Biculturalism in New Zealand Libraries : implementations and problems

Abstract

Biculturalism in New Zealand libraries started as an interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi. There have been various discussions about bicultural policies in libraries. Most of the bicultural policies aim at improving the socio-economical status of Maori people in libraries, and giving them more opportunities and encouragement to use libraries. However, these policies are not concerned with the problem of the custody of public knowledge which has been the most sensitive and controversial issue in New Zealand libraries. The custody of public knowledge occurs when people claim the ownership of certain value attached to the public knowledge. Disagreements about policies on the custody of knowledge between Maori people and westerners are due to differences in the nature of public knowledge between Maori culture and Western culture, because the differences in the nature of public knowledge cause different expectations about what libraries should do. Therefore an understanding of relations between the nature of public knowledge and the role of libraries is necessary to provide better bicultural services in libraries.