promote professional development. During that time it was the annual conference which had provided much needed income to keep the Association afloat. Keen to make the organisation more efficient and raise more finance, Rob Arlidge employed a contractor to seek sponsorship and apply for grants for specific projects from various funding sources. In 2007 a new business development manager succeeded Rob Arlidge. ‘Messy’ was Alii Smith’s first impression of the LIANZA office. Her previous positions included production manager for a leading New Zealand fashion label, operations director for a boutique London corporate finance house, and strategic manager for a large New Zealand government department. One of Alii Smith’s aims during the next year was getting rid of clutter however some things never change; like Miss Bibby, she still washes and irons the tea towels. As Alii became more familiar with the Association and its work, she was impressed and ‘amazed at the number of people prepared to give up their time and energy for the committees.’
Back in August 1988, the Association had made a major submission to the Local Government Commission, later presented as a conference discussion paper, with a further submission on the Local Government Bill in 2001. Among many points LIANZA emphasised its basic belief that ‘the Local Government Act should aim at delivering consistent standards of library service for all communities.’ 8 At the same period in another Association endeavour, under Jill Best, convener, PUB SIG worked to complete the update
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of‘Public Library Standards’. LIANZA under President LisaTocker produced its revised standards, launched by the Hon. Marian Hobbs at Wellington City Library 20 February 2003. 9
At the LIANZA AGM in September 2004, two important documents were signed for the public library sector: the Memorandum of Understanding between Local Government New Zealand and LIANZA, and the Memorandum of Understanding between public libraries and the National Library. John Garraway remembers it was a proud moment for him as president when ‘Public Libraries of New Zealand: a strategic framework 20062016’ was launched in Parliament Buildings on 1 May 2006. As a stakeholder LIANZA had contributed a substantial amount of money to the project. Other contributors were public libraries (those in Metro Net), the National Library of New Zealand, Local Government New Zealand, the Society of Local Government Managers, the Department of Internal Affairs, and Te Ropu Whakahau. A nationwide summit held in February 2007 identified the need for all stakeholders in public libraries to speak with ‘one voice’. The Association of Public Library Managers (APLM) was established on 1 July 2008 and shared office space with LIANZA.
Also embarked on in the first decade of the new millennium was progress towards agreement on a scheme for professional registration. Arguments over the issue had arisen at various times since the 19505, when council meetings were reported to be ‘heated’ over the proposal to establish a Register of Qualified Librarians, which would include associates and fellows of the Association. In 1960 Jock McEldowney noted that 128 associates and 12 fellows had been registered with the Association. However, from time to time the rules for these awards changed. 10 It was always a matter of contention that certificate holders were required to show more years of work experience and not conceded the same rights as those with the diploma. Meantime it was the NZLA publication Who's Who in New Zealand Libraries, updated and reissued at regular intervals, which provided a valuable checklist of New Zealand’s professional librarians, their experience and
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qualifications. First published in 1951, the tenth edition (1990), under a new title Who’s Who in New Zealand Libraries and Information Services, marked a change and an ending. Arthur Olsson, a key member of the Association’s publications programme who had worked in various branches of the National Library since 1948, retiring as Director of General Services in 1983, had edited all ten editions. He noted: ‘New Zealand libraries and librarianship have changed vastly since the first edition ... The number of trained librarians has multiplied several times over - the 1951 edition contained 264 entries, the 1990 edition has approximately 1350.’ In his foreword, Association President Vic Elliott, while noting contributions made by Alan Richardson, paid the following tribute: ‘it is above all to Arthur Olsson that we are indebted both for the publication itself and for its proud survival over so many years.’
The matter of registration arose again in the late 1990s once the dust from the financial crises had settled - and the LIANZA Awards Review Team duly produced its findings in October 1999. The paper dealt chiefly with the associateship, suggesting that some members saw the award as not worth applying for and the application process as ‘unfriendly’. In March 2003 Noel Archer, a librarian with many years experience, outlined a proposed career path for librarians: ‘LIANZA currently provides just the one opportunity for its members to train and hone themselves professionally so that they can apply for ... the award of Associate - ALIANZA. There is no other level of professional status towards which members can work. A Fellowship may not be applied for and very few are awarded. A member cannot plan for a Fellowship.’ 11 He noted that for decades there had been much controversy over the understanding that in addition to the relevant qualification and work experience for a certain number of years, there was an expectation that applicants would have been involved in Association activities.
A registration team, chaired by Steven Lulich, brought together senior representatives from all library sectors (Special, Public, Tertiary, School and National Library). The New Zealand Law Librarians Association were there to represent law librarians working in special libraries whilst the School Library Association of New Zealand
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Aotearoa (SLANZA) were to represent those working in School libraries. Also present were representatives from the two main New Zealand education providers in library and information training from the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand and Victoria University ofWellington. From these meetings and a massive amount of consultation in 2004 came a task force and then a green paper. Moira Fraser, Parliamentary Librarian, remembers travelling throughout the regions, including the more isolated areas, giving presentations: ‘We began in Invercargill and there was not a lot of support there. Librarians were most interested in issues like low status, low pay, and pay equity. 12 Everywhere the subject of registration was controversial. The wider public traditionally saw the library as a place where anybody - particularly women - could work. It was an attitude the profession had always fought against, battling for the recognition of library qualifications. And qualification was in itself a problem because of the class distinction between those with the certificate and graduates with the diploma or MLIS. In order to attain the associateship, certificate holders needed to provide more evidence in the way of work experience compared with the university graduates. Yet despite these divisions, the Association acted as though it was an egalitarian organisation. The attitude of senior librarians, who had heard all the arguments many times, is similar to that of Michael Wooliscroft: ‘a proper regard for the fact that you’ve put yourself through the appropriate education.’ He added that generally there is a distinction between the haves and have-nots in the workplace despite there being some individuals who have ‘overcome this barrier for a variety of reasons - experience and so on.’ One view is that of Jock McEldowney: ‘Professionalism means elitism.’ John Garraway adds, ‘members have to decide whether they want a social club or a professional association.’ 13
When members were invited to air their views about registration online, Steven Lulich fielded an explosion of negativity on the List Service inbox: the biggest debate anybody in the Association could remember. Controversial, once again, was the status in the proposed registration scheme of non-graduate library training courses - by this period taught at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Moira Fraser
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noted ‘the debate about professional registration has released levels of passion that belie the stereotype of dry and dusty librarians.’ 14 As president she had to chair the AGM and wanted all members to have a chance to air their views on registration without the proceedings disintegrating into poindess bickering.
