Librarian honoured at conference

30 October, 2013

Librarian honoured at conference

Long-serving librarian Kathryn Parsons has been presented a prestigious award for her work with the New Zealand Collection at the University of Waikato library.

At the LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) conference in Hamilton last week, Parsons received the YBP/Lindsay and Croft Award for Collection Services for

2013. The award was for her work in collection development and management.

Parsons, who began work in the New Zealand Collection at the university in April 1989, received a $2000 grant with the award, which she intends using to attend the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand conference in Sydney later this year.

She says the award is recognition for everyone working in and for the New Zealand Collection.

“There are a lot of people involved so it was a team effort, they support me all the time,” she says.

She acknowledged University foundation librarian Jenny King, who gave her a job in the library in 1988, and Tony Millett, who retired from the university library in 2005.

“They guided me and I learned such a lot,” she says.

“I knew I had big shoes to fill.”

She was pleased the award was for “building the collection and ensuring New Zealand material is accessible".

The library had built its New Zealand collection from scratch when the university was established in

1964 and Parsons says they did a good job and “there aren’t many gaps” in its extensive range.

She still enjoys fossicking around in bookshops and at book sales, looking for rare editions or extra copies of books that would fit the library collection.

Currently she’s enjoying searching out unique sources, ephemera or local histories and if it doesn’t fit the University collection, Parsons will try to find another library or organisation to take it and regularly passes on material to the Alexander Turnbull Library and other libraries.

Mr Millett, who wrote in support of Parsons’ award, says she is “an outstanding librarian who has

unparalleled knowledge of New Zealand published and unpublished resources”.

And while some are predicting the demise of libraries with the advent of e-books and ubiquitous internet access, Parsons says books aren’t done yet.

“There are still plenty of books in the academic world,” she says.

“It will be interesting to see just how long it will go on. I still think there is quite a lot of New Zealand history (in books) and will be for some time.”

ENDS

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