Janet Copsey is a New Zealand librarian, and University Librarian Emeritus at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. Copsey is a Fellow of the

Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa The New Zealand Library Association Inc., operating as LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa), is the professional organisation for library and information workers in New Zealand, and also promotes library and info ...

, and Past President and Vice-President of the University of Auckland Society. She was Chair of the Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance from 2013 to 2015, and has served on the OCLC Global Council.

Career

Copsey has a Dip NZLS from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, and a Bachelor of Arts and Dip Bus from the University of Auckland. Copsey was a librarian at the University of Auckland and Director of Libraries and Learning Services. Under her leadership, the university joined the

Orcid The ORCID (; Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a nonproprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify authors and contributors of scholarly communication. This addresses the problem that a particular author's contributions to the scien ...

scheme to assist in correct attribution of university researcher's work, and saw a shift in student need from physical to digital resources. Copsey led the formation of the university's

Kate Edger Kate Milligan Evans (née Edger, 6 January 1857 – 6 May 1935) was the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree, and possibly the second in the British Empire to do so. Early life Edger was born in 1857 at Abingdon, Berkshire, E ...

Information Commons, which opened in 2003. Copsey was elected as a Fellow of the

(known as LIANZA) in the 1990s. In 2006 she was appointed by the government to the Library and Information Commission, alongside Bill Macnaught, Evelyn Tobin and Paul Thompson. The commission advises the Minister of Internal Affairs on issues relating to libraries and information services, and specifically including

mātauranga Māori Mātauranga (literally ''Māori knowledge'') is a modern term for the traditional knowledge of the Māori people of New Zealand. Māori traditional knowledge is Interdisciplinarity, multi-disciplinary and Logical holism, holistic, and there is c ...

. Copsey was also a member of the Council of New Zealand University Libraries, and an inaugural member of the

OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...

Asia-Pacific Regional Council. From 2008 she served a two year term on the OCLC Global Council, and between 2013 and 2015 she was Chair of the Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance, which focuses on improving global access to digital scholarly materials. As of 2024 she is Vice-President of the University of Auckland Society. She was President of the society from 2016 to 2020 and was elected vice-president in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copsey, Janet New Zealand librarians Victoria University of Wellington alumni University of Auckland alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people