At the October 2006 conference in Wellington John Garraway moved the remit. Despite fears, the registration concept, if not well received, aroused less antagonism and controversy than councillors anticipated. After a ‘robust’ debate, the vote was in favour though not overwhelmingly, and the general mood was positive towards pursuing the matter. Some members saw registration as another way for LIANZA to make money, but an amount of heat was removed from the arguments by the provision of a transition period when those holding earlier qualifications were able to make application. The LIANZA Taskforce on Professional Registration had presented its ‘Proposed Professional Registration Scheme’with transition arrangements. This provided, during a certain period, a one-off opportunity for members, whether or not they held a qualification, to meet the registration criteria. Applicants needed to assemble relevant documentation concerning qualifications and experience and send in an application. By April 2007 three working groups were in action: Allison Dobbie was inaugural Chair of the Registration Board, which was completing appointments; Barbara Frame from Dunedin led a group working on the details of revalidation; Amanda Cooper from Auckland’s group dealt with mentoring. 15
The following year Janet Upton wrote, ‘Professional registration ... provides us with a well-constructed and professionally sound framework on which to build our training and development plans. It encourages us to reflect on what we learn and ensures that we stay focused on going forwards not backwards in our career. It aligns us with professional librarians internationally and greatly improves our flexibility in the global job market.’ 16 President Vye Perrone reported: ‘Something which still amazes me is that when I came onto Council as WaikatoBay of Plenty councillor four years ago, Professional Registration was just a “maybe-one-day” sort of idea, yet at the end of this month the scheme will be one year old. This also means that the end of the transition scheme is fast approaching.’ 1 '
ROCKY ROAD AHEAD: LIANZA AND THE NEW MILLENNIUM
222
LIANZA Registration Board 2007: l-r Alii Smith (Business Development Manager), Gail Pattie, Beryl Anderson. Allison Dobbie, Gary Gorman, Spencer Lilley, Ann Reweti, Johnann Williams
Former Presidents at 2009 conference; l-r: John Redmayne. Barbara Garriock, Moira Fraser, Penny Carnaby, Glen Walker
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Epilogue
One long battle
Despite many upheavals and events which at times have brought the Association to the brink of extinction, it has survived a century. Looking back, LIANZA and its predecessors can celebrate many achievements: the library training system and schools; bibliographic and other important publications; the National Library; standards of library service; interloan and other later information sharing networks; the registration system; bicultural developments. The Association has come a very long way in its 100 years of existence and today is very different from the way it was even fifty years ago. A different beast,’ as Michael Wooliscroft says, ‘though a good one, which more of those working in middle levels feel comfortable in.’John Garraway, president 2005-6, would add that LIANZA also belongs in a different world and needs to think differendy. There are concerns about leadership, that the most senior librarians have such demanding jobs they have neither the time nor energy for the Association, which itself is dealing with huge and complex issues. Also, as membership has grown, in addition to the Special Interest Groups, some librarians have tended to form their own organisations: the New Zealand Law Librarians, the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (ARANZ), the Council of New Zealand University Librarians (CONZUL). The music librarians are a case in point. They have formed a New Zealand branch of the International Association of Music Librarians (lAML NZ) and as an incorporated society are affiliated to LIANZA. These organisations, while retaining their focus, have also tended to diffuse and disperse some of the energy away from the parent body. Other initiatives are LIANZA relationships with projects such as the Electronic Purchasing
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in Collaboration (EPIC), which comprises a consortium of public, school, research, and special libraries banded together to collectively purchase huge databases of electronic resources and make them accessible to the New Zealand public. John Garraway sees this sort of project as a positive sign. Rather than looking inwards, dealing with internal problems, LIANZA is reaching outwards, reinvesting in important professional matters such as the remuneration surveys and becoming more businesslike.
Throughout its history the profession has had to continually reassess its role. The 1985 president wrote: ‘We must ask questions fundamental to our existence. Is librarianship about the holding and issuing of material or storing and supplying information? The mechanics of information technology are much more than just new tools for old activities, they represent a new way of life ... n Over a decade later. President Nan Penberth spoke to new library graduates of the battles they would have to fight in the information and library world, reminding them that the combined voice of many individuals makes a powerful voice and stressed the ‘importance of our professionaloorganisation.2’ 2
The Association has remained committed to certain fundamental beliefs. John Sage noted in his tribute to David Wylie in 1986 that the ideals ‘imbued at Library School in 1947, he retained to the end.’ 3 Those life-long ideals of library service are similarly retained not just by the leaders but also by most members of the Association. In November 2008 the incoming president, Glen Walker, wrote: ‘ln New Zealand libraries I feel that we are forever fighting for resources to achieve what we want and what we believe will be for the good of our service but it seems that no sooner is one battle won than another begins.’ 4 In this way he endorses the view of a former president, Mary Ronnie: ‘lt’s been one long battle.’And the work continues.
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Appendix 1: National Librarians
Alley, Geoffrey T
1964-8
Macaskill, Hector M.
1969-72
Mcintosh, David C.
1972-5
Ronnie, Mary A.
1976-81
Scott, Peter G.
1982-96
Blake, Christopher
1997-9
Carnaby, Penny
2003-
Appendix 2: Directors of the New Zealand Library School
Parsons, Mary P.
1946-7
Bateson,Nora
1948-52
Macaskill, Hector
1953-9 Acting Director
O'Neill, T.Brian
1960-6
Mcintosh, David C.
1967-8
O'Reilly, Ronald N.
1968-74
PodstolskiJ.H.
1975-9
Appendix 3: Presidents 1910-2010
Year elected
1910
R. Gilkison (Dunedin City Council)
1910
T.W. Leys (Leys Institute, Auckland)
1911
T.W Leys (Leys Institute, Auckland)
1912
A.R. Atkinson (Wellington City Council)
1926
E. Ellen Melville (Auckland City Council)
1927
JJ. Clark (Dunedin City Council)
1928
E. Ellen Melville (Auckland City Council)
1930
G. Benstead (Timaru Borough Council)
1935
W.J. Gaudin (Wellington City Council)
1937
EJ. Bell (Canterbury Public Library)
1938
T.D.H. Hall, CMG (Clerk of the House of Representatives)
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APPENDIX
1939
J. Barr (Auckland Public Libraries)
1940
Dr G.H. Scholefield (General Assembly Library)
1941
WC. Prosser (Rangiora Borough Council)
1942
J. Norrie (Wellington Public Libraries)
