The collection and use of oral history in New Zealand public and national libraries

Abstract

This thesis sets out to determine the significance and potential of oral history collections as historical resources in New Zealand public and national libraries. Evidence is gathered from a literature review, a survey of New Zealand public and national libraries and a survey of New Zealand users of historical information. Seven hypotheses are posed in order to determine the characteristics of oral history collections and their management. They are found to be of variable quality and seldom evaluated, a problematic medium for librarians, poorly controlled bibliographically, of more research than promotional value, only moderately expensive to create, to be mainly project-based, and not well used. Six hypotheses are employed to analyse oral history collections from a user viewpoint. It is found that users resist the audio medium, they prefer transcript to tape versions, creators' needs are different from subsequent users, researchers prefer to conduct their own interviews, users are not disadvantaged by subject access being separate from that for other media, and users cover a wide range of people but are predominantly serious historians and students. Six hypotheses are posed to collate suggestions from the surveys and the literature review that could improve the match between user needs and oral history resources in libraries. They demonstrate a need for improved quality control, interviewing techniques, sound quality, bibliographical control, promotion of collections and responsiveness to user needs in general.