Comments for NZ Parliamentary Library's 150th Weblog

Comment on Somewhat quizzical? by wga150

wga150 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:26:23 +0000

In October the quiz team went onto greater heights when the Library won the annual Diplomatic Trivia Night beating out the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the United States Embassy. The team called Dr Duncan’s Daleks included Duncan, Ed, Mike, Rachael, Rohan, Charles and Glen. The prize is a trophy and the task of hosting the next quiz in 2009.

Comment on The infernal machine by wga150

wga150 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:27:29 +0000

Following the descriptions of the dreadful process required to produce copies from the bound volumes of newspapers, does anyone remember which Honourable Member regularly bypassed the whole ghastly business by razoring the required items from the pages? (DM)

Comment on Issues and Returns by wga150

wga150 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:21:23 +0000

Jenny says, ‘I felt I should have elaborated a little more about the “pockets” used in the issue system. Each borrower was entitled to two pockets with their name typed on the front. The book cards from the titles they borrowed were then put into these and filed with the day’s issue, complete with the relevant coloured clip for that week. I also omitted to say that as well as staff from Parliament buildings we also had members of the Judiciary, and the Diplomatic corps with borrowing privileges, and they were frequently to be seen in the Library too.’

Comment on The infernal machine by asst80

asst80 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:02:52 +0000

Roneo O Roneo!
Roneo is the trade name of a duplicating machine used to create catalogue cards and sometimes the cause of distress. The process began with typing onto special stencils that cut into the waxy medium for reasons that later become obvious. Any errors on the stencil required correction by using a nasty green or red liquid with an uncanny resemblance to nail polish. After being checked and double –checked the stencils were batched for the copying process. The Roneo was best approached with great confidence as any hesitation was rewarded by a black inky mess. The stencil was attached to a revolving, inked drum and each turn of the handle resulted in a printed catalogue card. The critical moments were attaching the stencil and putting ink on the drum. Get it wrong and your card would not be straight or be a black mess or you would become part of the process with fingers covered in black ink. That all this fumbling took place in the full view of the Cataloguer was an added stress for young staff.

Comment on The infernal machine by alanesmith

alanesmith — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:44:17 +0000

As the “junior junior” between 1964 and 1966, one of my occasional tasks was “photocopying”. This was done using a machine housed under the main stairs – the process somehow involved the sheets of copy emerging slowly through a wringer-like apparatus into a fluid (rather like in an old-style photo darkroom) and then pegging the damp sheet on a wire to dry out for a few hours. The sheets of copy emerged very slowly from the thing like a mangle, much as described in the 1980’s posting above. In late 1964 or possibly 1965 (the date of the trial can be confirmed by a reference librarian!) I was given the task of photocopying, using this method, the complete transcripts from “The Times” of the Christine Keeler / John Profumo etc. trial in London. The slowness of the process, and the need to peg the pages on the line, check their dryness every now and then and finally unpeg them for collation, all meant that I was able to read the extensive Times reports line-by-line – all quite mind-boggling stuff for a callow 19-year old stuck in a darkened room! All in the interests of the impartial presentation of quality information, of course…… Alan Smith (1964-66)

Comment on Places and Spaces by vlc08

vlc08 — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:08:51 +0000

Forward Base (or F/B) was originally a room down the Speaker’s Corridor where the latest newspapers and periodicals were put out for MPs. For a while it was also ‘manned’ by Library staff at the ready to answer any questions. My time there was made memorable by one occasion when an MP assured me he didn’t need any help as he was just trying to avoid meeting someone in the corridor.

Comment on First tea or second tea? by wga150

wga150 — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:43:32 +0000

Following are some memories from Jenny who worked in the Library in the mid 1950s and again in the early 1960s.
In those days we had a tea lady, Mrs Hanson, and two quite hierarchical tea sittings. As a junior I was very definitely in the first sitting. But when I rejoined the library in 1960 after an absence of about four years I was promoted to second sitting. A regular member of this group was Alec McClintock, who had offices in the Library building while editing his “Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand”.

Comment on First tea or second tea? by asst80

asst80 — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:46:43 +0000

Being a lowly library assistant in Serials / Acquisitions also meant being on a roster to make the tea. For a week you had to fill and boil the zip, make two large pots of tea and tidy up afterwards. As the tearoom was on the first floor and there was no lift it was quite a performance.

Comment on First tea or second tea? by vicgoth

vicgoth — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:58:20 +0000

> ‘10 minutes plus 5 minutes travelling time’

As opposed to the current half hour round trip to Copperfields? ;>

Comment on First tea or second tea? by cslrc

cslrc — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:23:29 +0000

As a new staff member in the 90’s I went to first tea. A number of people had their special chairs and it wasn’t the done thing to sit in their seats. There was also a pecking order for who got to read the newspapers first!