1943
E. Ellen Melville (Auckland City Council)
1944
A.M. Blackett (Alexander Public Library, Wanganui)
1945
J. Barr (Auckland Public Libraries)
1946
W.J. Harris (University of Otago Library)
1947
Elizabeth M. Gilmer (Wellington City Council)
1948
J.W Kealy (Auckland City Council)
1949
C.W Collins (Canterbury University College Library)
1950
T.K.S. Sidey (Dunedin City Council)
1951
Miss A.K. Elliot (Timaru Public Library)
1952
S. Perry (Wellington Public Libraries)
1953
WS. Wauchop (General Assembly Library)
1954
H.W.B. Bacon (Petone Borough Council)
1955
FH. Rogers (University of Otago Library)
1956
A.G.W. Dunningham (Dunedin Public Library)
1957
D.C. Pryor (Palmerston North City Council)
1958
FA. Sandall (University of Auckland)
1959
G.T. Alley, QBE (National Library Service)
1960
D.B. Black (Palmerston North City Council)
Term of office
1960-1
Desmond B. Black
1961-2
Mary S. Fleming
1962-3
MaidaJ.Clark
1963-4
MaidaJ.Clark
1964-5
A. Graham Bagnall
1965-6
W.J. McEldowney
1966-7
Mrs A.N. Gale
1967-8
David M.Wylie
1968-9
M.C. Sexton
1969-70
M.C. Sexton
1970-1
James O. Wilson
1971-2
John P. Sage
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
1972-3
W.J.H. Clark
1973-4
Mary A. Ronnie
1974-5
iviai y i rvumnc E.L. Gilchrist
1975-6
John Stringleman
1976-7
Ethel McMillan MP
1977-8
Richard W. Hlavac
1978-9
Herbert O. Roth
1979-80
lan W.Malcolm
1980-1
James E.Traue
1981-2
Peter B. Durey
1982-3
Dorothea Brown
1983-4
Janet D. Mac Lean
1984-5
Joan G. Brock
1985-6
Helen M.Tait
1986-7
Kenneth I. Porter
1987-8
Michael J. Wooliscroft
1988-9
Janet Caudwell
1989-90
Geoff Chamberlain
1990-1
Victor Elliott
1991-2
Suzanne (Sue) Sutherland
1992-3
Suzanne (Sue) Pharo
1993-4
Diane Maloney
1994-5
Ainslie Dewe
1995-6
A. Gail Pattie
1996-7
K. Nanette (Nan) Penberth
1997-8
Sue Cooper
1998-9
Barbara McKerrow
1999-2000
Penny Carnaby
2000-1
John Redmayne
2001-2
Spencer Lilley
2002-3
LisaTocker
2003-4
Mirla Edmundson
2004-5
Steven Lulich
2005-6
John Garraway
2006-7
Moira Fraser
2007-8
Vye Perrone
APPENDIX
228
2008-9
Glen Walker
2009-10
Barbara Garriock
2010-11
Carolyn Robertson
Appendix 4: Conferences 1960-2010
1960
29th Jubilee Conference, Dunedin
1961
AGM only
1962
New Plymouth
1963
AGM only, Professional Section holds seminar
1964
Hastings
1965
Christchurch
1966
Auckland
1967
WeUingon
1968
Dunedin
1969
Gisborne
1970
Nelson
1971
Palmerston North
1972
Rotorua
1973
Invercargill
1974
Wellington
1975
Auckland
1976
Christchurch
1977
Wanganui
1978
Hamilton
1979
Dunedin
1980
Lower Hutt
1981
Christchurch, NZLA/ Library Association of Australia (LAA)
1982
Auckland
1983
Palmerston North
1984
LAA/NZLA Conference - Brisbane
1985
Otago-Southland - Dunedin
1986
Auckland Seminar
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A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
1987
Wellington
1988
Hamilton; Sydney (joint Federation of Library Associations (FLA)/ LAA/NZLA)
1989
Christchurch
1990
New Plymouth
1991
Auckland
1992
Nelson
1993
Tauranga
1994
Wellington
1995
Masterton
1996
Queenstown
1997
Wanganui
1998
Dunedin
1999
Auckland
2000
Christchurch
2001
Rotorua
2002
Wellington
2003
Napier
2004
Auckland
2005
Christchurch
2006
Wellington
2007
Rotorua
2008
Auckland
2009
Christchurch
2010
Dunedin
230
NOTES
Notes
Abbreviations
LL
Library Life
NZ Libs
New Zealand Libraries: journal of the NZLA
NZLA
New Zealand Library Association
W7T/
Alexander Turnbull Library
Preface Off the shelf
1.
Colophon , 1954
Chapter 1 Making connections
1.
WJ. McEldowney, The New Zealand Library Association 1910—1960 and its part in New Zealand library development, Wellington, NZLA, 1962 p. 11
2.
LI AN Z A archives
3.
McEldowney, l9lO-1960, p. 12
4.
Ibid.
5.
McEldowney, W.J., Geoffrey Alley, librarian: his life and work , Wellington, Victoria University Press, 2006, p. 70
6.
quoted in Library Life 108, Oct. 1987
7.
Ralph Munn and John Barr, New Zealand libraries: a survey of conditions and suggestionsfor their improvement , Christchurch, Libraries Association of New Zealand, 1934 [Munn-Barr Report]
8.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 97, NZ Libs vol. 44, no.l March 1983
9.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 97
10.
Colophon , 1954
11.
Quoted in McEldowney, NZLA1910-1960, p. 19
12.
Munn and Barr, op. cit.
13.
McEldowney, NZLA 1910-1960, p. 59
231
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
14.
Ibid.
15.
McEldowney, NZLAI9IO-1960, p. 24
Chapter 2 Training for a career in libraries
1.
LL 228, Oct. 1998
2.
LL 19, Sept. 1979
3.
NZ Libs vol. 45 no. 9, March 1988 p.194
4.
LL 228, Oct. 1998
5.
M. Warwick, pers.com.
6.
B. Murison, pers. com.
7.
M. Ronnie, pers. com.
8.
NZLA Newsletter 81, May 1963
9.
LL 228, Oct. 1998
10.
McEldowney, NZLA 1910-1960 p. 49
11.
G.T. Alley, ‘Some people remembered’, in NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 1, March 1983
12.
NZ Libs vol. 2 no. 11, Dec. 1964
13.
NZ Libs vol. 46 no. 5, June 1990
14.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 178
15.
LL [3] April 1978
16.
Colophon, 1950
17.
Colophon, 1949
18.
LL 215, Aug. 1997
19.
R. Wylie, pers. com.
20.
A.R. Grant, pers. com.
21.
LL 293, Sept. 2004
22.
Blackwood, J.W, Rich and rewarding, 2001, p. 63
23.
J.W. McEldowney, pers. com
24.
Colophon, 1965
25.
M. Mews, pers. com.
26.
NZ Libs vol. 45 no. 9, March 1988, p. 195
232
NOTES
27.
WTU, NZLA Ace. 79-42, Box 36,10 May 1966
28.
WTU,NZLA Ace. 79-42, Box 36
29.
Ibid.
Chapters In strictest conference
1.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 1, March 1983
2.
LL 62, Aug. 1983
3.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 430
4.
Ibid. p. 431
5.
LL 62, Aug. 1983
6.
Ibid.
7.
Ibid
8.
M. Warwick, pers. com.
9.
NZ Libs vol.32 no.6, Dec. 1969, p. 174
10.
Andrew D. Osborn, New Zealand library resources: report of a survey made for the New Zealand Library Association under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Wellington, NZLA, 1960 [Osborn Report]
11.
B. McKeon, pers. com.
12.
NZ Libs vol. 28 no. 2, May 1965
13.
NZ Libs vol. 32 no. 1, Feb. 1969, p. 4—33
14.
A.E. Smith, pers. com.
15.
NZ Libs vol. 34 no. 3, June 1971
16.
NZ Libs vol. 33 no. 5, Oct. 1970 p. 180
17.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 419
Chapter 4 Is there life after library school?
1.
LL 230, March 1999
2.
Alison M. Grant, pers. com.
3.
LL 285, Dec. 2003
233
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
4.
Keitha Booth, pers. com.
5.
LL 282, Sept. 2003
6.
LL 281, August 2003
7.
NZ Libs vol. 49 no. 13, Jan. 2006
Chapter 5 Fifty years on: the 1960s
1.
NZ Libs vol. 29 no. 2, March 1966
2.
Public Service Commission, Hunn Report, 1955
3.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 1, March 1983
4.
B. Murison, pers. com.
5.
NZLA Newsletter 21, Dec. 1957
6.
7&//. 12, March 1957
7.
March 1959
8.
Ibid. 10, Jan. 1957
9.
NZ Libs vol. 22 Nov. 1959, p. 215; NZLA Newsletter 45, Jan. 1960
10.
NZLA Newsletter 53, Oct 1960
11.
Ibid.
12.
NZLA Newsletter 63, Sept 1961
13.
Ibid.
14.
NZLA Annual Report 1961
15.
NZ Libs vol. 24 no. 2, March 1961
16.
Ibid.
17.
NZ Libs vol. 48 no. 11, Sept. 1997
18.
M. Warwick, pers. com.
19.
NZLA Acc. 79-42 Box 10
20.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 84-142 Box 55
21.
NZLA Newsletter 48, May 1960
22.
NZ Libs vol. 30 no. 3, June 1967 p. 65
23.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 84-142 Box 55
234
NOTES
24.
Ibid.
25.
M. Warwick, pers. com.
26.
NZ Libs vol. 35 no. 6, Dec. 1972
Chapter 6 Years of transition
1.
NZ Libs vol. 34 no. 1, Feb. 1971
2.
J. Trane, NZ Libs vol. 33 no. 5, Oct. 1970
3.
