Today I had a real privilege at select committee. We were hearing submissions on the government’s bill to, among other things, merge Archives NZ and the National Library into the Department of Internal Affairs. Now, sometimes hearing submissions, while great for the democratic process, can be tough going. But not today. We heard from some of foremost former public servants; a former Chief Archivist, a former Parliamentary Librarian, plus people who care about Archives and Library and give their time to support them.
Their submissions were coherent, passionate, challenging and had practical suggestions for changes to a Bill that they all oppose in principle. Have a listen to the piece from Checkpoint today (at 18.54)
The key message we got was that the Bill and the proposed structure that will see the Chief Archivist and National Librarian as third tier managers at DIA will undermine the indepdendence of these key constitutional and democratic institutions. This is not just opinion. Archives was part of DIA in the 1990s, and the Chief Archivist at that time told us today that he had little influence over decisions and wasted a huge amount of time trying to be heard internally.
There is more to come on this issue next week, but the government has just plain got this one wrong. There is no justification for the change in terms of savings, or improved quality of service. The only reason seems to be to reduce the number of government agencies. The problem is these are agencies that are doing a good job and are well supported in their community.
Urgency bad
Keep up the good work on this, Grant. I agree this is an important issue for a democratic society that values the collective goods of knowledge, information and history.
well done Grant – this topic is unlikely to set the media alight so it’s important to keep highlighting how bad the government proposals are.
Keep Up The Good Work Grant.
This is our Heritage and History as a nation carefully preserved by people who know what they are doing and should be left alone to get on with the job.
The merger is potentially very bad news for both organisations so it’s good to have your post Grant. Within the last few years New Zealand’s National Library has been an international exemplar. NZ was one of the very first countries where ‘legal deposit’ was applied to electronic materials and now the National Library “collects” websites, pdfs and datasets, music and video from all over New Zealand into a huge public database of which elements are already available to the public. The NL has also supported collaboration in getting electronic publications to anyone in NZ who belonmgs to a Library whether it is public, academic or work-based. For small countries like NZ this is crucial in supporting our culture and heritage and building a knowledge economy. The NL has also been influential across the New Zealand government and internationally by focussing policy efforts on confidence with technology and the availability of electronic content rather than just the wires and prodessors of technology. I have grave concerns that much of this may be lost – Maybe not happen immediately – but by attrition and cutbacks in a joined up super ministry. Such a shame – and all for the sake of putting staff from 3 agencies on the same payroll system as far as I can see.