Chinese community's expectations and perceptions with archives services : a case study on identifying archival information needs and archival information seeking-behaviour of the Chinese community

Abstract

The Chinese community has become the largest no-Maori ethnic minority group in New Zealand. As the Chinese community has been in New Zealand since 1860's, it has created an abundance of archives. Since the apology for the poll tax to Chinese people made by New Zealand government in 2002, a growing interest in access to archives has been shown amongst Chinese people. This research has attempted to identify the archival information needs and information-seeking behavior of the Chinese people in New Zealand, find the main factors that would inhibit them from accessing archives, and examine their satisfaction with existing archives services. The aim of this preliminary investigation is to provide a full picture of the Chinese archives user group to help archives institutions understand their users, tailor their services, and better meet the needs of the New Zealand Chinese community. The theoretical basis for this research was the "small world lives" theory proposed by Pendleton and Chatman (1998). It provided several concepts such as social norms and worldview to explain people's information needs and information-seeking behavior. In order to obtain a sound satisfaction assessment of Chinese users with archives service, the model of measuring service quality in academic libraries (SERVQUAL) was also applied. By using face-to-face interviews, the research found that accessing primary sources of Chinese history in New Zealand, especially immigration records, is the main archival information need of the Chinese community. Asking friends, one person in particular, and talking to family members were identified as popular channels to look for archival information. The research also found that all respondents had high educational qualifications and excellent English language skills. Due to lack of Chinese reading skill, some respondents had difficulties accessing records written in Chinese. The majority of the respondents felt frustrated by the lack of appropriate finding aids in archives institutions. Social and cultural obstacles, lack of archives awareness, and the lack of knowledgeable staff were identified as important barriers in seeking and using primary source material in archives institutions. It seems that many respondents were not satisfied with existing archives services, particularly in finding aids area. Recommendations are made in the areas of concern to archives institutions in the hope of improving the provision of services to the New Zealand Chinese community.