It has been a watershed year for the Library & Research Centre.
In the middle of the year the District Law Societies’ Libraries Steering Group (LSG) issued its report, which strongly advocated the continuation of well-resourced libraries available to the whole of New Zealand’s legal profession. The report represents a quite surprising degree of consensus across the whole profession – smaller and larger firms, city and country, barristers – and the judiciary. Piers Davies as LSG Convenor has done a huge amount of work in seeing the report through to publication, and liaising with its writers Geoff Brodie and Catriona MacLennan. He has also visited courts throughout the country and made contact with the local profession seeking adequate provision for libraries / lawyers’ rooms in courts, and sought to ensure that the Ministry of Justice provides suitable facilities as a matter of policy. Piers has recently been appointed to a new NZLS Courthouse Committee.
Throughout the year the Committee grappled with the uncertainties of the One Society Plan proposal, which will see all districts “fold in” to the New Zealand Law Society, and many debates were held within the Committee, with the President and with Chris Darlow. By year’s end it was clear that there would indeed be one law society from 2008/9, and that the library function would fall under the regulatory arm of the NZLS. There is now a Libraries Board, whose membership includes one Auckland lawyer and the Auckland University Librarian. The Committee will strive to foster strong links with the Board and the development of library policy under the new regime.
Many members of the ADLS are strongly attached, both emotionally and practically, to the Library, as was demonstrated by two linked market research projects commissioned during the year,. Nearly half of a representative sample of members saw the Library as “hugely important” and strongly correlated it with words such as “good”, “efficient”, “cost effective” and “friendly”.
The Library Committee wrote two submissions in 2007, following on from the huge effort on the LSG submission at the end of the previous year. The first was on the Copyright Amendment Bill, and the second in response to the Law Commission’s Discussion Document on Statutes. The Committee is pleased to see that the Commission is supporting the enhancement of access to statutes, in particular of the Public Access to Legislation database, which was launched very early in 2008. None of these submissions could have been achieved without the unswerving devotion and enthusiasm of the Committee’s members, who were willing to give their time freely.
The Committee farewells its convenor Chris LaHatte, who left New Zealand at Christmas time to practise in Kazakhstan. Chris has been the convenor twice, and has served on the Committee, with breaks, since the early 1990s. Au revoir, Chris!
We have always been fortunate in having members from a wideranging spectrum – suburban firms, city practices, government departments, and the bar. Such a varied representation of the legal profession will only enhance the development of library
policy and will ensure that library services are maintained at their current high standard. We acknowledge the tireless efforts of everyone, both as members and friends.
The dawn of the new regime is greeted by the Committee with some optimism and a little trepidation. The undoubted importance of well-resourced libraries to the profession has been repeatedly demonstrated and the Auckland Committee looks forward to the future where its creative and hardworking team is able to contribute meaningfully to consultation with the Libraries Board on the big issues facing law libraries.
Last but not least, we should like to acknowledge the contribution of our highly skilled and professional library staff. They have always acted as guardians of our extensive collection and provided library assistance, research, document delivery and robes. They also engender a friendly and cohesive atmosphere in the library, which is welcomed by practitioners who appear in the Courts daily under enormous pressure (sometimes with flagging morale). The library staff cope without complaint with our frequently urgent requests for assistance and information, and find what we are seeking as if by magic.
Peter Twist
Convenor, Library Committee (2008)
Helga Arlington
Librarian