A. Richardson, pers. com.
4.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 84-142 Box 55
5.
NZLA Newsletter 165, May 1971
6.
NZ Libs vol. 39,1976
7.
D. Brown, NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 1, March 1983
8.
A.P. Millett, pers. com.
9.
NZ Libs vol. 36 no. 5, Aug. 1973
10.
A.P. Millett, pers. com.
11.
NT Libs vol. 36 no. 6, Oct. 1973
12.
NZLA Newsletter 159, Oct. 1970
13.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 7, Sept. 1984
14.
LL 29, Aug. 1980
15.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 7, Sept. 1984
16
NZLA Newsletter 179, Aug. 1972
17.
NZLA Newsletter 190, Aug. 1973
18.
Ibid. 193, Nov. 1973
19.
LL 81, May 1985
20.
LL 144, Jan. 1991
21.
B. Murison, pers. com
22.
WTU, Olsson papers, Acc. 83-109
23.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 79-42 Box 36
24.
WTU, Olsson papers, Acc. 83-109
25.
Ibid.
235
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
26.
NZLA Newsletter 209, June 1975
27.
K.S. Williams pers. com.
28.
NZ Libs vol. 39 no. 6, Dec. 1976, pp. 226-7
29.
NZLA Minutes AGM, 1975
30.
NZLA Newsletter 219, May 1976
31.
Ibid. 221, July 1976
Chapter 7 Women in library work
1.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 79-42 Box 10
2.
NZ Libs vol. 32 no. 1, Feb. 1969
3.
WTU, Olsson papers, Acc.83-109,25/9/68
4.
NZ Libs vol. 33 no. 5, Oct. 1970
5.
NZ Libs vol. 38 no. 5, Oct. 1975
6.
NZ Libs vol. 38 no. 6, Dec. 1975
7.
M. Mews, pers. com.
8.
Broadsheet: NZ’s Feminist Magazine, no. 89, May 1981, p. 25-7
9.
E. Tennet MP, pers. com.
10.
LL 85,9 Sept. 1985
11.
Jan Bierman, NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 12, Dec. 1985
Chapter 8 Branching out
1.
NZ Libs, vol. 44 no. 1, March 1983
2.
J.W McEldowney, NZLA 1910-1960, p. 31
3.
LL 260, Sept 2001
4.
NZ Libs vol. 36 no.l, Feb. 1973
5.
Osborn Report, 1960 (see chapter 3 for background)
6.
M. Ronnie, pers. com.
7.
A.R. Grant, pers. com.
8.
R. Carroll, email
236
NOTES
9.
A.M. Grant, pers. com.
10.
A.P. Millett, email
11.
A.P. Millet, email
12.
M. Mews, pers. com.
13.
A.P. Millett, email
14.
R. Carroll, email
15.
NZLA Annual Report 1988
16.
NZ Libs vol. 36, no. 3 June 1973
17.
WTU, NZLA Olsson papers, Ace. 83-109
18.
Ibid.
19.
NZLA Newsletter 2\, Nov. 1957
20.
Ibid. 49, June 1970
21.
Magpie, Aug. 1992
22.
Bill Siddells, pers. com.
23.
NZLA Newsletters
24.
LL 102, April 1987
25.
NZLA Newsletter 86, Oct 1963
26.
Ibid. 1970/71
27.
R. Grover, pers. com.
28.
NZLA Newsletter 180, Sept. 1972
29.
Ibid. 181, Oct. 1972
Chapter 9 The Library School: choosing the right road
1.
Lynne Walker, Putaruru Public Library, LL 143 D, 1990
2.
NZ Libs vol. 45 no. 9, March 1988
3.
NZLA Newsletter 81, May 1963
4.
NZLA Acc. 79-42 Box 36. Minutes, 13 Feb. 1967
5.
NZLA Acc. 84-142 Box 56
6.
L.M. Graham Working Party Report 1969
7.
R. Carroll, pers. com.
237
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
8.
Hocken Library, University of Otago, Richardson papers, AG-845/008
9.
NZ Libs vol. 39 no. 3, June 1976
10.
Hocken Library, University of Otago, Richardson papers, AG-845/008
11.
Ibid.
12.
Ibid
13.
NZLA Newsletter 158, Sept. 1970
14.
M. Ronnie, pers. com.
15.
Hocken, Richardson papers, AG 845/017
16.
M. Ronnie, pers. com.
17.
WTU, Olsson papers, Acc. 83-109
18.
NZLA Newsletter 213, Oct. 1975
19.
A. Richardson, pers. com.; see also chapter 20
20.
LL 228, Aug. 1998
21.
A. Richardson, pers. com,
22.
LL 247, July 2000
23.
J. MacLean, LL 49, June 1982
24.
S. Pharo, pers. com.
25.
Lynne Walker, op. cit.
Chapter 10 National Library: the hole in the ground
1.
NZ Libs. vol. 30 no. 4, Aug. 1967
2.
Born in Wellington, educated in England, Alexander Turnbull returned to settle in Wellington. At his elegant gentleman’s home in Wellington, he built up a private library of 55,0000 books and other materials. Along with the valuable Shakespeare and Milton works, he not only collected all publications pertaining to New Zealand but also extended his scope to include Australia and the Pacific. This library was bequeathed to H.M. the King on the condition that the contents were kept together as a nucleus of a
238
NOTES
national collection. He thus provided a resource which enriched the cultural life of New Zealand.
3.
J. McEldowney, NZLA 1910-1960, p. 83
4.
Ibid. p. 84
5.
Ibid. p. 86
6.
NZ Libs vol. 36 n0.7, Dec. 1973
7.
NZ Libs vol. 45 no. 5, March 1987
8.
NZLA Newsletter 88, Dec. 1963
9.
R. Grover, pers. com.
10.
R. Barrowman, op. cit. pp. 107,109
11.
NZ Listener 12 February 1965
12.
J. p. 352
13.
Mary Ronnie in NZ Libs vol. 46 no. 6, Sept. 1990
14.
R. Barrowman, op. cit. p. 109
15.
NZLA Newsletter 17%, ]\Ay 1972
16.
Ibid. 227, Feb. 1977
17.
LL 7, Aug. 1978
18.
LL 23,Jan./Feb. 1980
19.
M. Ronnie, pers. com.
20.
LL 31,5 October 1980
21.
LL 35, March 1981
22.
LL 34, Jan./ Feb. 1981
23.
LL 38,1 June 1981
24.
LL 80, April 1984
Chapter 11 New directions, new people
1.
LL 33, Dec. 1980
2.
NZLA Council Minutes, May 1978
3.
WTU, NZLA Ace. 84-142 Box 56
4.
LL 127, July 1989, letters p. 8
239
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
5.
WTU, A. Olsson Collection 83-109, Finance Committee, 9 May 1979
6.
H. Tait, pers. com.
7.
LL 31, Oct. 1980
8.
J. Traue, pers. com.
9.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 432
Chapter 12 Old timers and fresh starts
1.
NZ Libs vol. 43 no. 11 Sept. 1982
2.
NZ Libs vol. 45 no.l March 1986
3.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 256
4.
NZ Libs vol. 45, no. 5 March 1987
5.
Administered by Rosemary Norman and Diana Meads
6.
I. Matheson, pers. com. 12 Sept. 2008
7.
R. Barrowman, p. 185-6
Chapter 13 Going, going, going ...
1.
LL 128, Aug. 1989
2.
M. Ronnie, pers. com.
3.
LL 55, Dec. 1982
4.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no.l, March 1983
5.
LL 55, Dec. 1982; Annual Report 1981/2 and 1982/3
6.
