Launch of Papers Past

Pleasure to launch Papers Past. It's one of the first initiatives from the additional investment of more than $3million that the Government is making in the National Library.

The Library is an enormously rich and important resource for all New Zealanders. I'm very pleased to see that the additional funding is allowing the Library to reach more and more New Zealanders.

Anyone familiar with the Turnbull collections will be aware of what a rich and diverse resource they are and what an important part they play in enabling us to understand our past and to strengthen our New Zealand identity.

Papers Past is another example of the Library's commitment to making its resources, particularly those from the Alexander Turnbull Library, available to people around the country and indeed around the world.

Making more resources available online enables anyone from school children to family historians to eminent scholars and writers to access the information in a way and at a time that suits them. Be they in Taihape or Thebes. It also complements the other ways in which the Library makes its resources available. These include its excellent exhibitions and events programme, including the exhibition that supports this new web site.

The development of Papers Past is also an example of the Library's commitment and contribution to e-government. E-government is all about using new technology to provide people with more convenient access to information and services. The Library has been a pioneer in e-government initiatives, starting with the NZBN and KiwiNet and continuing through Te Puna - its gateway to electronic services. More recently, it has been active in the consultation and planning process on e-government, providing submissions on the portal strategy and web guidelines, and participating in a number of related working groups.

But, to come back to the collection that we're launching tonight. I'm sure many of my colleagues would be both surprised and interested to know how political 19th century newspapers were. I'm told that many newspapers were established by people who, having been successful in commerce, were eyeing a career in politics and regarded their own newspaper as the ideal way to build their profile in the community. Perhaps as a result, the descriptions of many politicians are forthright and sometimes less than favourable! In one edition of Fair Play (subtitled "An Illustrated Journal for Sensible Men and Women'), the MP from Dunedin, Mr Fish, is described as "one of the most level-headed men in the House" but it is noted that he "talks too much, but he is not the only offender in this way". A colleague of Mr Fish fared far less well, described as 'a vain, dogmatic, egotistical little lump of humanity". It is probably not surprising to note that Fair Play lasted only a year, with its demise likely being hastened by a successful libel suit!

The newspaper writers also have much to say about social changes. In another edition of Fair Play, the introduction of the 'women's vote' is said to have "brought about many strange changes, and the present Parliament must be looked at very much in the light of a gigantic experiment"!

In creating this web site, the Library has made real efforts to ensure that in providing electronic resources, it doesn't create barriers to their use. Papers Past can be used by anyone with a home computer and a modem and doesn't require any specialist technical knowledge. I'm sure that anyone who has browsed the site will agree with me how easy it is to use. The functionality also includes an impressive feature that gives users the ability to zoom in on or magnify an article - much easier on the eyes than poring over the small type of the originals.

Over the coming months, the Library will be working with the information sector on issues relating to the Digital Library. Many other institutions in the information sector are looking with interest at the possibilities offered by digitisation and the Library will be using the knowledge it has gathered during this project to assist others who are contemplating similar undertakings. It will also be consulting with the sector later in the year on its digitisation policy, which will examine both what types of collection items should be digitised and how to achieve the digitisation.

Warm congratulations to everyone in the Library on the launch of Papers Past - I look forward to seeing the results of other electronic initiatives over the coming months.