Open letter from Alison Elliott, Content Services

Alison Elliott, the National Library's Director of Content Services, would like to clarify some of the points made in Mark Bland's article 'National Library on the edge of the digital shelf', published in The Dominion Post on 5 June 2009.

Firstly, “scholars should be responsible for the accuracy of transcriptions” for the resources the library digitises. We employ professional curators; they are in essence the scholarly experts on our NZ and Pacific collections.

Secondly, “The Library has failed in its duty of cataloguing earlier holdings.” A one off three-year project was funded to retrospectively catalogue the General Collections. The Library has now completed cataloguing all the monographs and the current received serials in the General Collection.

The Library also receives ongoing funding to catalogue NZ and Pacific monographs and serials published prior to 1982. To date, over 70% have electronic records. We have completed the Alexander Turnbull Library New Zealand and Pacific monograph collection and serials collections. The Library has now turned its attention to the  Alexander Turnbull Library New Zealand and Pacific maps, the Special Printed collections and the formed collections.

Lastly, “The Library needs to transfer pre-1990 imprints to the Turnbull.” The National Library and the  Alexander Turnbull Library have very different collection policies. The  Alexander Turnbull Library, like all national institutions that collect and preserve heritage items, has parameters that govern what they can and cannot collect.