How can New Zealand Librarians collectively participate in the future of the profession on a global scale?
We may be a small country, all the way at the southern edge of the Pacific Ocean, just slightly north of Antarctica, but we have fantastic opportunities to be part of the global professional librarian network. Connectedness via the internet to allows us to create broader international professional networks.
In reality, individually & small groups of New Zealand Librarians are already participating on a global level in the profession – from the significant New Zealand presence in #hyperlibMOOC, connections to the global 23 Mobile Things program networks, presenting at & attending international conferences, participating in IFLA events.
We are already taking our place on the international stage on an individual level, and perhaps that is enough, for now. It’s possible that we don’t need to be doing this at a collective level right now, because the collective view may be that we don’t need to *all* be connected globally, yet. I so think that the tipping point is fast approaching though, as more globally-looking and hyper-connected graduates join the professional librarian ranks.
While we are already represented at an international level by our professional associations and through our National Library, sometimes it feels that this is often in ways that we can’t necessarily see overtly (unless we start looking carefully at the fine print of existing & future partnership agreements).
By starting at an individual level, we can all collectively participate in the future of the profession on a global scale, by being a contributing part of the greater whole.
- All of us can contribute at a local level.
- Some of us will contribute at a regional level, supported by the local collective.
- Some of us will contribute at a national level, supported by the regional collective.
- Some of us will contribute at an international level, supported the national collective.
While we might currently think of local & regional as within New Zealand boundaries, we could broaden this to local = New Zealand and expand regional level = Pacific, thereby eliminating the national level in this sphere.
What if … we create a more overt Pacific flavour to our professional association(s), opening up New Zealand opportunities to our Pacific Islands colleagues?
What if … we establish a stronger partnership relationship with NGAC (via ALIA & LIANZA) and grow an internationally recognised & actively supported Australasian New Graduates Network?
What if … we identify international opportunities for our new graduates, and actively support them to step up to the global stage of emerging practitioners?
The future of the profession will be strong if we do allow for big sky dreaming, from a local level to an international level, and commit to where we want to be by 2030, and putting in places plans for a bright & bold future.
Audacious Fizz 