A. Smith, pers. com.
7.
NZ Libs vol. 44, no.l March 1983
8.
LL 69, April 1984
9.
LL 106, Aug. 1987
10.
LL 127,Ju1y 1989
11.
LL 121, Dec. 1988
12.
S. Pharo, pers. com.
13.
LL 127, July 1989
240
NOTES
14.
LL 127, Presidents Report 1988/89
15.
LL 128, Aug. 1989
16.
LL 127, July 1989
17.
LL 128, Aug. 1989
18.
Ibid.
19.
LL 130, Oct. 1989, Insert
Chapter 14 Taking stock: Into the 1990’s
1.
LL 162, Sept. 1992
2.
Ibid.
3.
LL 128, Aug. 1989
4.
LL 158, May 1992
5.
NZ Libs vol. 36 no. 3, June 1973
6.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 9, March 1985
7.
LL 144, Jan. 1991
8.
LL 142, Nov. 1990
9.
NZ Libs vol. 46, no. 2/3 June/Sept. 1989
10.
LIANZA archives
11.
Ibid.
12.
Ibid. In 1992 the Association, after further debate, changed its name to the New Zealand Library and Information Association, NZLIA (Inc.). As it turned out, this was to be a temporary measure.
13.
Nan Penberth, pers. com.
Chapter 15 Body blows!
1.
LIANZA archives
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Ibid
241
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
5.
Ibid.
6.
Ibid.
Chapter 16 A time of reckoning: 1996 - 8
1
S. Cooper, pers. com.
2.
LL 207, Oct. 1996
3.
P. Carnaby, pers. com.
4.
LIANZA archives
5.
ZZ 209, Feb. 1997
6.
ZZ 212, May 1997
7.
ZZ. 209, Feb. 1997
8.
LIANZA archives
9.
LIANZA archives
10.
LL 215, Aug. 1997
11.
LL 222, April 1998
12.
LL 217, Oct. 1997
Chapter 17 Towards biculturalism: the long, hard road
1.
WTU, NZLA Ace. 79-42 Box 10
2.
Ibid
3.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 8, Dec. 1984
4.
NZ Libs vol. 29 no. 6, July 1966
5.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 79-42 Box 10
6.
Ibid
7.
NZ Libs vol. 33 no. 5, Oct. 1970
8.
WTU, NZLA Acc. 79-42 Box 10
9.
NZ Libs vol. 37 no.l, Feb. 1974
10.
WTU, NZLA, A. Olsson papers Ace 83-109
11.
R. Carroll, email, 6 Oct. 2008
12.
NZ Libs vol. 46 no.7/8, Dec. 1990
242
NOTES
13.
Ibid.
14.
Dominion Post March 31,2007, ‘Indulgence’ p. 3
Chapter 18 Biculturalism: the 1990s
1.
R. Carroll, email, 6 Oct. 2008
2.
NZ Libs vol. 46 no. 3, Dec. 1990
3.
LL 116, July 1988; An evaluation of education for librarianship in New Zealand [Saunders Report] 1987
4.
NZ Libs vol. 46 no. 4, March 1990
5.
LL 146, April 1991
6.
LL 155, Feb. 1992 and LL 225, July 1998
7.
LL 165, Dec. 1992
8.
NZLAAGM 1992/3
9.
LL 152, Oct. 1991
10.
LL 260, Sept. 2001
11.
LIANZA archives
12.
NZLIA Annual Report 1997-1998
13.
LL 220, Feb. 1998
14.
LL 225, July 1998
15.
LL 294, Oct. 2004
16.
LL 248, Aug. 2000
17.
LL 257, June 2001
Chapter 19 Conference highs and lows
1.
LL 241, Dec. 1999
2.
LL 260, Sept. 2001
3.
LL 294, Oct. 2004
4.
M. Edmundson, pers. com.
5.
McEldowney, Alley, p. 419
6.
NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 12, Dec. 1985
243
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
7.
LL 249, Sept 2000
8.
Anthea Hamlet, National Library, Auckland
Chapter 20 School libraries: unfinished business
1.
L. Luke, School Library Service, 1942—1988: a background paper on the history of the School Library Service, Wellington, Regional Services, National Library of New Zealand, 1988
2.
Ibid.
3.
LL 215, Aug. 1997 (L. Meares, nee Gardiner)
4.
Osborn Report, 1960
5.
NZ Libs vol. 26, no. 3, Sept. 1963
6.
NZLA Newsletter 1967
7.
LL 10, Nov. 1978
8.
NZ Libs vol. 43 no. 1, March 1980
9.
Ibid
10.
NZ Libs vol. 44, no. 12, Dec. 1985
11.
LL 213, June 1997, p. 12
12.
Anna Chalmers and Helen Slyfield
13.
LL 241, Dec. 1999
14.
J. Garraway, pers. com.
Chapter 21 On the road again: library education and training
1.
LL 109, Nov. 1987
2.
Mirla Edmundson, pers. com.
3.
J. Garraway, pers. com.
4.
LL 114, May 1988
5.
LL 228, Aug. 1998
6.
LL 164, Nov. 1992
7.
LL 216, Sept. 1997
244
NOTES
8.
Clare Wain, LL 211, Apr. 1997
9.
Ibid.
10.
LL 226, Aug. 1998
Chapter 22 Rocky road ahead: LIANZA and the new millennium
1.
LL 260, Sept. 2001
2.
LL 229, Nov. 1998
3.
LL 280, July 2003
4.
LL 226, Aug. 1998
5.
LL 308, Nov. 2006
6.
See also LL 276, Mar. 2003
7.
LL 234, May 1999
8.
LL 260, Sept. 2001
9.
LL 276, Mar. 2003
10.
NZ Libs, Dec. 1969, p. 174
11.
LL 277, April 2003
12.
M. Fraser, pers. com.
13.
M. Wooliscroft, J. McEldowney, and J. Garraway, pers. corns
14.
LL 307, Oct 2006
15.
LL 312, April 2007
16.
LL 322, March 2008
17.
LL 325, June 2008
Epilogue One long battle
1.
H. Tait, NZ Libs vol. 44 no. 12, Dec. 1985
2.
LL 226, Aug. 1998
3.
NZ Libs vol. 45 no.l. Mar. 1986
4.
LL 330, November 2008
245
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Select bibliography
Archival sources
Alexander Turnbull Library: Manuscripts. NZLA Boxes 1-54 Published works
For a detailed list of New Zealand Library Association publications, see W.J. McEldowney, New Zealand Library Association 1910-1960, NZLA, 1962
Serials
Colophon: a miscellany from the Library School, Wellington, 1946-1954,1956-1957,1969.
