LIANZA Special Interest Groups

LIANZA SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

LIANZA has Special Interest Groups in a variety of areas to encourage the exchange of information and facilitate the sharing of ideas and support between library and information professionals.

CATSIG

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Cataloguing SIG supports those employed exclusively or primarily as cataloguers as well as those where cataloguing is one task amongst many The current membership is 159, made up of all library types, sizes and areas. A major CatSIG initiative is to organise cataloguing training in both main centres and regional areas in the form of webinars, workshops or seminars as well as providing funding so courses can be offered at minimal cost to participants.

CatSIG supports the library sector by providing sponsorship for students taking cataloguing courses at the Open Polytechnic and Victoria University of Wellington. Contact is maintained with the membership through a quarterly newsletter and a discussion list.

DIGITAL LIBRARY SIG

Libraries today exist in a rapidly evolving digital age where digital technologies have a big influence on all activities. In addition to providing seamless access and interconnectivity between systems, people, places, and things, these technologies connect the digital, virtual environments with the offline, physical world. As a result, libraries are experiencing changes to service delivery models, the transformation of workflows, and the enhancement of the library user experience.

The challenges faced by the digital library include the digitisation, creation, description and exposure of local content; discoverability, access to, marketing and promotion of electronic resources; and finding new ways to measure the usage and impact of digital collections to ensure accountability to parent institutions and funders. As a global entity, the digital library must constantly evolve to stay relevant to its users. This is both a challenge and an opportunity.

The Digital Library Special Interest Group aims to enhance the digital capabilities of the Library community. To this end, the SIG provides opportunities for discussion, information sharing, and professional development on the different aspects of the digital library and information technology.

The main activities of the SIG includes an informal session after the LIANZA Conference where participants identify relevant topics to be discussed or presented; and an annual webinar series where experts in more specific areas shared their experiences - both good and bad. The recordings of these sessions are accessible from the SIG wiki.

The SIG maintain a wiki at http://lianzaitsig.pbworks.com, and runs the DigLibSig email discussion list.

DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE SIG

Formerly known as the Preservation SIG, Documentary Heritage SIG repurposed our SIG in 2016 becoming the Documentary Heritage SIG. Documentary heritage is created in many formats from traditional paper based documents, electronic media, photographic images to digital media. For us, the importance of documentary heritages lies in the information contained rather than in the medium or object.

As part of the change in focus, a new initiative has been to offer free membership to our SIG for those undertaking professional library studies at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand or Victoria University.
We’re a small SIG with our members working in a range of public, tertiary and special libraries from Auckland to Invercargill. This presents a challenge for organising events, so we’ve established a twitter feed at https://twitter.com/DocHeritage for sharing news.

Our objective is to foster awareness and understanding of documentary heritage issues as they relate to NZ libraries, so that positive outcomes are achieved through effective collaboration.

We work closely with the National Preservation Office as it facilitates and co-ordinates preservation initiatives for national documentary heritage collections. The Documentary Heritage SIG seeks to enhance strategic partnerships with allied (regional and national) heritage sectors and organisations, including collaboration on the provision of training and workshops.

PIMNSIG

Te Herenga o te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa: Pasifika Information Management Network Special Interest Group (PIMN SIG) is a support network of, and for, Pasifika librarians and information management colleagues who work with Pacific communities and collections.

The current SIG membership is 16 however there are over 200 emails signed up to the PIMN discussion list. The majority of PIMN listserv members are not LIANZA members, and some are colleagues in the different pacific islands. PIMN’s vision is to provide and contribute “to the enhancement of Pasifika peoples’ lives by delivering services and information which are easily accessible, current, meaningful, and relevant to their development and contribution to society.” (PIMN’s Mission Goals).

PIMN actively participates in exploring, researching, and documenting the way Pacific indigenous knowledge and information are currently being recognised and managed in our institutions; raising the status and availability of Pacific languages and literacies material; advocating for the digitisation of Pacific newspapers and other significant material; better access to Pacific resources, developing and enhancing support services to Pacific families and communities.

PIMN provides professional development activities for members and other colleagues including guest speakers, research presentations, workshops, and seminars, including tours of significant Pacific resources.

HEALTHSIG

HealthSIG is a community of librarians from the health sector including the district health boards, government and non-government organisations (NGOs), some polytechnics and universities as well as individual LIANZA members with an interest in health information.
The purpose of HealthSIG is to provide an opportunity for librarians to discuss issues of common interest which impact on their work. These opportunities are provided via study days, conference presentations, lively email and in-person discussions. The collegial nature and good working relationships of the group means that librarians feel free to reach out for support to other members.
The Health-INFO email discussion group focuses on issues concerning health information in New Zealand.

TELSIG

The Tertiary Libraries Special Interest Group exists to promote the interests of librarians and libraries associated with tertiary education and aims to foster discussion and information sharing, encourage co-operation and collaboration, and provide professional development opportunities.

Current membership is over 160 from across the country. Due to the diverse locations of members and the sometimes isolated nature of their roles within their institutions, the group concentrates on building up a selection of online activities where the barriers to participation such as cost and travel-are lower. The online discussion groups are a popular and cost effective way to both improve professional knowledge and connect with colleagues all around the country.

SLIS

SLIS aims to provide professional development and networking opportunities for librarians and information professionals at regular intervals throughout the year. In March 2016 Linda Stopforth spoke on building resilience, we had a session with Te Puna staff on the upcoming Te Puna changes in April, and in June the Parliamentary Library hosted a session where staff talked about how the Parliamentary Library differed from other special libraries.

Later in the year LIANZA Executive Director Joanna Matthew spoke to us about change management, and to finish the year out we had a joint session with NZLLA where Katherine Howard spoke about her research on passion trumping pay. In addition a Christmas function was hosted by SLIS committee members at The Thistle Inn in Wellington. SLIS was also financially positioned to award three professional development scholarships to SLIS members in 2016.

PUBSIG

PubSIG promotes and supports the development of public library services and the librarians who work in them, and is for librarians at all stages of their careers. The current membership is 198 nationwide, with members from the largest libraries to some of New Zealand’s smallest.

We advocate on behalf of public librarians, raising awareness of issues that impact them and helping fund projects that benefit public libraries. In 2017 we are working with LIANZA office to offer scholarships for past and present Kotuku cohort members to attend the #Open17 conference in Christchurch, as we are aware not all workplaces can financially support their staff in this. We see attending conference, and spending time with their Kotuku cohort, as vital in their ongoing leadership journey.

The SIG offers a forum for communication, networking opportunities and a chance to celebrate the great work that public librarians do each day in New Zealand. The group helps provide training opportunities and has sponsored members to attend training and communicates with members via the listserv and PubSIG on Facebook – actively seeking “good news” stories and disseminating them – as well as maintaining a presence on the LIANZA website.

RESEARCHSIG

The primary objective of the Research SIG is, quite simply, to support research into library and information management in New Zealand. The concept of research is interpreted broadly as ‘the use of structured methods to collect and analyse data’. Research is part of academic life, but also there are many organisations using research in order to understand and improve their efficiency and effectiveness. The SIG wishes to encourage research by academics, students, and practitioners. To do so it runs events such as symposiums at which researchers share their experiences, and workshops on research practice. It encourages participation in journals clubs, weekend schools, and other activities around the country that give opportunities for researchers to network with each other.

Last updated September 2017.