HISTORY CORNER
The association that would later be called LIANZA was founded in Dunedin in 1910, by a group of fifteen librarians from public libraries across the country. When the Association was formed, New Zealand’s library landscape was a very different place.
Although many of the country’s colonial communities placed a high value on literacy, our position at the bottom of the world made it difficult to keep a library well-stocked and up to date. Many local libraries were also pay-to-play; set up by community groups who charged an annual subscription fee, or charged for every loan. While Carnegie libraries were springing up nationwide, Carnegie’s belief in free library services for all was still a new and novel concept.
The Libraries Association of New Zealand (LANZ) rose out of New Zealand’s first library conference, which was held in Dunedin. The first objective of the new Association was stated in its first rule: ‘To unite all persons engaged or interested in library work in New Zealand by holding conferences and meetings for the discussion of matters affecting libraries or their regulation, management, classification or otherwise.’ The association provided a platform for the country’s library workers to come together, share their knowledge and discuss the future of libraries in New Zealand. Over the Association’s first few decades, the focus remained on getting library staff in the same room. Annual conferences were organised nationwide, giving sole-charge and isolated librarians a chance to network and learn from each other.
After activity tapered off during the First World War, the continuing influence of the Carnegie Corporation injected new life – and just as importantly, new funding – into New Zealand’s library scene in the 1930s. Regional branches of LANZ began to spring up across the country, the LANZ Journal was launched and the recommendations from the 1934 Munn-barr Report started to be put into action. Membership was opened to individuals instead of libraries for the first time, and at one point every librarian in New Zealand was a member of LANZ. The big turning point for the fledgling association came in 1939; the New Zealand Library Association Act was passed and LANZ formally became an incorporated society, the New Zealand Library Association. The association was ready to face a new decade with a fresh focus on improving library services for all New Zealanders.