A National library for New Zealand [electronic resource]

A NATIONAL LIBRARY FOR NEW ZEALAND

A NATIONAL LIBRARY
FOR NEW ZEALAND

WHY A NATIONAL LIBRARY?

A useful measure of a nation's cultural maturity is its system
of libraries. For the citizen, there should be a public library
service which gives easy access to the whole range of printed
material. Learned libraries, such as those in universities, pr-
vide a solid core of book resources and, together with special-,
ised libraries in various fields, encourage research and help
to develop the nation's intellectual heritage. School and child-
ren's libraries develop a respect for literature and learning in
the young. Each library has its specific role to perform, but
each is dependant on other libraries for access to a wider
range of literature and for extensions of its own services

At the centre of the library system there should be a well-
developed National Library which will provide central ser-
vices and effective support for other libraries as well as adding
resources which scholars and others have a right to demand.
No exact specification for such an institution can be given,
since so much depends on the way in which the library sys-
tem as a whole has developed in any particular country, but
the following may be taken as a guide:

A National Library should:

• 1. Hold the main collection of the nation's literature,
  including the most fugitive material which is so neces-
  sary for research work in many fields.
• 2. Act as a copyright depository.
• 3. Build up a general reference collection of high quality,
  especially in subjects that are not adequately covered
  by other libraries or that are necessary to enable the
  National Library to fulfil its other functions.
• 4. Provide bibliographical services, such as central re-
  cords of the holdings of all major libraries and index-
  ing and abstracting services.
• 5. Serve as a co-ordinating centre for so-operative ac-
  tivities such as inter-library loan and planned acqui-
  sition programmes.
• 6. Provide a central reference service
• 7. Act as a leader to other libraries and as an adviser
  on library matters to the Government
• 8. Provide extension services, especially to rural areas
  and small centres.
• 9. Help other Government activities, such as education,
  by providing or organising suitable library services.
• 10. Give reference services to Government and Parlia-
  ment.
• 11. Provide courses of training for librarians, either on its
  own or in co-operation with other institutions.

In order to perform these functions well, a National Library
should be well housed and financed and should enjoy the
standing and respect which are due to a major cultural insti-
tution.

THREE NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN
NEW ZEALAND?

New Zealand has not yet established a National Library.
Because of their obvious necessity, however, many of the
functions of a National Library have been developed and are

shared, not always in a very logical way, by three State
libraries controlled by three separate Government Depart-
ments. The General Assembly Library, primarily a reference
library for Parliament, is also the copyright depository and
contains a significant part of the national collection as well as
a large general reference collection. The Alexander Turnbull
Library contains another part of the national collection, to-
gether with other research collections of the world-wide reputa-
tion. The National Library Service contains another large
general reference collection, provides extension services of a
very high quality, acts as the main bibliographical centre
(though the other two libraries to some extent share this
function), and conducts a Library School.

This three-fold development has come about as a result of
a series of ad hoc decisions, each of which seemed necessary
at the time it was made in order that a strongly-felt need
should be satisfied, but the resulting confusion and lack of
cohesion now call for a determined effort to bring all the parts
together and make a National Library out of them. The fact
that each of the three libraries needs better accommodation
is an added reason for action to be taken now, but it inci-,lb/> dental to other, more cogent reasons.

A National Library simply cannot function properly if its
elements are scattered among three separate institutions each
responsible to a separate department. A national collection is
not a national collection if it is divided. The library system as
a whole does not get the leadership and support it needs, All
other libraries, and the users of all other libraries, will benefit
from being associated with a strong National Library—that
is the main reason why the first steps in the modern move-
ment for a National Library were taken by librarians who did
not serve the State, and that is the main reason why the New
Zealand Library Association has urged so strongly that the
three State libraries should be brought together to form a
National Library. The three State libraries will also benefit
from being brought together instead of being isolated from
each other.

