Hobbs Marian: National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna MAtauranga o Aotearoa) Bill — Second Reading 
Hobbs Marian: National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna MAtauranga o Aotearoa) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4726] 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Minister responsible for the National Library) 
: 
 I move  
That the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa) Bill be now read a second time 
. The Education and Science Committee has heard submissions and has proposed amendments that bring greater clarity to the bill. The Government will support these amendments and will also propose some technical drafting amendments in a Supplementary Order Paper. My thanks to the select committee with special thanks to the chair Brian Donnelly to the deputy chair Jill Pettis and to Helen Duncan who is a trustee of the National Library and thus brings special knowledge about the National Library to her select committee work. I also want to thank the National Library trustees Friends of the Turnbull Library and the library community because they have worked so hard for this solution. 
This bill replaces the current National Library Act of 1965 and brings it up to date in four areas. First it clarifies the relationship between the National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library. The current Act does not include a statutory purpose for the Alexander Turnbull Library and this has been rectified. The bill also states that the Crown is to continue to own the Alexander Turnbull Library collections in perpetuity. The status of this unique resource which specialises in New Zealand and Pacific studies is enhanced by the creation of a new body the Guardians Kaitiaki of the Alexander Turnbull Library. This body will focus on providing specific assurances about the Alexander Turnbull Library’s collections and the character of the services that distinguish that library as a research library. 
The select committee heard submissions that sought to ensure that while the Crown continued to own collections there was provision for the loan of items for public exhibition on a temporary basis. The proposed amendments provide for a delegation to empower the Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library to make documents from the Turnbull collections available for public exhibition. The amendments also prevent the National Librarian from transferring the ownership of documents owned by the National Library without ministerial approval. 
The purpose of the National Library has been widened to include working alongside organisations with related aims and to strengthen links with library and information communities. That simple sentence hides a multitude of aims and plans for the future. A new body the Library and Information Advisory Commission will advise the Minister about emergent issues in the changing library and information world as well as issues concerning documentary heritage in a national and international context. 
Revision of the 1965 Act provides a welcome opportunity to address Maori interests in the National Library and in the areas of documented heritage and information. Anyone exercising powers and functions under the bill will be required to protect the collections as documentary heritage and as taonga. The library’s existing and widely used Maori name can now be included and the bill refers to matauranga Maori alongside references to knowledge and information. 
The third area updates legal deposit provisions to take account of electronic publications. This aspect of the legislation drew a number of submissions to the select committee and I am grateful to the committee for its detailed work on this part of the bill. There are amendments to Part 4 that were recommended by the committee and that I am pleased to support. It was clear from submissions that there is general agreement that documentary heritage should be preserved through the means of legal deposit. Legal deposit is a statutory obligation used in over 130 countries that requires publishers to provide copies of works to a national agency. Section 30A of the current Act is limited to books however and it is obvious that limiting the collection of recorded knowledge to paper formats will lead to collections being far less comprehensive than is desirable. This bill expands the range of documents that will be subject to legal deposit to cover any publicly available document used to store or convey information whatever the medium. 
This part of the bill was not well understood and amendments are proposed to clarify the legal deposit process and the use of materials deposited. Because information technology changes quickly it is essential that the bill addresses broad principles and can accommodate changes to the ways in which information is collected stored and made available. The bill establishes that the purpose of legal deposit is to assist in preserving New Zealand’s documentary heritage so that it is available subject to any applicable terms and conditions for the benefit of New Zealanders. Under the bill publishers are required to give specified numbers of public documents to the library by ministerial requirements which will have the status of regulations under the Regulations (Disallowance) Act. A requirement for books will continue the practice of collecting books and paper-based documents. When this book requirement is made it will address the concerns of fine letterpress publishers and take into account the cost and size of print run in setting the number of copies to be deposited. 
A separate requirement will be made for electronic media and this will address the concerns taken to the select committee. Technical processes for the collection and storage of electronic media are different and requirements may need to be changed from time to time to deal with changing technology. The overall approach to the collection of electronic materials will also differ from that for books. While the library seeks comprehensive collection in the traditional print medium this is not desirable nor practical for the electronic world—that is a wee message to the publishers’ association. Instead the library aims for a selective approach and one that will be developed following consultation with electronic publishers. In particular the process will provide for the protection of publishers’ commercial interests—another thing for the publishers association—through consultation on terms and conditions about access to the deposited material. Requirements for documents other than traditional books and similar media will not be made until there has been consultation with affected parties. 
The bill provides for the Minister to exempt documents or classes of documents from deposit. Also it is not envisaged that requirements will be made for the deposit of motion pictures or broadcast material where current arrangements are considered adequate. 
The final area of change proposed in this bill addresses a conflict in the Official Information Act in relation to oral histories provided to or commissioned by the National Library. Many informants were unwilling to provide oral histories if they could not make conditions of access. That was really sad during the whole period of constitutional change to MMP when we were unable to continue a really wonderful oral history archive. The bill amends the Official Information Act to exclude such oral histories from the definition of “official information” in the Official Information Act and requires the National Librarian to comply with conditions on access to the histories set by the donor. 
I am very happy to have this bill back before the House. We have so much to do and with new legislation a new National Librarian and new committees we are champing at the bit to get going.