Viewpoint: Back to the Future – the last 50 years and the next
Sue Sutherland
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The ideas for this opinion piece have been fermenting in my brain for some time – in fact some years! So when I was asked if I would write something for this edition of Library Life to celebrate the 110th anniversary of LIANZA, and the partnership with Te Rōpū Whakahau I was compelled to get on with it!
Fifty years ago, armed with my shiny new NZLA Certificate I started my second library job in the acquisitions department of the University of Otago. Library heavies such as Jock McEldowney and Mary Ronnie headed the university and public libraries respectively. Dick Hlavac (former librarian at the University of Canterbury) was my boss at the time. All of these people played an active role in the library association and all at one time served as President. Jock McEldowney wrote the history of the first fifty years of the Association and it pays to go back and read that small book to understand what a significant role the Association has played in the development of libraries in this country. To quote from the introduction: |
‘When the Association was formed there were few libraries of any consequence in New Zealand. Public libraries existed in the main towns, there was the General Assembly Library and there were small collections of books in the university colleges… A combination of fortunate circumstances … made it possible for the library system of New Zealand to be transformed in the remarkably short time of 10 years, from 1935 to 1945. The Association which played such an important part in this work is a mixed organisation, including library authorities as well as librarians, and covering all library interests… There is, however, no doubt, that by keeping together its members have achieved more than they would have in small separate organisations’.
The bold text is mine – not Jock’s – and for me it sums up what I think is the biggest issue we face in the New Zealand library scene currently – the fracturing of the ‘single voice’ into many different and much smaller voices. In addition to LIANZA we now have the Public Libraries of New Zealand (PLNZ), the School Library Association (SLANZA), the New Zealand Law Librarians, and the Council of New Zealand University Librarians (CONZUL), and other more informal groups in the tertiary, special library and government information sectors, who are all focused on their particular branch of librarianship. The energies of the senior people go into these organisations by and large leaving LIANZA with a much smaller pool of talent to drive necessary changes. The outcome for New Zealand libraries is not good. LIANZA lacks influence, it has, of necessity, retrenched into being much more an organisation for the benefit of members rather than for the benefit of libraries and the difference they make in the lives of New Zealanders. Membership has dropped dramatically over the years, income has declined and its relevance to many who work in libraries, is non-existent. So how has this come about?
There are probably a number of reasons but one sticks out in my mind, because I had a part to play in it. We need to look back just over thirty years to the organisation’s first financial crisis. The Association owned a building in Brandon Street. At the height of the late 1980’s financial crash when interest rates were in excess of 20%, and we were unable to rent out spare space the Association stared bankruptcy in the face. The situation was resolved without that occurring but we walked away from the building with no assets and no cash. The Council at that time was large – I remember going to my first Council meeting after having been elected as a personal member to see around the table about 12-14 people. There was an executive comprising the President, Immediate Past and Vice Presidents and Secretary/Treasurer; there were representatives of the Local Authorities Division, the Professional Division, and the chairs of the various sections (public libraries, tertiary libraries, children’s and young people’s etc) and there were personal members elected at large.
In addition to the Council, the Association had several standing committees such as the Education Committee, the Publications Committee, the Credentials Committee and others I can no longer remember. They all did work such as overseeing their various portfolios, writing submissions and so on. In the pre-electronic days meetings were held face to face and members were funded to fly to where the meeting happened, usually Wellington.
These committees and the various divisions and sections provided professional development opportunities for young up and coming librarians to work alongside more seasoned professionals and gain skills and insights into the important issues of the day. I know that without some of these opportunities I would never have made the progress in the profession that I was fortunate to have. The local authorities division was interesting in that it was a forum for public library managers to interface with elected members from local authorities to progress the work of public libraries in New Zealand. Local authority politicians were on the Council and at one time they also served as President of the Association in alternate years to a professional librarian. Dame Cath Tizard during her time as Mayor served on the LIANZA Council. It was an organisation in which senior and busy people thought it worth investing time and energy.
Following the crisis, however, it became clear that the Association could not continue to fund such a large governing body and its infrastructure and a Futures Group was set up to look at alternative ways of running the Association. I was a member of that group. The outcome of the deliberations and the needs for cost savings resulted in a much smaller Council with an executive plus members elected on a regional basis to ensure good geographic coverage of the country. In addition, most of the standing committees were abolished as were the two divisions – professional and local authorities. This coincided with the local government reform which reduced the number of local authorities to a much smaller number. The relationships between library managers and local authorities often became more remote as library managers were pushed further down into much larger council organisations. The sections morphed into special interest groups which members could be part of by paying an additional small fee which was designed to give the sections a little money to continue to fund their specialist interests.
The unintended consequence of all this was these groups lost any real power or influence at a national level and felt that the Association no longer represented their interests. Thus the formation of several new associations, including one for Health Librarians which lasted for a while before it chose to come back into LIANZA as HealthSIG. University Librarians pulled back to focus on their interests through CONZUL, and looked to relationships with Australian Universities. The Association of Public Library Managers was formed following the Public Libraries Summit in February 2007 that called for public libraries to speak with one voice. For whatever reason, public librarians did not feel that LIANZA could speak on their behalf.