Library Life, New Zealand Library Association newsletter: Te Rau Ora, no. 1 February 1978-
Magpie, newsletter of the Wellington Branch, New Zealand Library Association, no. 2 March 1981 - November 2001
New Zealand Libraries, journal of the New Zealand Library Association, vol. 1 no.l (Aug. 1937) -2006, continued by NZ Library & Information Management
NZLA Newsletter, no. 1 March 1956 — no. 237 December 1977
Who’s Who in New Zealand Libraries and Information Services, ed. A. Olsson, 1991
Who’s Who in New Zealand Libraries, ed. A. Olsson, New Zealand Library Association 1951-1985
246
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Barrowman, Rachel, The Turnbull: a library and its world, Auckland, Auckland University Press, 1995
Blackwood, J.W. (Bill), Rich and rewarding: an autobiography, The author, 2001
Chalmers, Anna, The Report of the Ministerial Review of National Library Services to rural areas , Wellington, National Library of New Zealand, 1987
Chalmers, Anna and Slyfield, Helen, Contributions to learning libraries and New Zealand schools , Wellington, National Library of New Zealand, 1993
Dorothy Neal White: A tribute., Friends of the Dorothy Neal White Collection, Wellington, 1998
Fenwick, Sara, Library services for children in New Zealand schools and public libraries , Report, NZCER and NZLA, 1975
Foley, M.T., Report of the Working Party on School Libraries, Wellington, Department of Education, 1978
Graham Report: see New Zealand Working Party on Education for Librarianship
Hilliard, Chris, The Bookmens dominion', cultural life in New Zealand 1920-1950, Auckland University Press, 2006
Library servicesfor children in New Zealand schools and public libraries: a statistical appendix to the report by Sara Innis Fenwick , Wellington, NZCER and NZLA, 1977
Luke, Lois, School Library Service 1942—1988: a background paper on the history of the School Library Service, Regional Services, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, 1988
McEldowney, W.J., Geoffrey Alley, librarian: his life and work, Wellington, Victoria University Press, 2006
247
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
McEldowney, W.J., ‘The New Zealand Library Association 1960-1970’, in New Zealand Libraries, vol. 22 no. 5, October 1970
McEldowney, W.J., The New Zealand Library Association 1910-1960 and its part in New Zealand library development , Wellington, NZLA, 1962
Martin, John E., Parliament’s library 150 years, Steele Robert Publishers, in association with Dunmore Publishing, 2008
Munn, Ralph and Barr, John. New Zealand libraries: a survey of conditions and suggestions for their improvement , Christchurch, Libraries Association of New Zealand, 1934
New Zealand Working Party on Education for Librarianship, Report to the Minister of Education, Wellington, 1969. Chairman: Lindsay M. Graham
Osborn, Andrew D., New Zealand library resources: report of a survey madefor the New Zealand Library Association under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Wellington, NZLA, 1960
Ronnie, Mary A. Books to the people: a history of regional library services in New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand Library Association in conjunction with Ancora Press, Graduate Department of Librarianship, Archives and Records, Monash University, 1993
Ronnie, Mary, Education for librarianship in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, London, Mansell, 1996
Saunders, Wilfred L ,,An evaluation of education for librarianship in New Zealand: a report to the Joint Advisory Committee on Librarianship, Wellington, Department of Librarianship, Victoria University of Wellington, 1987
Slyfield, Helen, School libraries in New Zealand, Research Unit, National Library, 2001
245
Index
Names
Alexander, Patricia 40, 88
Alley, Geoffrey T. 25,26,34,35,37,38,39,40,46,49,50,53, 55,60, 61,68,69, 70, 73, 82, 83,110,122,123,124,125,138,140,141,194,199
Amos, Philip 114
Andersen, J.C. 22
Anderson, Beryl 219
Andrews, A. 174
Andrews, Isobel 37,38
Archer, David 135,136
Archer, Noel 216
Ardley, Charmian (Gilmer) 58
Arlidge,Rob2l3,2l4
Arnold, J.F. 22
Ashcroft, Shirley 39
Ashton, Judith (Taylor) 58
Ata,Wiral79
Bagnall, A.Graham 38,50,51,66,102,125,140
Bailey, Colin 41
Baillie,H.22
Ball, Mr. 174
Ballantyne, Dorothy (see Neal White)
Barker, Margaret 38
Barr, John 22,23,24,25,28,31,48
Bateson, Nora 38, 70
Baxter, Jacquie 175
Beauchamp, Sir Harold 25
BeagleholeJ.C. 124
Beaven, Gillian (Hobbs) 56
Bell, E.J. 22,23,28
Best, Jill 214
Bibby, Doreen 29,44,61,62,63,64, 82,83, 84, 85,89,146,174,214
Bierman,Jan 149
Billing, Graham 104
Birch, W. 128
Birkbeck, Adrian 150
Bishop, Catherine 69, 89
Blacken, Annie Maud 22, 88
249
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Blackwood, W. (Bill) 39,40,58,67,74,78
Blake, Barbara 158
Blake, Christopher 211
Blake, Rosalie 211
Booth Keitha (Taylor) 55-6
Bowie, David H. 74, 84, 85,131,134
Boyd, Marleene J. 155
Boyes, Kathryn 117
Bradley, Marny (Hazeltine) 39,58
Braithwaite, Errol 105
Brock, Joan 39
Brock, W. 22
Brooks, Caroline 92
Brown, Dorothea 75,95,146,147,156,195
Byrne, Marie (Brosnahan) 37
Calvert, Philip 67
Campbell, Professor lan 113
Carnaby, Penny 105,160,168,183,184,211,219
Carnegie, Andrew 23
Cornell, E. Jessie 46,48
Carroll, Roy E. 98,99,101, 111, 177,178,180,192
Casey, Philip 160
Cauchi, Simon 67,74, 81,180
Caudwell, Janet 133,148
Cave, Roderick 117,181,206
Chalmers, Anna 180,183
Chamberlain, Aroha 188,211
Chamberlain, Geoff 150,152,156
Chandler.John 37
Chandler, Mavis (French) 39
Chandler, Oliver 37,56
Child, Judith 57-8
Chisholm, Jocelyn (Thomson) 39
Claridge, Aileen 39,93
Clark,MaidaJ.l23
Clark, Megan 135,136
Clark, Stef 108
Clark, W.J.H. 107
Cohen, Mark 21
Coleman, Michael 67,101
Colgan, Wynne 36,68,69, 87
Collins, C.W. 28,36,37,50,140
Coolbear, Kay 99
250
Cooper, Amanda 218
Cooper, Sue 116,150,161,165,166,168,170,171,187
Copsey, Janet 155
Cowey, Helen (later Sullivan) 30,37, 81, 88,93,140,174
Cross, lan 79, 81
Cuiverwell, E 22
Cunningham, Kevin 116
Dansey, H.D. (Harry) 100,101,177
Dasent, Barbara (Colhoun) 37
De Roo.Anne 58
Dewe, Ainslie 211
Dienes, Frances 115,157
Dienes, Julius 121
Dobbie, Allison 156,170,218,219
Dobbie, Hazel 192
Dolamore, Natalie 88
Drummond, Yolanda 57
Dunbar Bryant, Elizabeth 88
Dunningham, A.G.W. 23,26,28,31,34,35,46,50,88,97
Durey, Peter B. 52, 78,101,129,145,150,151
