CDNLAO Newsletter
No. 71, July 2011
Over the last three years the National Library of New Zealand has been working through a change programme aimed at delivering new services and updated infrastructure to better support its customers in an increasingly digital environment, and meet the Government's focus on better value services.
To ensure the successful delivery of the programme, the Library introduced a coordinated and integrated approach across the Library called the New Generation Implementation Programme. The programme manages three key work streams including improved services, improved infrastructure and improved people capability. All strands of the change programme will come together with the reopening of the National Library's main building in the capital city of Wellington. This building has been closed to the public for the last two years as it undergoes major renovations to address critical storage issues and to bring the building up to date as a premium cultural destination in New Zealand.
The National Library of New Zealand's main building in Wellington.
Photograph by Mark Beatty, Alexander Turnbull Library, 2011.
The Features
Before commencing the service development, the National Library commissioned independent researchers in 2009 to conduct a project to better understand current customers, including researchers, and potential customers. The research findings helped the Library shape its service design across two complementary service components internally called Heritage Research and Heritage Experience. Heritage Research focuses on improved and more streamlined access for researchers to the collections and to the knowledge and expertise of National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library staff. The Alexander Turnbull Library is New Zealand's major research library located within the National Library and maintains and preserves New Zealand's largest documentary heritage collections.
Heritage Experience enables customers and groups of customers of the Library, especially those new to the Library, to discover and learn about the collections and services using technology and interactive displays.
Mr. Kebbell (left) and Alexander Turnbull on board Turnbull's yacht `Rona' [ca 1896],
1/2-036181-F Alexander Turnbull Library
The refreshed research services fall under the Heritage Research part of the model and will provide full online access to the Library's collections, showcasing collections and providing customer guidance and entry-level research support tools to help researchers maximise the value of their subsequent Library visits. It will also include discovery and referral functions, along with the ability to create, contribute and share material, and order and pay for material online.
The services will also support the Alexander Turnbull Library research service and will offer an integrated desk and floor service with streamlined service points for customers, with staff providing a mix of advice including reference and collection expertise. It will additionally provide a free research telephone enquiry and assistance service available nationally as well as a distance research service. The new approach will be supported by updated service level guidelines and enquiry tracking systems.
The refreshed research services also aim to better support and engage with New Zealand's indigenous Maori customers, essentially through increased digital content, an improved physical and online experience, and improved staff capability and capacity. For staff who provide services to researchers, the working environment will be one that supports deepening knowledge and expertise, and is more responsive in developing services to changing customer needs.
So why is the National Library introducing this service? The National Library's strategic aims, combined with the findings from the independent research, are the key drivers for developing and introducing refreshed research services.
A key strategic goal for the National Library is making it easier for customers to search and find what they want, no matter where they are, or what their experience with libraries has been in the past. The Library wants customers to have opportunities to interact with content in new and unexpected ways by providing them with more online access. The significant advances made in technology, particularly in the digital world, have enabled the Library to do things differently.
Specifically for researchers, the Library aims to enhance the researchers' experience of the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library by providing services that are welcoming and easy to use, whether online on or on-site. This supports the Library's key outcome: "knowledge, meaning and memories are discovered and developed".
The National Library is aiming to have the refreshed research services available when its building in Wellington reopens in 2012. The physical service will be located in a dynamic new space on the first level of the building.
Copyright (C) 2011 National Library of New Zealand