In my view LIANZA has become a toothless tiger. Just whose interests and what library sector does it advocate for? It can’t speak on behalf of any of the sector interests because it treads on the toes of other groups who see it as their job; to make submissions on legislation or other government initiatives it struggles to pull together the right people who have the time, experience and commitment to do the work; and when it does make submissions, such as on pay equity, it does so on behalf of other associations as well, whose members may not even be financial supporters of the Association. The reality is that librarians are not affluent and faced with a decision to join a professional association focused on their speciality, or LIANZA they are likely NOT to join the latter.
In the first decade of the 21st century the National Librarian of the time, Penny Carnaby, endeavoured to provide a forum where the leaders of the various sectors could come together to discuss the strategic issues of the day, and this included LIANZA. Whether or not that was effective, others need to say, but now there is no strategic forum for the various sectors to get together. Our conference is every second year and many of the senior leaders in the various sectors are conspicuous by their absence.
The questions must be asked. Do we still want and need an overarching library and information sector organisation that can advocate for library development in New Zealand? Are our libraries so good we don’t need to worry – the bad times are past and everyone loves libraries now! I think not! The barbarians are always not far from the gate. Look what happened to the National Library in 2011 and the implications of that. LIANZA’s stance has been to try and work within the system rather than speak out on such issues, and it no longer has the influence or standing to make the difference that clearly the Association had in its first fifty years. Maybe this is an unfair comparison – these are much more complex times and the pressures on senior professionals in their day jobs makes it very difficult to find time for anything else.
So what is my answer? Yes, we absolutely do need a strong association that represents all library and information professionals in this country. It needs to have the mana and intellectual resources to advocate and articulate the strategic issues of the day and the courage to challenge those who would undermine the strong principles and values that underpin libraries and our Association. We need to find a way to bring the sectoral interests back under the umbrella of LIANZA. Perhaps we need to go back to a governance model that is not geographically based but one that is based on bringing the sector leaders around the table. As a first step the different sectors leaders could caucus with the LIANZA executive three or four times a year to share information and agree the big strategic issues that need to be worked on, and contribute people and resources to the various initiatives.
And we all must do something to shore up the declining membership of LIANZA. If our senior leaders are not advocating for their staff to be members, if there is no longer a strong push to continue to retain professional leadership in libraries, then how can we expect new and up and coming librarians to think there is value in joining the Association? Of course we need a wide variety of skills and capabilities in libraries but that must not be at the expense of a core of professional librarians.
I hope that the group set up to explore the future strategic directions for LIANZA will be bold and take a radical, hard look at what is needed. I encourage them to talk widely with the various other associations and sector interests and check whether they still believe there is a place for LIANZA and how we can work together so that the outside world hears our voice. We spend far too much time talking to each other! Look to Australia and the US to see if their models provide any answers.
What I do know is that we can no longer afford to speak with a fractured and muffled voice. Nor can we afford to split our financial resources so thinly. It is not sustainable into the future. If we want there to be thriving libraries, a strong library profession and an effective library association for the next 50 years we need to act now.
Sue Sutherland, FNZLIA, LIANZA Hon Life Member
There are probably a number of reasons but one sticks out in my mind, because I had a part to play in it. We need to look back just over thirty years to the organisation’s first financial crisis. The Association owned a building in Brandon Street. At the height of the late 1980’s financial crash when interest rates were in excess of 20%, and we were unable to rent out spare space the Association stared bankruptcy in the face. The situation was resolved without that occurring but we walked away from the building with no assets and no cash. The Council at that time was large – I remember going to my first Council meeting after having been elected as a personal member to see around the table about 12-14 people. There was an executive comprising the President, Immediate Past and Vice Presidents and Secretary/Treasurer; there were representatives of the Local Authorities Division, the Professional Division, and the chairs of the various sections (public libraries, tertiary libraries, children’s and young people’s etc) and there were personal members elected at large.
In addition to the Council, the Association had several standing committees such as the Education Committee, the Publications Committee, the Credentials Committee and others I can no longer remember. They all did work such as overseeing their various portfolios, writing submissions and so on. In the pre-electronic days meetings were held face to face and members were funded to fly to where the meeting happened, usually Wellington.
These committees and the various divisions and sections provided professional development opportunities for young up and coming librarians to work alongside more seasoned professionals and gain skills and insights into the important issues of the day. I know that without some of these opportunities I would never have made the progress in the profession that I was fortunate to have. The local authorities division was interesting in that it was a forum for public library managers to interface with elected members from local authorities to progress the work of public libraries in New Zealand. Local authority politicians were on the Council and at one time they also served as President of the Association in alternate years to a professional librarian. Dame Cath Tizard during her time as Mayor served on the LIANZA Council. It was an organisation in which senior and busy people thought it worth investing time and energy.