A PLAN FOR A NATIONAL LIBRARY

The need for a National Library has been part of the
policy of the New Zealand Library Association since its
foundation in 1910. The Munn-Barr Report of 1934 pro-
posed the formation of a National Library by the amalga-
mation of the General Assembly Library and the Alexander
Turnbull Library, but the Association's attempt to tackle the
present problem began in 1952. Over the next few years it
prepared a plan for amalgamation which would enable the
functions of each of the three State libraries to be developed
under a single administration while ensuring that the integrity
and individuality of each special function was preserved and
safeguarded. It took three years to prepare this plan, but the
care with which it was done is attested by the fact that every
committee of inquiry which has examined it has accepted its
main conclusions.

The Association's plan was considered first by a Working
Part set up at the Prime Minister's request in 1956. On the
basis of its report the Government agreed in principle to the
establishment of a National Library, and in the following year
a parliamentary select committee was set up to consider ways
and means. This committee endorsed the principle and re-
commended ways of putting it into effect, but nothing had
been done when the Royal Commission on the State Services
was set up in 1961. The Royal Commission again examined
all the evidence and, in one of its few specific recommenda-
tions for reorganisation, also endorsed the proposal.

The Association's plan was also supported by prominent
overseas librarians who visited New Zealand while it was be-
ing considered. Dr Keyes D. Metcalf, Librarian Emeritus of
Havard University, Dr Andrew D. Osborn, formerly of Har-
vard and later of Sydney University, and Sir Frank Francis,
Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum, all
gave their approval and urged that the Government should
put the proposal into effect.

In 1964 a National Librarian was appointed and a com-
mittee of Government officials of high rank was set up to
plan the establishment of a National Library in detail and to
prepare draft legislation.

THE BILL TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL
LIBRARY

A draft Bill was sent to interested parties, including the
New Zealand Library Association, for comment early in 1965.
The Association has made suggestions for its improvement,
but in general considers that it represents its own views and
is worthy of the warmest endorsement

The Bill provides for the establishment of a National
Library by the incorporation of the three State Libraries. At
the same time, it provides special safeguards to preserve the
integrity of the research collections of the Alexander Turnbull
Library, the parliamentary reference service, and the exten-
sion services ay present provided by the Country Library Ser-
vice and the School Library Service, and it makes possible
the continuation and development of the other functions at
present discharged by the three separate institutions. To ad-
vise the Minister there will be a body known as the Trustees
of the National Library, which may also set up special com-
mittees for particular purposes.

The New Zealand Library Association hopes that this Bill
will soon come before Parliament and that there will be an
Act to Establish a National Library on the Statute book before
the end of 1965.

THE CASE OF THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL
LIBRARY

Ever since it became apparent that the Government in-
tended to establish a National Library on the lines proposed
by the New Zealand Library Association, there has been an
agitation to prevent the Alexander Turnbull Library from
being included. This agitation has been highly emotional and
much of the comment has been based on false premises. It
is not true, for instance to say that the Turnbull Library is
in danger of being "nationalised". It will simply be trans-
ferred from one Government Department, and one which
has no particular interest in libraries, to another which is
vitally concerned that libraries of all kinds, including the
Alexander Turnbull Library, should flourish.

Those who oppose the incorporation of the Alexander
Turnbull Library do so, however, for the very reasons which
impel the New Zealand Library Association to support it; it
is worth while, therefore, to reiterate the Association's views
on this matter. The Association considers that the Alexander
Turnbull Library, which is one of New Zealand's major
centres for research, should become a part of the National
Library so that it can be developed and provide more fully,
for scholarship than it can now. The junction of the Turnbull
collection with the national collection in the General Assembly
Library, and its association with the bibliographical work of
the National Library Service, will be of the greatest import-
ance to scholars. The Association has maintained consistently
that the Alexander Turnbull Library, and it cannot im-
agine that any National Librarian would wish anything else.
The fears of despoliation which have prompted much of the
agitation are simply not credible.

The Association agrees with Dr Keyes D. Metcalf, who
said in 1958, "I would hope that one section of it, and a
section which would keep its identity, would be the Alexander
Turnbull Library".

PARLIAMENTARY SERVICE AND PRIVILEGES.

The need to safeguard the parliamentary prerogative of
swift and impartial reference service for member belonging
to all parties has also caused some concern during discussions
on the proposal, and this is met in the draft Bill in a con-
structive and positive way. The National Librarian is directed
to give this service and to carry out the wishes of the Library
Committee of Parliament. The tradition of librarianship
would, in itself, ensure that Parliament will have the service it needs.
The parliamentary reference section, relieved of responsi-
bility for stock and services beyond its immediate terms of
reference, and yet with access to a greater institution of which
it will form a part, will be able to develop its service, to the
benefit of Parliament and of the country as a whole.

THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS SHOULD BE
SUPPORT

The constitution of the National Library proposed in the
draft Bill contains very careful provision for safeguarding the
integrity of the Alexander Turnbull Library, and in the same
way it provides for the safety of the parliamentary reference
service and the very fine extension services of the National
Library Service. All of these things are important, and all
will flourish as parts of the National Library.

Many of the advantages of amalgamation will be intan-
gible, though they will be none the less important for that
but it is worth while to consider some of the more obvious
advantages. First, the national collection of books, journals,
pamphlets, newspapers, manuscripts and other material re-
lating to the history and life of New Zealand will be united
and more readily accessible to scholars and it will be pos-
sible to bring various bibliographical activities, such as the
maintenance of the National Bibliography, into a close re-
lationship with it. The general reference collection, with its
assoiated reading rooms, will become a centre to which
scholars and others seeking information will find it useful to
go. The staff of the combined institution, while maintaining
their own various interests, will be able to work together in
the formulation of policies and the working out of practices.
Parliament will have direct access to a much larger and more
effective collection. And libraries of New Zealand will
have at their head an institution of which any library system
could be proud.

The Government deserves commendation both for the very
careful consideration which it has given to the proposal and
for the way in which it intends to put it into effect. The New
Zealand Library Association is overwhelmingly in favour of
the proposal and urges all who care about New Zealand's
libraries and cultural heritage to demonstrate their support.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Material confirming the Association's view of the functions of a National
Library is to be found in the Unesco Bulletin for Libraries, vol. 18 no.4
July-Aug. 1964, an issue devoted to the Regional Seminar on the de-
velopment of national libraries in Asia and the Pacific are; especially the
Final Report, pp. 150-159.    The Munn-Barr proposals for a National Library are contained in pages
59-60 of New Zealand Libraries: a survey of conditions and suggestions for
their improvement, by Ralph Munn and John Barr (Christchurch, Libraries
Association of New Zealand, 1934).

The representations of the New Zealand Library Association since 1952
are printed in New Zealand Libraries:

• vol. 17, 1954,pp. 177-81, submission to the Prime Minister.
• vol. 18, 1955, pp. 90-2, submissions to the Public
  Service Commission's Working Party.
• vol.21, 1958, pp. 90-2, submissions to the parliamentary select com-
  mittee.
• vol.24, 1961, pp. 169-73, submissions to the Royal Commission on the
  State Services.

The reports of the committees to which these submissions were made are:

• N.Z. Public Service Commission. Proposed national library, 1956. Report
  of Committee set up by the Public Service Commission to examine
  proposals from the New Zealand Library Association to the Prime
  Minister (Rt. Hon. S. G. Holland). [Wellington, 1956]27 1. and 12 1.
  of appendixes. Mimeographed. This report was not widely distributed.
• N.Z. National Library Committee. [ Report ]. Wellington, Govt. Printer,
  1958. 10p. (Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives,
  I.17.
• N.Z. Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon State Services
  in New Zealand. The state services in New Zealand: report of the
  Royal Commission of Inquiry. Wellington, Govt. Printer, 1962. 470p.
  (Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, H.41).
  Section on National Library, pp. 141-2.

Support for the proposals has been expressed by the following dis-
tinguished overseas librarians:

• Keyes D. Metcalf, in New Zealand Libraries, vol. 21, 1958,p.157.
• 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, N.Z. Library
  Association, 1960. Chapter 7: 'The Government's Decision; a National
  Library', pp. 49-55. This chapter also covers earlier proposals of
  various kinds.
• Sir Frank Francis, in New Zealand Listener, 19 April 1963, p. 4.

For a general discussion of the proposal for a New Zealand National
Library and its background see:

• W. J. McEldowney, The New Zealand Library Association 1910-1960
  and its part in New Zealand Library Development. Wellington, N.Z. Library Association, 1962. 106p. Various references, but especially
  pp 82-6.