Duthie,Joan 76
Duthie, Robert 31,36,57, 77,101,107
Edmundson, Mirla 105,193,194,197,205
Eggleston, Kim 213
Elliott, Victor G. 67,149,157,158,182,216
Erwin, Robert 67
Etches, Danae 185
Evans, Enid Annie 50
Fache,Ada3l,BB,97
Farnall, H.B. 22
Felmley,Jenrose 92
Fenwick, Sara 201
Fleming, Mary 35,38,103,138
Fletcher, Beverley 108,150,169
Foley, M.T. 201
Ford, Shirley 101
Frame, Barbara 218
Fraser, Moira 158,212,217,219
Fraser,Peter24,2s,26,2B
Freed, Dorothy 40
French, Rosa-Jane 203
Funnell, Molly (Smith) 37
Gallic Celia 158
251
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Gandar, Les 114,126
Gardiner see Meares
Garraway, John 158,185,193,203,205,217,218,220,221
Garriock, Barbara 219
Gee, Maurice 107
Gilberthorpe, Brian 45
Gilchrist, E. Leslie 74,76
Gilmer, E. Elizabeth
Glover, Denis 41,124
Glowacki, Maryna 42
Goodman, Anne 128
Goold, Kerrie 56,57
Gorman, Gary 219
Grace, Dick 183
Graham, L.M. 11l
Grant, Alison M. 54,55,98
Grant, Alison R. 40,98,102,117
Gray, R.M. 76
Greville, Margaret 191
Griffiths, Elizabeth 169
Griggs, Jill 83
Grover, Raymond F. 79, 85,124
Gully, John 69,76,135,136
Hakopa, Robin 185
Hall, Margaret 200
Ha11,T.D.H.23,25,26,28
Hancock, Judi 203
Hanley, Patrick 68
Harris, Mihi 188
Harris, W. John 28,31,34,35,38,89,103
Harvey, Kathleen 48,199
Harvey, Ross 67,106
Hawenga, Jimmy 185
Hawkins, Julie 162,163-6,170,171
Hazeltine, Marny see Bradley
Heine, Michael 67
Hemara, Huia 185
Heta,SherilBs
Hill, Jane ISO, 156,160,165
Hill, Nancy (Forbes) 58
Hinton, Malcolm 108
Hissink, Monica 202
Hlavac, Richard W. 74, 77, 78,106,116,183
252
Hobbs, Marian 203,215
Holcroft, M.H. 124
Holloway, Mrs A.J. 76
Holyoake.KeithJ. 123
Howell, Geraldine 203
Hudson, I. Rosemary 104,133,141,154,205
Hughes, G.E. 11l
Hulls, C.H. (Corrie) 104
Hunn,J.K.60,174
Jameson, Alison 211
Jillett,D.M.l74
Johnson, Irene 182
Jones, Elizabeth 158,203
Jones, Malvina (Overy) 39, 88
Just, Anne 39,58
Kayes, Winifred 37,40
Keith, Hamish 68
Ken Chunyu 99
Kennedy, Rebecca 158
King, Jeanette (Jenny) 39, 88
Kinsella.A.E. 110
Kirk, Norman E. 79
Kirkus-Lamont, Gael 211
Kirkus-Lamont, Jeff 116,158
Kleist, Marian 147
Klimovitch, Lydia 147,162,163,164,166
Lallv, Kaye 169
Lamb, Robert 37
Lange, David R 141
Lawlor,Pat 25,124
Leatham, E.H. (Ted) 36,40,56,75,102,123,192
Lewins, Freda 48
Lilley, Spencer 184,187,211,219
Locke, Elsie 105
Lomas, Patricia 117
Loney, lan 116
Long, Sue 169
Lulich, Steven 193,198,204,211,216,217
Lyon, Dorothy 31
Macaskill, Hector 36,38,39, 50,60, 61, 70,110,138
McCahon, Rachel 207
McCormick, E.H. 38
McDonald, Phyllis 88,201,202
253
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
MacDonald,TuilB3
McEldowney, W.J. (Jock) 26, 36,40,47,48, 50, 59,60, 65,66, 67, 68, 73, 74, 78 95,98,104,110, 111, 120,122,137,138,139,141,174,192,215,217
McEwen,W.B.22
McGarvey,Te Ao otarangi 179
Mclndoe,John 104
Mcintosh, Alister D. 23,26, 61
Mcintosh, David C. 44,115,140
Mackay, Ranee S. 88
McKenzie, D.F. 114
McKeon, Brian K. 40, 51, 52, 56, 79, 85,102,151,155,156,168,169,190,192
McKerrow, Barbara 106,171,187,196,211
Mackie.Alan 115
Mac Lean, Hillas de S. 74, 84, 111, 115,117,136
Mac Lean, Janet D. 115,117,155,202,206,208
Mcßae, Jane 181,188
McSweeney, Ann 85,136
Maharey, Steve 106
Mahy, Margaret 54,105,197,200
Malcolm, lan 106,128,132,202
Maloney, Diane 157,186
Marshall, John 79
Marshall, Russell 129
Mason, H.G.R. 24
Matheson, lan 128
Mathews, Catherine 174
Mead, Margaret 90
Meares, Lyn (Gardiner) 37,200
Melville, E. Ellen 22,48
Mercer, Allan E. 50,172,174,175
Mews, Maryna see Glowacki
Millen, E.M.M. (Betty) 40,69,176
Miller, Euan 154
Miller, Harold G. 50,123,140
Millett, A. P. (Tony) 76,77,98,99,170,211
Minchin, Alice E. 35
Moreland, Joan 37,117
Morgan, Sheryl 169
Morris, Bruce 103
Morris, Diane 128
Mosley, Isobel2ll
Mowat, Maureen (Priest) 37
Mowbray, Trevor M. 41,56,69,135,136,202
254
Muff, Ruby 37
Muldoon, R.D. 128,130,142
Munn, Ralph 24,96
Murison, Barbara 32
Murphy, Stephen 182
Nash, Walter 120
Naylor, Eva (Munz) 37
Neal White, Dorothy (Ballantyne) 31,48,50,51,52,74, 89,98,141,199
Nevill, Alison 158
Ngata, Sir Apirana 174
Nome, Jean 88
Norrie, Joseph 23,25,26,29
Olsson, Arthur 37,66,216
O'Neill, Patricia 92
O'Neill,T. Brian 41,42,50,55,69, 80,89, 111, 172
O'Reilly, Ronald N. 34,36,44,50,115,139
Osborn, Andrew 51
Overy, Malvina see Jones
Pahuru-Huriwai, Ani 185-6,187
Palmer, Geoffrey 142
Park, M.F. 76
Parsons, Mary 34,35,36,37
Pascoe, John 175
Pattie, A.Gail 158-9,160,161,165,168,211,219
Penberth, K.N. (Nan) 108,118,158,160,162,164,165,166,167,168,169,170, 171,221
Perrone,Vye 108,218
Perry, C.S. (Stuart) 25,28,42,50,60,66, 79, 80,120,139
Pharo, Sue 118,149,150,157,158,182,184,185,196
Pickard, Judith 88
Pickering, H.L. 126
Podstolzky, J. 42, 111, 116,121
Porter, Kenneth 67, 99,148
Prain, Justin 85,132,134,135,148,149
Price, Susan 141-2
Raingold, Sue (Mills) 39
Randell, Diana 200
Randle, Betty 46,48
Redmayne, John 108,116,165,183,189,197,211,219
Reeves, Sir Paul 143
Renwick,W.L.ll6
Reweti, Ann 183,219
Reynolds, Miss J.I. 89
255
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY Lire
Richardson, Alan D. 73,115,117,205,206,208,216
Richardson, RE. 78
Rogers, Frank H. 50
Ronnie Mary A. 30,31,33,43,61,62, 74, 77, 78, 88, 89,90, 92,93,97,106,110 114,116,126,168,185,221
Ross, Ruth 172
Roth, H.O. (Bert) 36, 50, 77,91
Russell, Marie 92
Ryan, Gillian 205
Sage, John P. 36,50, 70, 78, 79, 81,102,140,155,174,221
Sage, Mary (Frankish) 37
Sandall, F.A. 50
Saunders, Wilfred 204,205
Schnackenberg, Mary 190
Schoen.MissG.M. 89
Scholefield, G.H. 23,25,26,28,46
Scott, Dugald 208
Scott, Michael 101
Scott, Peter G. 155,158
Sexton, M.C. 44, 71
Seymour, Rosemary 92
Sharpies, Pita 101
Shea, Lachlan 203
Shearer, Ian 129
Shelley, James 26
Shipherd, Anne 88,106
Siddells, Bill 103
Silver, Donald 40
Smallwood, Mirth 40
Smith, Alan E. 52,55, 93,136,146,147,148
Smith, Alii 214,219
Smith, Norval J.Gibson 98
Spencer, K. 174
Stephen-Smith, Havell 132,133,147
Stephen-Smith, Helen 85,150,157
Stevens, Joan 41
Stewart, Bruce 102
Stringleman,John 36
Stubbs, Nan (Palmer) 37
Sullivan, Helen (see Cowey)
Sutherland, Sue 149,150,153,154,183,205
Szekely, Chris 178,180,182,183,185,186,187,189
Szentirmay, Paul 155
253
Tail, Helen M. 135,136,150,151,194-5,202
Tame Iti 197
Tanzer, William 37,42, 111, 122
Taylor, C.R.H. 29,50,124
Taylor, Dr 114
Templeton, Hugh 191
