Background
The PCO reprinting policy provides that a reprinting programme will be established each year, in consultation with key users of legislation. These are the results of the fifth annual survey conducted by the PCO.
The survey
The 2008 Reprints Survey, which closed on Friday 15 August 2008, was provided on the PCO website and could be completed on-line, or printed and mailed or faxed. The survey was publicised in LawTalk, on the PSI Agency Noticeboard, on the PCO website, on the electronic noticeboard for New Zealand librarians (NZ-libs list), and through emails sent to 285 people who have expressed an interest in reprints. Letters were also sent to the various heads of bench of the Judiciary.
Responses
This year, 43 responses were received, which is very much on a par with last year when we received 46 responses. The majority of responses were completed on behalf of an organisation or agency, and were submitted by solicitors. The breakdown of respondents was: 31 from government departments and local government; 5 from the Judiciary (on behalf of colleagues); 4 from lawyers/law firms; 2 from printers/publishers/booksellers; and 1 from librarians.
Results
What would users like reprinted?
118 Acts and 15 Statutory Regulations were proposed for reprinting. This represents a slight increase compared to past years (in 2007,
92 Acts and 12 Statutory Regulations were requested; and in 2006, 93 Acts and 7 Statutory Regulations were requested).
With 4 requests, the Crimes Act 1961 was the most requested title this year. As in previous surveys, fewer requests for reprinting Statutory Regulations were received and fewer requests were received for each title, but the Building Regulations 1992, which include the Building Code, received 2 requests.
Why would users like these particular titles reprinted?
The responses fell into 4 main categories:
- regular use by the respondents (numbers of users were provided in some cases)
- the number of amendments
- the significance of amendments
- usability and clarity (annotations to existing reprints have reached capacity).
Why would users like paper copies of these reprints when compiled versions are available free of charge on the New Zealand Legislation website?
The most common reasons for users requiring hard copy reprints relate to the portability of hard copies that may easily be taken to meetings, workshops,
conferences, and into court; or annotated by the user. Although the PDF may be printed from the website, larger pieces of legislation are easier to handle
when bound or printed in pamphlet form. Lack of Internet access by some users of legislation, and the fact that some public library customers are uncomfortable
with online access, were also cited as reasons why hard copy is still the preferred format of reprints for some respondents.
Officialisation programme
The hardcopy reprints programme is undertaken in addition to the officialisation programme whereby the PCO's Reprints Unit check all principal legislation in the database (provided by Brookers) to ensure that it is correct and that all amendments have been incorporated accurately. All titles on the 2008–2009 reprinting programme would also, in their turn, be officialised but, by meeting the criteria to appear on the hard copy reprinting programme, they 'jump the queue'.
2008-2009 reprinting programme
The legislation included in the 2008-2009 reprinting programme has been selected according to the following criteria (not ranked):
- recommendations received in the 2008 reprints survey
- recommendations received since the 2007 survey
- the number of amendments since the last reprint (if reprinted)
- the significance of any amendments since the last reprint (if reprinted)
- any significant amending legislation being drafted by PCO
- any amending legislation on the Legislation Programme
- inclusion in the list of top 200 legislation sellers for the last 12 months to 30 June 2008
- inclusion in the list of top 50 title searches on the New Zealand Legislation website.
This year we have also taken the opportunity to reduce the number of bound volumes users are required to keep on their shelves. This year’s reprinting programme will make the following volumes redundant: RS Volumes 9, 15, 22, 32, and 33.
The PCO website provides an up-to-date list of the current reprints programme, and provides a complete list of the hard reprints published since the surveys began in 2004.