Māori waiata : an examination of intellectual property law issues for music librarians

Abstract

Intellectual property is becoming a 'hot' issue not only for legislators but also for librarians, archivists and any person that uses the various forms of Maori traditional knowledge or cultural heritage. No longer is cultural sensitivity enough, but a working knowledge of Intellectual Property law, and in particular, the Copyright Act 1994 is required. The topic of this study was narrow, the intellectual property issues of Maori waiata.. The theoretical perspective guiding this research project was social constructionism using a mixed methods methodology. The sample population was selected from a small body of music librarians who worked in either tertiary academic or national institutions. A self-administered questionnaire was posted to the participants comprising of both closed and open-ended questions. The objective of this research is to find what particular areas of intellectual property law caused concern to librarians working with Maori information resources. The findings from this research project found that music librarians, although cognisant of various international and New Zealand laws, treaties and agreements, felt that there was too much conflicting information about intellectual property law and there was a lack of clear, up-to date guidelines. The research report concludes with a recommendation that further research be conducted to gain different perspectives from various Maori who are interested in this particular area.