Thomas, Catherine 203
Thomas, M. 160,161-165,168,169
Thompson, James 77
Thompson, Jan 156
Thwaites, lan G. 101
Thwaites, Janice (Eames) 90,91
Tibbies, Catherine 37
Tizard, Dame Catherine 195,196
Tocker, Lisa 108,182,188,193,211,215
Tolley, Cyril 37,41
Traue, James E. 53,67,72,74,76,89,128,129,132,202,210
Tu, Philip 116
Tuhoe, G. 174
Turnbull, Alexander 119
Turner, Brian 104
Upton, Janet 218
Vivian, Christine 163,165
Waititi,John 101
Walker, Glen 219,221
Walker, Jock 184
Ware, Seonee (Clark) 39,58
Warwick, Marjorie 31,32,48,67, 70,131,155
Webster, Eileen 37
Wellington, Mervyn 129,202
Westra, Ans 175
White, Dorothy (see Neal White)
Williams, Haare 182
Williams, James 110
Williams, Johnann 219
Williams, K. Sheila 132,134,140,169
Williams, Steve 213
Wilson, James O. 41,60,90,112
Woodhouse, Helen 154
Wooliscroft, Michael, 82,148,192,207,217,220
Wright, Jean S. 54,105,140
Wright, John 213
Wyatt, Michael 85
257
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
Wylie, David M. 33,34,36,38,50,60,62, 71,102,110,112,113,114,139,140, 155,190,192,194,221
Wylie, Elspeth 92
Wylie Ruth (Mclnnes) 37,38,91,135,139
Institutions &. Subjects
Alexander Turnbull Library 51,79,119,121-130,140,142,143,169,188
Carnegie Corporation 23,47,48,63
Children and young persons’ librarians see school libraries
CONZUL (Council of New Zealand University Librarians) 220
Country Library Service 26,27. 52,54,55,172-3
EPIC (Electronic Purchasing in Collaboration) 221
Esther Glenn Award 66
Fenwick Report 201
financial matters, subscriptions, problems 64-5,145-52,132,160-171
Foley report 202
free and rental systems 80-82
Friends of the Turnbull Library 124,142
General Assembly Library 22,26,119,124-129,142
General training course see NZLA Certificate course
Graham Report 111-5
interloan services 27-28,154-5,170-171
JACL (Joint Advisory Committee on Librarianship) 204
JSCI (Joint Standing Committee on Interloan) see interloan services
LIANZA (see also NZLA) 10,12,18,188-9,211-2
Libraries Association of New Zealand 21,28
Library and Information Association of New Zealand ISO see also LIANZA
Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa see LIANZ
library education see NZLA Certificate course, New Zealand Library School
Maori and bicultural services 172-8,179-189
Munn-Barr Report 10,24,25,27,32,96,97,119-120,199
National Library of New Zealand 22,65,112,117,119-130,137,141-43
National Library Service 28,29
New Zealand Authors’ Fund 79, 81
New Zealand Library Association (Incorporated) Act 1939 18,28,212
New Zealand Library Association see also NZLA; LLANZA 59
New Zealand Library and Information Association 11,157,161,171,182,184 186-7
New Zealand Library School see also Victoria University of Wellington 33,34-42
258
44,49,51,54-5,59,109-118,205
New Zealand Library Week 19,25,68,169,180
NZLA branches 8c regions: 72-74,95-105,136
Auckland/Hikuwai 73,100-101,177,192
Canterbury/Aoraki 75,104-5
Central Districts/ Hawkes Bay 106-7
Otago/Southland 31,46,49,69,103-4
Waikato-Bay of Plenty 108,177,201,210
Wellington/Te Upoko o te ika a Maui 102-3,127,136,166
NZLA Certificate/General Training course (see also Wellington College of
Education and The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand) 30,32,43,44-5,49,95, 109-118,133
NZLA committees/sections/divisions (see also NZLA Professional Section) 26-7.
31,32,33,51, 60,67-8, 74, 76,78, 87,112,113,116,118,134,146,160-161
NZLA conferences and annual meetings 22-23,25,46-53,99,140,160,167-8,
183-4,190-198,210,218
NZLA Council 28,33,47,74-5,77-8,100,132-34,136-7,145-152,154-5,160 171,186-89,193-4
NZLA membership, salaries, conditions 65,71-2,75,97,132,136,212
NZLA Professional section/division 33,68-69,73,102,110,133,154
NZLA publications 27,32,66-67, 77,83,132,213
NZLA Wellington office 29,61-64, 82-86,131-136,147-54,157-8,160-66, 213-4
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand 12,110,198,207-8,217
Osborn Report 51,97,120,200
Parliamentary Library see General Assembly Library
Professional Registration 49-50,215-9
Te Ropu Whakahau 11,186-189
Royal Society of New Zealand 25,119
SATIS (Scientific and Technological Information Services) 195
Saunders Report 181,204-6, school libraries, services to children and young persons, SLANZA 199-203,216
School Library Service 199-201
trade unionism 28,72
University and Research Committee, University College and Research
Libraries Section 77
Victoria University College/ Victoria University of Wellington 12,29,110,112, 114-118,181,187,204-7,217
Waitangi, Treaty, Tribunal 179,181,183,185
Wellington College of Education 12,109,114-118,204-8
women in libraries, Feminist Librarians 87-94
259
A CENTURY OF LIBRARY LIFE
About the Author
JULIA MILLEN was commissioned in 2007 to research and write the Association’s history for publication at its 2010 centenary.
A graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand Library School, Julia Millen has worked in libraries and is well known as a writer and historian. Her books include the biographies Ronald Hugh Morrieson and Guthrie Wilson and the histories of numerous firms and institutions. Notable works are Kirkcaldie &c Stains: Bell Gully Buddie Weir: Glaxo: Salute to Service, the Royal New Zealand Corps of Transport; Breaking Barriers. IHC’s first 50 years; Through Trackless Bush. New Zealand National Forest Survey. Also remembered by many readers is Dilemma of Dementia. Julia’s moving account of caring for her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Her main hobby is tango dancing.
Julia Millen. Bibliographic Unit. National Library
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Bibliographic details
APA: Millen, Julia. (2010). Te Rau Herenga, a century of library life in Aotearoa : the New Zealand Library Association & LIANZA, 1910-2010. LIANZA.
Chicago: Millen, Julia. Te Rau Herenga, a century of library life in Aotearoa : the New Zealand Library Association & LIANZA, 1910-2010. Wellington, N.Z.: LIANZA, 2010.
MLA: Millen, Julia. Te Rau Herenga, a century of library life in Aotearoa : the New Zealand Library Association & LIANZA, 1910-2010. LIANZA, 2010.
Word Count
68,709
Te Rau Herenga, a century of library life in Aotearoa : the New Zealand Library Association & LIANZA, 1910-2010 Millen, Julia., LIANZA, Wellington, N.Z., 2010
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