Monday, 29 October 2007

Pasifika library wins prestigious award

The Pasifika library and information recruitment project was presented the 2007 Nielsen Book Data Research Award at the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Annual Conference on 11 September.

The Award is made to support a proposed research project related to information management, which encompasses the fields of publishing, library and information management, electronic libraries, and bibliographic and full-text databases. Spencer Lilley (Research Project Leader) received the Award on behalf of the research team and the Pasifika Information Management Network for their forthcoming research project on how to recruit and retain more Pacific Peoples into the Library and Information professions.

In receiving the award, Spencer highlighted the fact there was currently a “very small number of Pacific people employed in the library and information professions and that this needed to change as the Pacific population is growing at an accelerated rate. It is expected that this growth will result in an increased demand for specialist services targeted at Pacific peoples, and libraries and information agencies need to be ready for this.

The project also focuses on how libraries and other information agencies encourage Pacific peoples to use their services and resources and will use case studies of successful partnerships between Pacific communities and the library and information professions to highlight the best practices.In presenting the Award, Martine Poiree of National Manager of Nielsen BookData Ltd, praised the project as being very timely due to the growing importance of the contribution made by Pacific people to New Zealand’s social, economic and cultural future.

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