Risk factors" in National Library and National Library Archive feature article by Julienne Molineaux From the New Zealand Herald

Interesting piece on the "Risk factors" in National Library and National Library Archive feature article by Julienne Molineaux From the New Zealand Herald. In it she points to some real risks involved with the merging of The National Library, Archives New Zealand and Department of Internal Affairs.
Julienne Molineaux: ‘Dangerous enthusiasm’ dooms project to fail
Government agencies are often restructured in the belief that the change will lead to better performance.
But whether it is organisational design or information technology projects, bigger scale doesn’t always mean better results. In fact, larger scale brings with it many problems.
Yet the Government and the State Services Commission are proposing a merger between Archives New Zealand, the National Library and the Department of Internal Affairs, with economies of scale in IT as the driver of the change.
The New Zealand state sector has a history of IT project failures, the $100 million-plus police INCIS endeavour being the most infamous.
The bigger the IT project, the bigger the concentration of risk.
The more complex the project, the more likely it is to flounder, go over-budget, go over-time, fail to deliver on its promises and be difficult for users to operate.
In proposing the merger between the archives, the library and Internal Affairs, State Services Minister Tony Ryall has admitted there are no burning problems that need solving. Rather, the rationale is the desire to develop an overarching platform from which New Zealanders can access civic information.
The merger is being promoted as providing a single decision-making centre in public technology services “to determine a whole of government approach to managing information”.
While the current fragmentation does indeed make accessing information more difficult for the public, a serious question has to be raised. Just how feasible is the Government’s dream of a unified civic information “super” platform?
Continue reading here.

Archives New Zealand and The National Library Integration Plan

The process by which Archives New Zealand and The National Library are subsumed into the Department of Internal Affairs continues at full pace, with the release of the Integration Plan. You sometimes have to quietly appreciate management speak. Calling the process an integration seems less ominous than a merger. Maybe there is less baggage with that terminology.
The plan itself looks to be quite fast passed. I did note that implementation starts in November, so that will mean that the inevitable redundancies from the process will start at just in time for Christmas. I feel for the staff.
Read more about it here... http://www.integration.dia.govt.nz/integration.nsf/wpg_URL/Agency-Integration-Questions-and-Answers?OpenDocument

New funding for Government Digital Archive

This looks promising...

Nathan Guy
1 June, 2010
New funding for Government Digital Archive
The Government has provided $12.6 million in new Budget funding over the next four years to develop a Government Digital Archive, the Minister Responsible for Archives New Zealand and the National Library Nathan Guy says.
"This significant cash injection will provide a secure system to store, preserve and give access to important public records.
"This funding shows how seriously the Government values the work of Archives New Zealand and the National Library. This endorses the digitisation work already underway by both departments.
"The investment is crucial to preserve valuable government information and make it widely available to the public online. We need to keep up with technology and promote open and transparent government.
"Without this initiative, we run the risk of information becoming obsolete and unusable, and Archives New Zealand would struggle to meet its important statutory commitments.
"The new Digital Archive will be created by extending the National Library's National Digital Heritage Archive system so that it can be used by Archives New Zealand and other agencies.
"This is a major investment to ensure that government records are available now and in the future.
"The budget allocated includes $9.7 million for Archives New Zealand and $2.9 million for the National Library over four years," Mr Guy says.

The Merging of the National Library and Archives into the Department of Internal Affairs

Government’s announcement re the merging of the National Library and Archives into the Department of Internal Affairs

As a representative of the stakeholders of the National Library, LIANZA is concerned that there has been no consultation about the proposed merger of National Library and Archives with the Department of Internal Affairs. As a significant partner in the many collaborative activities that the National Library has initiated or facilitated, we are concerned about the potential impact on every single library service in New Zealand.

You will recall that LIANZA made a press statement following the media report about the proposed merger last month - http://www.lianza.org.nz/news/newsroom/news1268354236.html

LIANZA has made an Official Information Request to Tony Ryall, Minister of State Services asking for more detailed information relating to specific sections of the cabinet paper ‘Next Steps in Improving State Services Performance’, along with a request for other documents relating to the merger.

Once we have a response to our request LIANZA Council will need to consider its next steps on behalf of the profession. We will keep you informed of any developments.