Closer Library links with China

20 December 2012

Closer Library links with China

Expertise from one of the world’s greatest national libraries could soon be used to protect treasures in New Zealand’s National Library.

The National Libraries of New Zealand and China have signed a new five-year Arrangement on Cooperation, to share knowledge and information in some joint areas of interest.

The Arrangement covers such areas as:

• digital library activities (including digitisation of materials, digital access to information, and digital preservation)
• protection of ancient or rare books.

“The National Library of China has one of the world’s largest collections of books and manuscripts, some of them dating back thousands of years,” said New Zealand’s National Librarian, Bill Macnaught. “Their experience could be invaluable in preserving items in our billion-dollar collections including the Alexander Turnbull Library and it’s heartening that our own expertise, particularly in digital preservation, is being sought by China.”

The signing comes in the same week New Zealand and China celebrate the 40th Anniversary of diplomatic relations (22 December.)

ENDS

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