New agreement will make NZ libraries more visible

New agreement will make New Zealand libraries more visible on the web

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa is proud to announce a new partnering agreement with the American organisation OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). The new partnership will make New Zealand libraries and their rich holdings more visible to web users around the world.

The agreement will be officially signed by National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library Penny Carnaby and OCLC Vice-President Phyllis Spies at a special function at the National Library on Friday 2 February. The new agreement comes into effect on 1 July 2007.

For web searchers, the agreement will mean being able to find libraries' holdings through search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, and through OCLC's WorldCat site (www.worldcat.org).

For example, a person searching for Janet Frame's 'Owls Do Cry' may discover that their local library has a copy of the book even if they didn't know their local library has a website, or that its library catalogue can be searched online.

The agreement also makes it possible for New Zealanders to easily search the holdings of libraries around the world a development that National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library Penny Carnaby describes as being a significant part of the new agreement.

"It's about taking New Zealand information to the world, and bringing the world's information to New Zealanders," says Ms Carnaby.

"This agreement heralds a new age of accessibility and visibility for New Zealand library holdings for New Zealanders, and for people all over the world," Ms Carnaby continued. "This is a fantastic example of libraries' commitment to looking for new ways to put people together with the information they are seeking."

The National Library has brokered this deal on behalf of libraries around New Zealand. For New Zealand libraries, the new partnership means unlimited use and access to a range of OCLC's services for subscribers to National Library's digital bibliographic services.

"I'm also extremely pleased that this new deal ensures not only that New Zealand libraries will have a much larger database from which to draw bibliographic records for library management systems, but that our own library records will be loaded into the OCLC database, making them accessible to libraries around the world who are dealing with New Zealand material," Ms Carnaby said.

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