Study to evaluate the use of the Internet by librarians involved in technical services and how this can be improved

Abstract

This research looks at how technical services in New Zealand public libraries have been using the Internet, and how this fits in with expected trends that have been observed in overseas literature. The main threads of this literature are also summarized to show the current knowledge on this topic. Technical services is regarded as comprising of three sections including cataloguing, acquisitions and interloans. A survey was carried out on all public libraries within New ealand, the results show almost all New Zealand public libraries have Internet access and are mostly using it in similar ways to overseas. The Web and e-mail are the most common methods of accessing the Internet, and it is mainly used for communication with colleagues (internal and external), current awareness using discussion groups such as listservs and for ~ataloguing or copy verification.