The LIANZA Standing Committee on Freedom of Information has begun to review and update position statements to support LIANZA and its members to be knowledgeable and confident regarding freedom of information issues. 
 
LIANZA Council just approved a new draft statement on Freedom of Information to be circulated for final feedback from members and other interested parties.
 
LIANZA’s regional and special interest committees have been asked to discuss and comment, as have PLNZ, NZLLA and Te Rōpu Whakahau.  Individual members are also encouraged to send comments to Freedom@lianza.org.nz before 10 January 2020 and the statement will then be finalised and published.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart Information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) Article 19
 
In accord with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, LIANZA holds that all people have a fundamental right to creative thought and intellectual activity and to the freedom of expression of their views, and that all people have a fundamental right of access to expressions of knowledge.
 
LIANZA holds that a commitment to intellectual freedom is a core responsibility for the library and information profession. Libraries should be a vital force for intellectual freedom in their communities.  
Libraries should be a dynamic part of community life, not telling people what to think but throwing a spotlight on significant issues to stimulate learning and the exchange of information. 
LIANZA therefore calls upon libraries and library staff to adhere to the principles of intellectual freedom: uninhibited access to information; freedom of expression; and, their users’ privacy. 
 
To these ends libraries should:

• Acquire, preserve and make available the widest variety of materials, reflecting the plurality and diversity of their communities. 
• Ensure that the selection and availability of library materials and services is governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral and religious views.
• Make materials, facilities and services equally accessible to all lawful users, not discriminating due to ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender, age or for any other reason
• Adhere to the law regarding restricted materials, including via the Internet, but also engage with appropriate processes to challenge such restrictions when they believe freedom of expression is being unduly constrained. 
• Support their users to effectively access and evaluate information.
• Protect the personal information of their users and the confidentiality of their use of the library.
• Where relevant in your library service, make space available for and arrange displays and talks in the library to stimulate learning and the exchange of information, while ensuring all in the community feel welcomed and safe in the library.

 
This is a high-level statement which will be supported by more detailed guidelines on specific topics such as censorship, privacy and indigenous knowledge. These are yet to be completed or in some cases started.  The LIANZA Standing Committee on Freedom of Information need some more help to keep working on these, so…..

If your professional development budget didn’t extend to getting you to the LIANZA conference, or you couldn’t be in two places at once, here’s the next best thing!

We’re repeating some of the sessions relevant to tertiary libraries over two nights.  No cost or registration required.
Zoom in for one night or two, or for a session or two. We will also be recording the sessions and making them available on the LIANZA YouTube channel. There’ll be time for the odd question after the sessions. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #telsig19. 

LIANZA is delighted tertiary presentations from the recent #LIANZA19 conference will be shared via Zoom, and thank LIANZA TELSIG for organising these ‘unconference’ events.

Each unconference will begin at 5pm with a karakia whakatuwhera and a brief conversation with LIANZA Executive Director, Ana Pickering. “One of the challenges for future LIANZA conferences is meet the professional needs of tertiary librarians and library staff. I am interested to begin a discussion about how this can be achieved for 2021” says Ana.  LIANZA also thanks all the presenters who are reprising their conference presentation at these online events.

Tuesday 26th November https://vuw.zoom.us/j/327738343
5.00-5.05pm Ana Pickering, LIANZA Executive Director, talks about the importance of special interest groups and highlights the importance of tertiary library involvement in LIANZA.
5.05-5.20pm Iva Matagi (Manukau Institute of Technology) Holistic approaches to the reference interview
5.25-5.40pm Joanna Wenman  (Massey University) It’s party time! Social research consultations for postgraduates
5.45-6.00pm Mojgan Sadighi (Massey University) Connect, collaborate and cultivate: An example of community collaboration
 
