Conference Programme
Initial programme details
Wednesday 17th September - pre-conference sessions
Academic and University Law Librarians are invited to a pre-conference discussion.
Law firm and Professional Services firm Librarians and Legal Information Professionals are invited to a pre-conference discussion.
Welcome drinks
Thursday 18th & Friday 19th - Presenters and Topics
Camille Tooman - First, we must listen: how the NZ Law Society Library heard the voice of the profession
Justice David Goddard - Digital technology in the courts – an update
Erin Cairney - If Not Us, Then Who? Law Librarianship in the Age of AI
Judy Eathorne-Gould and Philip Chung - NZLII and AustLII
Justice Layne Harvey - Whanaungatanga in justice and the law
Dr Kathryn Oxborrow Vambe - Working as a whānau: non-Māori law librarians working together to engage with Māori knowledge
Dr Karaitiana Taiuru - AI, algorithms and data through te ao and tikanga Māori perspectives
Annemarie Thomas - LIANZA - Te Tōtara: Your capability planning tool
Lisa Paul - Ten Tips for Upskilling and Preparing You and Your Team to Implement Gen AI Tools
Louise Bailey - NZLLA survey
Louise Norton - Whanaungatanga break out session
Dr Rebecca Downes - The paradox of remote work: closeness matters even more
Theresa Buller - Book launch: Essential Legal Research Skills in Aotearoa New Zealand
Full programme will be released in due course.
Thursday 18th September - Conference dinner
The conference dinner and quiz.
NZLLA Conference speaker highlights
The 2025 NZLLA Conference "Whanaungatanga: connections in the digital age" is fast approaching. The Conference will be held in Tamaki Makaurau | Auckland on 18-19 September 2025 and registrations will be open from 1 July 2025. We are excited by our speaker line-up and will be sharing a programme outline with you soon. Below we highlight some the presentations you can expect.
The paradox of remote work: closeness matters even more – Dr Rebecca Downes
Remote work can seem isolating. But it can also enable close and effective work with colleagues, users, partners and vendors – collaborators who would otherwise be unavailable to us. Thus, a pressing question becomes: how do we access the benefits of technology-enabled remote work, without giving up the relationships and connections that make work meaningful and important? Much can be learned by looking at organisations with long histories of remote working that, through trial and error, have adapted to maximise the positives of remote work and mitigate the negatives. Rebecca will discuss what can be learned from these organisations – how we can adapt our own work, how managers need to think differently about work, and most importantly, why close human connection continues to serve as the cornerstone of how we work—wherever we are.
Working as a whānau: Non-Māori law librarians working together to engage with Māori knowledge – Kathryn Oxborrow Vambe
Non-Māori law librarians face unique challenges when seeking to learn about or engage with Māori knowledge: often working sole-charge or in small teams and with subject matter and organisational structures strongly rooted in European paradigms and worldviews. Access to language learning or other cultural engagement opportunities may be more limited than in other types of libraries. And yet finding ways to develop in this area is as important for law librarians as for those in any other sector of the profession of librarianship. In her PhD research, Kathryn investigated the question of how non-Māori librarians in Aotearoa learn about and engage with Māori knowledge. In this talk, she will outline some of the findings including how non-Māori librarians can get started and keep going in their journeys of learning about and engaging with Māori knowledge, and will share some thoughts about how these might be applied by law librarians individually and as a whānau.
AI, algorithms and data through te ao and tikanga Māori perspectives – Dr Karaitiana Taiuru
This presentation focuses on enhancing cultural competency through a te ao and tikanga Māori perspective, emphasising the significance of Māori Data as a sacred Taonga, as stated by the Waitangi Tribunal (Wai 2252), which also noted that Māori Data is subject to Māori Governance and legal instruments, many of which, will be included in this presentation. Māori AI, Algorithmic and Data Sovereignty principles will be introduced, giving law librarians an opportunity to apply, and consider them with Māori Data, potentially ensuring culturally safe usage and storage of Māori data, that will both alleviate against bias with AI and Algorithms of Māori Data.
Ten tips for upskilling and preparing you and your team to implement genAI tools – Lisa Paul
Lisa will share ten practical tips for upskilling and preparing you and your team to implement genAI tools, based on the presenter's experience as a law library manager for a global law firm, managing a team in multiple countries. The tips highlight and share the real-world lessons and outcomes where this upskilling of the team led to direct involvement in the global project team to launch of an AI tool to the entire organisation and resulted in a significant shift in the brand, recognition and value of the research team within the organisation.