Electronic Networks - Building Community, 2002

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Public Library and Electronic Networks - Tools and Tactics for Collaboration. A Marketer's View

Duncan McLachlan, Wellington City Libraries, Aotearoa New Zealand

Wellington City Libraries, New Zealand's most progressive public Library, is a business unit of Wellington City Council providing services to the public and a major communication mechanism between Council and constituents.

The presentation introduces the strategies for defining elements of value inherent in public libraries using electronic media. It also explores the synergies with community needs and how they impart knowledge. Participants in the workshop will also participate in a short session utilising some strategic tools.

Projects are based on:

the Wellington City Libraries' desire to be in on the e-action
the public's desire to be served in increasingly sophisticated ways
the assumption that people should have access in a technology-dependent world.

Projects include:

E-city.co.nz, a web accessible collection of online reference tools
Wellington Community Network, a local initiative with which the library partners to add value, and
Smart Newtown, a move to address access inequities with Maori and immigrant rich communities

The projects have received very favourable responses from the Local Authority, non-government organisations, and the public.E-city.co.nz won the NZ Post Excellence Award, 3M Award for Innovation and has been chosen as a reference initiative for International local government manager's symposium in Sydney, July 2002. WCN is being locally hailed as the "future of local community networking" (some 300 NGOs use the site for web hosting and self-publishing initiatives. Smart Newtown being well supported by local officials, Corporate and NGO sponsorship. Wellington Libraries has contributed to its success by serving as a key and familiar access point for internet services and as a coaching and information point.

The projects' success comes from an ability to clearly identify elements of value and therefore the niches where e-strategies, at a localised or functional level, can work.