A board game based on the history of the National Library's attempts to eliminate the International Collection. Compiled by Bill Direen with help from K. de Lore and M.A. Bourke.
Sign the petition!
Join us in this petition to Parliament to urgently stop the National Library book vandalism The link to this petition is here Please also write to your local MP, the Minister of Internal Affairs j.tinetti@ministers.govt.nz and the Prime Minister j.ardern@ministers.govt.nz as well as the National Librarian: rachel.esson@dia.govt.nz Join the Facebook groups: Book Guardians Aotearoa and … Continue reading Sign the petition!
International calls to stop New Zealand breaching copyright law
Last week the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) issued a media release (Are your books being donated to Internet Archive?) saying: “The ASA is dismayed to learn that the National Library of New Zealand’s (NLNZ) donation of over 400,000 books to Internet Archive includes a number of Australian books, many of which are still in … Continue reading International calls to stop New Zealand breaching copyright law
Letter to the Attorney General, and his response
In August this year Book Guardians Aotearoa wrote to the Attorney General, David Parker, with these points: requesting that he cancel the Library's contract with the Internet Archivethere is a considerable risk that the books cannot legally be scanned and put online, thus denying access to the books by New Zealanders. The Tohatoha lawyer upon … Continue reading Letter to the Attorney General, and his response
Taking the North Korea Option
John Key’s contribution to making New Zealand a smug hermit kingdom In a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, former prime minister John Key recently accused current prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic as tantamount to turning NZ into a ‘smug hermit kingdom’. Also that this is the … Continue reading Taking the North Korea Option
Book of the day: Issue 1
Book of the Day – Book Guardians Aotearoa is starting a new occasional series of writing about important books that are or were in the National Library’s Overseas Published Collection, explaining why they are important and should be retained. Readers who come to this website and want to contribute their own book of the day … Continue reading Book of the day: Issue 1
The Law and the Library
Gone by Christmas? Here’s the cunning plan, as outlined by National Librarian Rachel Esson in Point 10 of her Aide Memoire to the Minister of Internal Affairs on 26 July 2021: “It is expected that the key milestones under the control of the National Library (finalising what will be transferred, packing the collection and loading … Continue reading The Law and the Library
Misleading the Minister, misleading the public?
The National Library spin on sending its books to Manila, dissected: Part 1: poor process “Minister, have we got a deal for you!” is the general tone of the National Library’s (NL) Aide Memoire (AM) to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Jan Tinetti, on 26 July 2021. It is entitled ‘Internet Archive digitisation of the … Continue reading Misleading the Minister, misleading the public?
The growing costs of digital libraries
On the day that the New Yorker magazine published An App Called Libby and the Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books by Daniel A. Gross, the major New Zealand internet infrastructure provider Vocus was hit with a DDoS [Distributed Denial Of Service] attack which took its internet service down for about an hour, leaving hundreds … Continue reading The growing costs of digital libraries
Briefing to the Minister on the Internet Archive digitisation: How many government spin doctors does it take to kill a national taonga?
We have received a copy of this briefing via an Official Information Act inquiry, and we are publishing it here for all to read. The briefing is from the National Library to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Jan Tinetti, on the library's plans to send all the overseas books to the Philippines for digitising. “Ahead … Continue reading Briefing to the Minister on the Internet Archive digitisation: How many government spin doctors does it take to kill a national taonga?