Paul Nielsen

Background

About Paul Nielsen

I am passionate about the role libraries play in society and am excited by the challenges ahead to ensure they evolve with changing technologies amid a tight economic landscape. As Hauraki District Libraries Manager, I have successfully developed and implemented policy and procedures aligned to our overall strategic direction. At prresent we are designing the new Waihi Library and Service Centre, with a new Paeroa Library to follow in 2014/15. I have played a prominent role in particular with regard to ebooks in New Zealand, providing the catalyst for two significant events in the New Zealand library landscape: 1) co-coordinating negotiations with OverDrive that resulted in ebooks now being available in over 40 public libraries; 2) organising the nationwide 'Travel Light this summer with Library ebooks' roadshow to showcase these new services to the public and upskill library staff. Hauraki implemented Koha open source ILS is 2010 and hasn't looked back. The product is great, community fantastic and our support from Catalyst IT Ltd is first rate. Open source and Libraries are a great combination.