Summary of results of 2005-2006 reprints survey

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 second annual survey conducted by the PCO.

The survey

The 2005—2006 Reprints Survey, which closed on Friday 29 July 2005, was publicised on the PCO website and could be completed on-line, or printed and mailed or faxed. The survey was publicised in LawTalk and on the Government web portal, on the electronic noticeboard for New Zealand librarians (NZ-libs list) and LawHawk, and through emails sent to approximately 300 people who had expressed an interest in reprints. Letters were also sent to the various heads of bench of the judiciary.

Responses

55 responses were received: 35 via the on-line form, 10 by email, 8 by letter, 1 by fax, and 1 by phone. The majority of responses were completed on behalf of an organisation or agency, and many were submitted by the librarian or information manager. The breakdown of respondents was: 31 from government departments; 8 from lawyers/law firms; 6 from the general public; 4 from the judiciary; 3 from libraries; 2 from legal organisations; and 1 from publishers/booksellers.

Additional comments

A number of respondents took the opportunity to provide more general suggestions or comments. For example, we received a request for PCO to produce an annual alphabetical list of the reprints published (an alphabetical list is already available on the PCO website at http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/legislation/reprintspublished.shtml). PCO will consider all comments and assess whether user needs can be met.

Results

What would users like reprinted?
93 Acts and 7 Statutory Regulations were proposed for reprinting. The Act that was most frequently requested was the Employment Relations Act 2000, which is already on our reprinting programme and is expected to be published in the next few weeks. Even fewer requests for reprinting Statutory Regulations were received than last year, and only the Family Courts Rules 2002 received more than 1 request.

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).

How often would users like individual titles reprinted?
Ideally respondents would like reprints to be produced after every amendment. As far as electronic versions of legislation are concerned, this is one of the objectives of the PAL Project, which is intended to make available free to the public a comprehensive electronic database of current New Zealand legislation in an up-to-date form. In the meantime, however, most respondents indicated that reprinting after significant amendment or after a number of amendments is an appropriate and practical compromise. A number of respondents were more precise and suggested reprinting particular legislation after certain Bills have been passed.

2005-2006 reprinting programme

The legislation included in the 2005-2006 reprinting programme has been selected according to the following criteria:

• recommendations received in the 2005 reprints survey
• the significance of any amendments since the last reprint (if reprinted)
• the number of amendments since the last reprint (if reprinted)
• the significance of any amending legislation being drafted by the PCO
• any amending legislation on the Government's Legislation Programme
• inclusion in the list of top 200 legislation sellers for the last 12 months to 30 June 2005
• the ability of the PCO's resources to meet the demands of the reprinting programme.