International Trade Library no.5: ELIS - Export Library & Information Service

ELIS is the Export Library & Information Service of the New Zealand School of Export. This service supports the teaching, exporters’ study and research of the School. Although it has a physical location ELIS is freely available through the web http://www.export.ac.nz/library.html and also through the Catalogue http://ets.kohalibrary.com/

Resources can be borrowed by enrolled exporters, but because there is an emphasis on digital materials many are made accessible through the Catalogue.

The New Zealand School of Export is housed in a building at Aokautere Park which in a former life was used by the Water and Soil Division of the New Zealand Ministry of Works. As a result of the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967, soil conservation work moved from the Department of Agriculture to the newly created Ministry of Works Water and Soil Division.

Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand says: ‘The Soil Conservation Centre was set up at Aokautere near Palmerston North, and investigated the impact of soil erosion on pasture productivity in the East Coast, and on Taranaki hill country. Research included testing poplar and willow species for controlling gully and slip erosion, and using remote sensing – such as satellite imaging and aerial photography – to assess the effects of erosion on the landscape.’ (Source: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/TheSettledLandscape/ChangingTheLandscape/SoilErosionAndConservation/en )

In 1986 the Ministry of Works was disbanded and the work which had been done here was continued by a Crown Research Institute in Palmerston North.

The room used by ELIS was a laboratory and there is still evidence of its scientific use in the continuing presence of a workable extractor fan.