Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how libraries in New Zealand have developed their digital strategies in order to serve its citizens, the country and the world. Design/methodology/approach: A description of various New Zealand initiatives is given, many of which involve the National Library of New Zealand. Findings: The four…

In this article, the author describes Reading Hall No. 1 of the Russian State Library. He was placed in the first reading hall in the mid-1990s, when the Russian government still honored Soviet traditions of granting certain privileges to certain foreigners. In the first hall, the rules are different. He can request as many books as he wants. He…

There have been substantial changes in the labour market over the past few years and survey results indicate 60% of staff will leave public library service over the next decade. While this creates opportunities for library staff, limited training budgets and a focus on compliance and specific library skills training have led to a gap in the formal…

Since 2005 the State Library of New South Wales has provided staff with an opportunity to research aspects of the Library's services and collections through the State Librarian's Staff Fellowship Program. In January 2008, Maggie Patton commenced a project to rediscover and document the development of the rare printed collections at the State…

This paper reports on a questionnaire survey of 16 national libraries designed to clarify how national libraries attempt to justify their web archiving activities. Results indicate they envisage that a) the benefits brought about by their initiatives are greater than the overall costs, b) the costs imposed on libraries are greater than the costs…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess costs in the National and University Library of Croatia for processing Croatian web resources and the maintenance and development of the service, and to analyse the present organisation and workflow of their processing, and to propose improvements. Design/methodology/approach: The assessment period…

Drawing on recent experience and observation in New South Wales, this paper describes issues facing authorities, planners and librarians who are working on public library building projects. The author emphasises the need for all involved to focus not just on traditional good design principles, but also on user needs, consulting the community,…

Outsourcing has been proposed as a method for improving effectiveness and productivity in Australian public library service. Developments, drawbacks, and potentials are discussed, and differences between contracting out whole services as opposed to selected activities are examined. (AEF)

Describes the role of and services offered by the Institute of Diplomatic Studies Library in Saudi Arabia. Topics covered include the objectives of the institute and the library facilities, collections, acquisitions programs, cataloging procedures, administrative policies, and future plans. (seven references) (CLB)

The need to develop new OPACs that meet the needs of users better is becoming well acknowledged. How libraries can transform their OPACs to modern web friendly formats is not yet clear. This paper describes the State Library of Tasmania's experience in developing a new OPAC by exporting bibliographic data to a software package outside the ILMS.…

A survey of 92 corporate and government libraries in Victoria, Australia, reveals that 64.8% were restructured over the last 5 years. Reasons for outsourcing; services being outsourced; the impact of budgets; and the use of service fees are examined. (AEF)

The 23 papers in this collection were presented at 5 sections of the Division of Special Libraries: (1) "Principles of Government Librarianship" (Hans H. van der Neut); (2) "Strategic Planning as an Instrument of Improving Library Quality" (Maurice B. Line); (3) "Library Staff Development Consultancy: A Means to Achieve a…