National Library's Digital Strategy

The passing of the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) Act 2003 challenged the Library to think strategically about information delivered in a digital paradigm.

The National Library’s Digital Strategy identifies the directions to be pursued by the Library between 2003-2008, and outlines an annual programme of work designed to drive the Library’s digital strategy and ensure that it is delivered.

A successful Digital Strategy will have four main outcomes. The Library will be able to:

• provide enhanced access to digital information, especially New Zealand content,  for New Zealanders, for example online databases and electronic journals
• collect digital resources, especially those relating to New Zealand and New Zealanders
• ensure the long-term storage and preservation of New Zealand’s online heritage
• provide enhanced access to the Library’s collections through digitisation.

These four envisaged outcomes raise a number of issues that the Library will need to address if it is to respond successfully to the changing environment. The Library will need to:

• appropriately allocate resources and instigate organisational change in order to respond successfully to the digital world and ensure it has the right skill base
• engage with the wider information community and adopt a more externally focused, collaborative approach with regard to all New Zealand information – one organisation is not going to be able to do it all
• have a greater awareness of its users and their needs particularly in relation to access, social inclusion, education, life-long learning
• move from collection-centric to user-centric service provision in order to unlock the value of the National Library’s collections, for example through digitisation and online delivery
• ensure it has the technology infrastructure for development and maintenance of new technology-based products and services, for example, for national site licences (PER:NA)
• place further emphasis on interoperability and standards compliant developments along with continued development of its technology infrastructure
• develop long term storage, preservation and accessibility strategies for digital material – while print-based material has a long life cycle, websites not archived when live are lost forever
• embrace the online environment to deliver new products and services, for example, Virtual Reference services.

Download the National Library’s Digital Strategy (2003-2008)

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