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Helen Pearce
Helen Pearce
Becoming Global in New Zealand
Helen Pearce, Information Resources Manager at Russell McVeagh in
Auckland, New Zealand, never considered herself to be
'international' in nature, especially when it came to her librarian
career. However, the native New Zealander believes that recent
trends in technology and the Internet have made 'living
internationally' all but inevitable. Helen, like many of her
librarian colleagues, shares the belief that globalization has
profoundly affected the way that information is shared, researched
and retrieved. As a result, people are inextricably connected to
others around the world and rely on these connections more than ever
to gather data and accomplish their goals each day.
New Zealand's historical and cultural ties to the United Kingdom
influence the type of information needed by its lawyers and other
legal researchers. New Zealand only established its own Supreme
Court this year and until this year turned to the U.K. Privy Council
as the Highest Court of Appeal. So reliance on English,
Canadian and Australian case law to establish precedent continues to
this day. In the area of corporate law, New Zealand researchers look
to the United States as well as to the Commonwealth for cases, laws
and practices. Thus, it is clear that any New Zealand legal research
professional needs to look beyond the borders of their own country
for information. To find this data, Helen and her staff rely heavily
on services like Austlii, Canlii, Bailli and LexisNexis. In
addition, Helen states that professional contacts, such as those
made at conferences, meetings and conventions, often prove to be
valuable sources of information.
Helen believes that librarians have always been ahead of the trend
when it comes to globalization. In her opinion, librarians are
strong networkers and are accustomed to the idea of searching among
a wide range of sources for elusive materials. The maturation of the
Internet and the increase in list serves and online interest groups
has helped librarians become more global by simply making it easier
for them to connect with one another. Helen states, "In the
electronic age, we no longer have to wait for a conference to meet
and discuss ideas with colleagues. It can be a daily or weekly
communal event." In Helen's opinion, face-to-face gatherings, such
as librarian conferences, are the ideal way to network and share
experiences with other professionals. However, the connections made
at these events help foster the global relationships that exist
through modern technology. Every business card obtained at a
convention or meeting needs to be filed for future reference, when
it may prove to be a valuable source of information via an email
request.
Like many of her librarian colleagues, Helen has personally
experienced the changes brought about by the advancement of
technology. What is most striking to Helen is the nature in which
information is retrieved. What was once an extensive search for
answers to obscure research questions is now accomplished in a
matter of seconds through the Internet and email. Helen recalls one
such example of this. Years ago, she was given the task of finding
the text of an ancient German beer law, the German Beer Purity Law
of 1516. This law specifies the four ingredients that must be in a
'beer' product. While the specific sources used to find this
information do not come to mind, Helen does remember the research as
being rather tedious and painstaking. In contrast, when Helen thinks
about searching for this information today, she surmises that it
would be as simple as entering the phrase 'german beer purity law'
as a LexisNexis or Internet search, and finding not only the law
itself, but also thousands of related sources and materials.
Helen observes that the frenetic speed with which information can be
found today has affected how people perceive and value their data
requests. Patrons expect to receive answers to their queries almost
immediately, and Helen states, "....a 24 hour time frame is a
luxurious and infrequent expectation." When it is difficult to
obtain information right away, Helen attributes most of the delay to
human factors, not technical glitches. For example, if a request is
made electronically via email, the human at the receiving end of
your request may have ten other 'customers' ahead of you. While the
information itself can quickly and easily be sent via electronic
means, one is still ultimately waiting for a human being to actually
send the data. Thus, librarians must balance the expectations of
their patrons to accommodate for these inevitable delays.
Helen defines globalization as 'instantaneous communications,
knowledge and culture shared around the world simultaneously.' While
she thinks that the librarian profession could be doing a better job
of training new librarians on how to operate in a "globalized"
world, she also realizes that it is a difficult task on which to
train someone. One valuable skill shared by most successful
librarians is the ability to learn by osmosis; in other words, by
being immersed in information and absorbing knowledge, you become
adept at 'thinking on your feet' for answers to problems. Most
successful librarians are skillful at adapting their practices to
the challenges presented by emerging technology.
Helen Pearce is deservedly proud of her New Zealand heritage and can
be a wealth of information for anyone who is seeking materials from
that country. She cites several sources to which others can turn
when looking for New Zealand materials. For example, New Zealand
legislative materials can be found at
www.legislation.govt.nz
or
www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz. A good general subject guide for
New Zealand is the National Library's Web Directory,
www.webdirectory.natlib.govt.nz/dir/en/nz/ and free access to
articles from the New Zealand Herald is available at
www.nzherald.co.nz/.
While the fast-paced workload brought about by modern technology can
be challenging and exhilarating, Helen leaves work each day to
attend to the challenges brought about by her 10-year old son's
involvement in various activities. Her interest in junior softball
and soccer has grown along with her son's participation in these
sports. As any working parent can attest, personal leisure time can
be minimal when one is balancing work and children. However, when
Helen is not chasing after her son, she enjoys food, wine, theatre
and movies. And, both mother and son are cheering hard right now for
the Boston Red Sox and watching the games live via cable TV! Now
they can get instantaneous results of the World Series championship
games, thanks to the conveniences brought about by globalization and
modern technology.
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