Regulatory system information: National Library

Description of the regulatory system

System objectives/purposes

The National Library regulatory system aims to:

  • Assist in the collection and preservation of New Zealand's documentary heritage so that it is available, subject to any applicable terms or conditions, for the benefit of New Zealanders. 
  • Provide for New Zealand authors to receive payments in recognition of the fact that their books are available for use in New Zealand libraries.

Key statutes

Key regulations

Brief description of what the system does

The purpose of the National Library, as detailed in the National Library Act, “is to enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations by, as appropriate:

a) collecting, preserving, and protecting documents, particularly those relating to New Zealand, and making them accessible for all the people of New Zealand, in a manner consistent with their status as documentary heritage and taonga; and

b) supplementing and furthering the work of other libraries in New Zealand; and

c) working collaboratively with other institutions having similar purposes, including those forming part of the international library community.”

The Act determines that the National Library is to assist in preserving New Zealand's documentary heritage so that it is available, subject to any applicable terms or conditions, for the benefit of New Zealanders. This is commonly referred to as “legal deposit”. Legal deposit is administered through the following three requirements.

  • National Library Requirement (Books and Periodicals) Notice 2004
  • National Library Requirement (Electronic Documents) Notice 2006
  • National Library Requirement (Phonographic Documents) Notice 2017

The Public Lending Right Act and associated regulation underpins access to publications via libraries, through payments to authors who have publications in those libraries.

Significance of Regulatory System

The regulatory significance of legal deposit is detailed by IFLA[1] (International Federation of Library Associations). The core benefits include:

  • The creation of a comprehensive collection of New Zealand’s documentary heritage;
  • Freedom of information and perpetuation of an informed citizenry;

The Public Lending Right Act and regulation support the continued creative outputs of authors through recognition of their works being offered in the library network. Without these instruments, the availability of works to New Zealanders would be severely diminished.  

Together, the Acts and regulations within the National Library regulatory system are fundamental to a functioning democracy, a culturally rich and diverse people, and are the backbone of the nation’s memory.

Agencies involved in the National Library regulatory system

  • The Department of Internal Affairs (the Department) has policy and delivery responsibilities under the National Library regulatory system.

Regulated parties and non-government stakeholders

Regulated parties and other relevant stakeholder groups include:

  • Publishers Association of New Zealand
  • Individual publishers
  • Recorded Music New Zealand
  • New Zealand Society of Authors
  • Individual authors

Stakeholder Groups

  • Ministry for Culture and Heritage
  • Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
  • LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa)
  • Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Advisory Group
  • Library & Information Advisory Commission
  • Guardians Kaitiaki of the Alexander Turnbull Library
  • InternetNZ
  • New Zealand Network Operators Group
  • National Library Advisors:
    • Komiti Māori
    • Guardians of the NZ Cartoon Archive
    • Friends of the Turnbull Library

Engagement between system agencies and regulated parties

The National Library engages with regulated parties by:

  • Making policy statements, guidance and advice available on the National Library website;
  • Holding regular meetings with representatives of the regulated parties;
  • Consulting as required when changes are being proposed;
  • Publishing newsletters with updates.

Fitness-for-purpose assessment

Reviews/assessments of the National Library regulatory system

The National Library undertook a self-assessment of its regulatory system in 2017. The process drew upon internal expertise and knowledge of the regulatory system. This included expertise in the day-to-day administering of the system. It also looked at the strategic direction of the Library and the environment in which the system is administered. This context is given below.

Library Strategic Directions

The National Library works under Strategic Directions to 2030 that focus on achieving greater impact through collaboration. These strategic directions take account of the regulatory system of which the Library is steward. The strategic directions are far-reaching and will likely require changes to the legislation that the Library administers.

The Library is creating cultural and economic value for New Zealanders through leadership and collaboration. It is removing barriers to knowledge, ensuring New Zealanders have the skills to create knowledge and preserve knowledge for future generations.

Many initiatives require a commitment to collaboration and partnership with others in order to achieve change for New Zealand. For that reason, formal and informal partnership will be embedded as a new way of working with our stakeholders, here in New Zealand and overseas. Our partners will be libraries, central government, local government, schools, tertiary sector, iwi Māori, the private sector, content creators, peak bodies and other cultural institutions. We invite our stakeholders to work closely with us to decide how to achieve the outcomes we have outlined under our themes of Taonga, Knowledge, and Reading.

Libraries continue to be an important part of New Zealand communities. Working in an unpredictable environment combined with changing expectations of service is a reality facing the library sector across the globe. The rapid pace of technological development means the National Library needs to be more agile to support New Zealand libraries, to continue to innovate and to be a centre of excellence in our field.

Future Directions

It is clear that publishing has evolved in the last decade and continues to evolve. The primary outcomes for the National Library’s regulatory system are:

  • Documentary heritage is variegated. This challenges the current system, which was not designed with such diversity in mind.
  • Publishing platforms have changed. Often run by trans-national corporations, these can lock content into frameworks that run contrary to legal deposit requirements.
  • Authors are increasingly “self-publishers”. This means engaging with them for compliance and feedback is challenging.

In addition, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is leading a review of the Copyright Act. The National Library Act and the notices are intrinsically linked with the Copyright Act. It is likely that as the Copyright Act is updated the Library will need to review its own regulatory system to ensure that it responds appropriately to those changes. We have already identified that changes should be made to improve the regulatory systems’ efficacy, efficiency, robustness and coverage.