Wednesday 27th November https://vuw.zoom.us/j/483251497
5.00-5.05pm Ana Pickering, LIANZA Executive Director, talks about the importance of special interest groups and highlights the importance of tertiary library involvement in LIANZA.
5.05-5.20pm Jo Simons (University of Auckland) Having a look-see: EBP by stealth
5.25-5.40pm Anne Ferrier-Wilson (University of Waikato) Traditional metrics, altmetrics, and researcher profiles: Faculty perceptions and us
5.45-6.00pm Anais Saysell (Victoria University of Wellington) Navigating teaching from face-to-face to online library tutorials
 
We look forward to you joining us!
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MBIE paper responding to submissions on objectives now online
Thank you again to those who took the time earlier this year to provide feedback on the five objectives for copyright that were proposed in our Issues Paper. We have been using these submissions to rethink our objectives, contextualise them and assess how we intend to use them to develop advice in the review.
As a result of this work, we have revised our objectives. This new framework lays the foundation for the rest of our advice in the review of the Copyright Act 1994. To ensure ongoing openness and transparency in the review, we have now published a paper that sets out this new framework. It’s called Copyright Act Review 1994: MBIE’s approach to policy development, and you can read it on the MBIE website.

What next?
For the rest of the year, we will focus on using the information we have available to evaluate current copyright law against our revised objectives and analyse the issues raised in submissions. This will enable us to advise the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs on which issues to prioritise for the ‘options’ stage of the review. We hope to consult publicly on an options paper next year.
If you have any questions in the meantime, or want to catch up with us, you can contact the team at copyrightactreview@mbie.govt.nz.

Ngā mihi nui
The Copyright Act Review team

Last week a fire broke out at the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC). Sky City and the NZICC teams are now working closely with their building partner, Fletcher Building Ltd, and the NZ Fire Service to gather as much information as possible to assess the situation and the damage, and what this means for the opening time-frame of this new convention centre.

Our partners at NZICC, Tourism New Zealand and Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) were immediately in touch with the WLIC 2022 national committee and have stayed in touch constantly to provide as much information as possible.

At this stage the NZICC team is awaiting updates about investigations that need to be conducted before the damage to the building can be fully assessed and timeframes for repairs and building completion can be made.
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Planning for the WLIC 2022 event in Auckland is continuing, and a full national committee meeting is being held at the National Library of New Zealand on Thursday 5 December. We continue to be strongly supported by teams from the NZICC, ATEED and Tourism New Zealand to achieve the goal of delivering a successful WLIC in New Zealand.

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2019 APPLICATIONS – ROUND TWO
All applications need to be sent to your LIANZA regional or special interest community for feedback and prioritisation by March 2, 2020. Applications will then be submitted to the LIANZA Community Contestable Fund Panel by March 23, 2020. There is $1945.00 remaining in the fund after the regional conference grants and the research grant have been paid out.

You can find contact details for LIANZA regional or special interest communities at: 
https://lianza.org.nz/lianza-communities/
If you have any questions please contact LIANZA Office officeadmin@lianza.org.nz

A highlight for us was being able to attend the dinner and witness the fellowships being rewarded. We were in awe at what can be achieved in the library sector. So thank you LIANZA for the learning opportunity that you have provided us. I look forward to being able to contribute to this rewarding profession.

 Emma Sherie, RLIANZA  | District Librarian, Buller District Libraries 

We’re taking this opportunity of moving our collections around to prioritise our holdings of New Zealand and Pacific material. As most of you know, in 2015, following extensive consultation and a discussion at the LIANZA conference we updated our Collections Policy to focus on New Zealand and Pacific material. Since then we have stopped collecting overseas published material unless it relates to New Zealand and our place in the Pacific. (The exception is the collection of our School Library Service which still has a global scope.)
 
So, we are now looking to find a better home for most of our overseas published books. We are seeking registrations of interest first and foremost from colleagues in New Zealand libraries. The next phase will be to invite expressions of interest from third-party organisations that might benefit from reusing these overseas published books. 
 
If you would like to register your interest, contribute ideas or place your orders you can email opcmanagement@dia.govt.nz. To view the lists we have available online and for more detail please visit our webpage here.