NZ Journal of Forestry joins online library

New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF)
Te Pûtahi Ngâherehere o Aotearoa Inc.

MEDIA RELEASE
April 20, 2006

New Zealand Journal of Forestry joins online library of publications

The use of the internet for research and study has seen the New Zealand Journal of Forestry join the wealth of publications available online.

The move to have the Journal, the publication of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry, available and fully searchable on the internet was made due to increasing numbers of people overlooking it as a resource because it wasn’t available online, says NZIF president Jaquetta (Ket) Bradshaw.

“Publications not available on the internet get overlooked by scientists, historians, academics, students and policy analysts, to name few. If we don’t do it, all the information about New Zealand forestry (science, management, indigenous forests, plantation forests, forest history, forestry education and people in forestry) will become increasingly irrelevant.

“Those of us who are part of this electronic age owe it to the NZIF members who came before us to ensure that their wisdom and knowledge remains accessible to the next generation.”

In total 80 years of the Journal will be available online when it goes live. This will include the issues of the Journal formerly called Te Kura Ngahere, which was produced annually by the School of Forestry of Canterbury University College from 1925 to 1934.

Ms Bradshaw says that once the project to put the Journal online is complete, expected to be later this year, the website will allow visitors to access the contents page for each issue of the Journal and select an article by year, volume and page, essentially as if they picked a book off a shelf. Visitors will also be able to search the full 80 years of published Journals for articles that have content of interest. These articles will then be returned as a bibliographic list from which copies can be viewed on screen or downloaded to the user’s computer.

While the NZIF says it would be nice to have all issues available free to anyone wanting to search for information on New Zealand forestry, access is restricted to subscribers only for the three most current years. Anything older than three years will be freely available.

Ms Bradshaw says similar publications like the NZ Journal of Ecology and NZ Entomologist have also made their issues available online for similar reasons.

“The initial cost to set up the site was estimated at $27,000 with annual operating costs of between $500 to $1000. The money was raised from donations from NZIF members, companies and organisations involved in forestry in New Zealand. We’re very grateful to all those who are helping to make this project a reality.”

Notification of the Journal becoming another online resource for the forestry sector was made today at the NZIF Annual Conference, being held at Te Papa Museum, Wellington until April 23.

ENDS

http://nzif.eventmergers.co.nz/

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