The new Map Librarians : Local perspectives and local experiences on digital spatial data and map librarianship

Map Librarianship is facing challenging times due to the explosion of digital information. Increasingly library users are expecting access to GIS and geospatial data as well as traditional paper maps. This presents many issues to most traditional library services. Now is the time for librarians to plan ahead and make strategic decisions about the future delivery and concept of the ‘map library’. This paper discusses challenges, issues, and solutions that the University of Auckland Library has been addressing over the last 2 years in order to improve and enhance use and access to maps and geospatial data