Following the crisis, however, it became clear that the Association could not continue to fund such a large governing body and its infrastructure and a Futures Group was set up to look at alternative ways of running the Association. I was a member of that group. The outcome of the deliberations and the needs for cost savings resulted in a much smaller Council with an executive plus members elected on a regional basis to ensure good geographic coverage of the country. In addition, most of the standing committees were abolished as were the two divisions – professional and local authorities. This coincided with the local government reform which reduced the number of local authorities to a much smaller number. The relationships between library managers and local authorities often became more remote as library managers were pushed further down into much larger council organisations. The sections morphed into special interest groups which members could be part of by paying an additional small fee which was designed to give the sections a little money to continue to fund their specialist interests.
The unintended consequence of all this was these groups lost any real power or influence at a national level and felt that the Association no longer represented their interests. Thus the formation of several new associations, including one for Health Librarians which lasted for a while before it chose to come back into LIANZA as HealthSIG. University Librarians pulled back to focus on their interests through CONZUL, and looked to relationships with Australian Universities. The Association of Public Library Managers was formed following the Public Libraries Summit in February 2007 that called for public libraries to speak with one voice. For whatever reason, public librarians did not feel that LIANZA could speak on their behalf.
In my view LIANZA has become a toothless tiger. Just whose interests and what library sector does it advocate for? It can’t speak on behalf of any of the sector interests because it treads on the toes of other groups who see it as their job; to make submissions on legislation or other government initiatives it struggles to pull together the right people who have the time, experience and commitment to do the work; and when it does make submissions, such as on pay equity, it does so on behalf of other associations as well, whose members may not even be financial supporters of the Association. The reality is that librarians are not affluent and faced with a decision to join a professional association focused on their speciality, or LIANZA they are likely NOT to join the latter.
In the first decade of the 21st century the National Librarian of the time, Penny Carnaby, endeavoured to provide a forum where the leaders of the various sectors could come together to discuss the strategic issues of the day, and this included LIANZA. Whether or not that was effective, others need to say, but now there is no strategic forum for the various sectors to get together. Our conference is every second year and many of the senior leaders in the various sectors are conspicuous by their absence.
The questions must be asked. Do we still want and need an overarching library and information sector organisation that can advocate for library development in New Zealand? Are our libraries so good we don’t need to worry – the bad times are past and everyone loves libraries now! I think not! The barbarians are always not far from the gate. Look what happened to the National Library in 2011 and the implications of that. LIANZA’s stance has been to try and work within the system rather than speak out on such issues, and it no longer has the influence or standing to make the difference that clearly the Association had in its first fifty years. Maybe this is an unfair comparison – these are much more complex times and the pressures on senior professionals in their day jobs makes it very difficult to find time for anything else.
So what is my answer? Yes, we absolutely do need a strong association that represents all library and information professionals in this country. It needs to have the mana and intellectual resources to advocate and articulate the strategic issues of the day and the courage to challenge those who would undermine the strong principles and values that underpin libraries and our Association. We need to find a way to bring the sectoral interests back under the umbrella of LIANZA. Perhaps we need to go back to a governance model that is not geographically based but one that is based on bringing the sector leaders around the table. As a first step the different sectors leaders could caucus with the LIANZA executive three or four times a year to share information and agree the big strategic issues that need to be worked on, and contribute people and resources to the various initiatives.
And we all must do something to shore up the declining membership of LIANZA. If our senior leaders are not advocating for their staff to be members, if there is no longer a strong push to continue to retain professional leadership in libraries, then how can we expect new and up and coming librarians to think there is value in joining the Association? Of course we need a wide variety of skills and capabilities in libraries but that must not be at the expense of a core of professional librarians.
I hope that the group set up to explore the future strategic directions for LIANZA will be bold and take a radical, hard look at what is needed. I encourage them to talk widely with the various other associations and sector interests and check whether they still believe there is a place for LIANZA and how we can work together so that the outside world hears our voice. We spend far too much time talking to each other! Look to Australia and the US to see if their models provide any answers.
What I do know is that we can no longer afford to speak with a fractured and muffled voice. Nor can we afford to split our financial resources so thinly. It is not sustainable into the future. If we want there to be thriving libraries, a strong library profession and an effective library association for the next 50 years we need to act now.
Sue Sutherland, FNZLIA, LIANZA Hon Life Member
In 2010 The LIANZA Council granted Honorary Life Membership of the Library Association to Sue Sutherland, in recognition of her long commitment to the library and information profession and in recognition of the skills she has shown and shared in major positions in that profession.
In their citation LIANZA said: Sue is recognised by her colleagues as a ‘big’ thinker who is able to operate strategically, as well as drive practical implementation. Sue has a reputation for getting things done, and done well. As someone for whom librarianship is a true vocation and who believes in public service, Sue is highly regarded by her colleagues for her generosity of spirit, professional insights and ability to deliver.
In their citation LIANZA said: Sue is recognised by her colleagues as a ‘big’ thinker who is able to operate strategically, as well as drive practical implementation. Sue has a reputation for getting things done, and done well. As someone for whom librarianship is a true vocation and who believes in public service, Sue is highly regarded by her colleagues for her generosity of spirit, professional insights and ability to deliver.