Review/assessment findings

Effectiveness

The extent to which the system delivers the intended outcomes and impacts

The legislation and regulations are available to the community; the scheme is both transparent and prescriptive, which makes accountability clear.

For Legal Deposit, obligations are generally well understood in the traditional model of publishing. There is no independent quality assurance process for compliance, however, it is understood that compliance levels are reasonable. Where non-compliance is identified, publishers are written to as follow-up as new publications are made. There is limited capacity to apply enforcement due to the high legal costs.

In the digital environment, the National Library Act and associated requirements are failing. Publishing platforms are bringing challenges to the statutory framework and regulatory systems as they often operate under a different jurisdiction.

The rise of self-publishing has created a class of authors that do not necessarily belong to a group that the Library has traditionally engaged with. Their diversity and individualism make it hard to ensure compliance, support them, and garner their input into changes.

Efficiency

The extent to which the system minimises unintended consequences and undue costs and burdens

Public Lending Right

Administratively it is difficult for the community to participate due to prescriptive registration and eligibility processes and lack of investment in the technology solutions which would reduce the compliance burden.

There is a great degree of inefficiency in the administrative running of the PLR. There is no operational resource underpinning the regulation, resulting in an unfit solution that drives inefficient methods of working (both by authors and the National Library).

Legal Deposit

For “traditional” publishing, ease of administration and compliance is acceptable. However, it is clear that in the digital age, the National Library Act and associated requirements are failing. The digital shift brings with it challenges that are stressing the efficiency of the regulatory system. The key issues in terms of efficiency are the breadth and scale of publishing in the digital environment.

  • Breadth: More types of documentary heritage are now created that are within the scope of the National Library’s regulatory system. This includes: online materials such as digital versions of newspapers; complex media types where video, audio and text represent the publications; social media and short-lived publications.
  • Scale: The Library undertakes whole-of-domain web-harvest annually. Even these do not fully capture the scale of material that is covered by the regulatory system. 

Durability and resilience

How well the system copes with variation, change and pressures

Recent changes have been made to account for gaps in the regulatory system. The Phonographic Requirement was introduced to address uncertainty around physical sound recordings (for example vinyl records).

However, as is indicated above, the changes in the publishing paradigm and the strategic directions of the Library mean that the regulatory devices need further work to keep pace with change. The Library is already seeing that some documentary heritage is unable to be collected due to the changes taking place the publishing environment. There will be a significant effect on the National Library’s ability to collect and make accessible digital content if the regulatory environment is not updated.

It is also clear that resourcing to deliver the desired outcomes of the regulatory system is not at the correct level. The scale of content that is generated in digital form outstrips the Library’s ability to collect and describe it. There are opportunities to bring technology to bear on this challenge. This would also require an uplift in resourcing but has to the potential to be hugely beneficial. In addition, a more holistic solution for resourcing the administration of the Public Lending Right Act would lessen the compliance load.

Fairness and accountability

How well the system respects rights and delivers good process

The Public Lending Right regulation is inflexible and creates inequities. There is a growing number of authors excluded or unable to receive payments due to requirements of legislation (for example, annual registration is a manual process, and the digital shift is challenging the current thresholds for payment).

The method of measurement is open to successful challenge from authors, further creating lack of certainty and perceived fairness.

The Library utilises both push and pull mechanisms for legal deposit. Certain classes of material are sent to the Library as per the more physical-based model (push). Another class of material, those online, are generally more actively collected (pull). Methods for this pull include selective webharvesting and whole-of-domain webharvesting. Those authors that use the push mechanism are aware of the legal deposit requirement and generally understand the benefits of the system. Those authors whose material are collected through the pull mechanism are perhaps less aware of why material is being collected and the value of the work the National Library is undertaking. A higher awareness and understanding would result in a fairer and more robust system.

The Library is also aware that there are areas of publishing that are currently missing from the collections. These are often hidden behind paywalls of international providers or embedded within platforms in such a way that makes collections technically hard, or indeed legally problematic.

Participation in system design

The Library actively engages with stakeholders around the regulatory system. It also engages with relevant agencies (including Archives New Zealand, the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment, and Ministry for Culture and Heritage).

A review of the regulatory system will include a broad stakeholder engagement exercise. Such an exercise will look beyond our current stakeholders to ensure that the system is best placed to expand into the future shape of publishing and authorship.

Plans for regulatory and operational improvements

Key regulatory changes planned for 2018/19

There are no major changes to the regulatory system planned in 2018/19. The completion of the current review of the Copyright Act is a key trigger for the National Library to undertake a review of its regulatory system.

Key service design and operational changes planned for 2018/19

The Library is in the beginning stages of mapping the processes that are invoked to collect, preserve and give access to digital content. This work will identify improvements to the internal processes that should allow for more efficient collection and handling of content. This includes the mechanisms through which authors submit their publications and the Library actively collects material.

There are constant upgrading and reviews of both physical and digital collections spaces in order that collections can continue to grow and be cared for. This allows the Library to effectively collect not only current and familiar content types, but also take account of new categories (for example digital print version of newspapers).

The Library also hopes to be able to implement a new system for management of Public Lending Right information. The current system is far-beyond the end of its life. A new system will ease the administrative burden on the National Library and provide greater transparency for authors.


[1] International Federation of Library Associations, IFLA Statement on Legal Deposit, 2011, https://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-statement-on-legal-deposit-2011.