Term 3 begins...

Just trying to get motivated for tomorrow, Monday, first day of term, but wait, I am so motivated. I have so much to share from the Conference, so much to get started on and a few things I should have finished last term. Thinking of all of my colleagues and hoping you are all rested up. Hope you are considering attending one of SLANZA's afternoons with Bob Docherty and have asked your school to support you attending the annual School Library PD Day with National Librarian Jeannie Skinner in Whangarei, both will energize you for the rest of the school year.
All the best for Term 3, let's make our libraries a shining example of how much we have to offer and how valuable we are.

Comments From a Conference Newbie

I'll try not to come across as too evangelical - apologies in advance if so! I had such a great time and met such great people and danced hard out on Tuesday night! School Librarians Rock!! For those of us working on our own it can be difficult keeping up with developments in library land, just managing my own patch is enough by itself thankyou very much. Before the conference, the theme 'On the Wave' would have better translated as 'In the Undertow'. The sessions I attended were all about giving me a life raft, with the right emergency provisions to be confident in welcoming the future, not ignoring it. To this end, I have created my first blog, (under development) and am excited about words that meant nothing to me before i.e. diigo, delicious, flickr, vimeo. Not only that, but I feel connected to this network of fabulous professionals in a way I previously hadn't. I only wish more of us could have been there to take advantage of the truly inspirational sessions and knowledge. Please don't hesitate next time. And yes it was challenging, but moving forward can be that at times. And a special thanks to my roomy, Lisa Salter who I really enjoyed getting to know better. Thanks Lisa.

Moving on : young fiction

Just a quick post to say that if you are interested in the Young Fiction / Quick Reads area of your library which Liz and I did a session about, you can come and join the online community set up on the National Library Services to Schools site.

If you already a member (free for anyone to join) then just find the Moving On online community and join... http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/community

If you are not a member, here's how to join - it is easy to do !

1. Go to the online community page http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/community and click on Signup

2. Choose a user name (something easy to remember and recognisable is good, like your first name and initial/ surname rather than "book girl" or something), and then add your email address.

3. Now scroll down - click on Moving on (and any other groups that take your fancy but if not now you can always add more later.)

4. Tick the box to receive National Library Services to Schools newsletters if you wish.

5. Add the name of your school and your location - if you want to put more info that's fine eg photo etc, but again, that can be added later.

6. Decipher the horrible double letters and click on Create new account

Now, what happens next is that you get an email saying Welcome to the online community. It will give you a "temporary password" but you don't need to worry about that - it will also give you a direct link to the page and ask you to choose your own password. Choose something easy to remember, but if you forget it you can always ask for a reminder. If you don't receive an email welcoming you, check your spam folder as sometimes "no-reply" messages get sent there.

Now you are a member of the online community. You will receive a notification each time a post is done in any groups of which you are a member, and you are able to make comments or add posts yourself to connect with others interested in the same area.

For Northland people, there is also the Northland Networks online community, another group open to all, with posts about our school library network meetings in Northland each term.

Congratulations to Julia

Congratulations to Julia Smith from Kerikeri High School Library, on her SLANZA Award of Merit for Literacy and Enjoyment of reading, presented at the SLANZA Conference by the SLANZA President, Senga White and pictured here with the Conference Co-convenor and incoming SLANZA President, Fiona Mackie.

Julia's Award was given in recognition of the great Kerikeri High School Library blog Cover to Cover which Julia created and manages - check it out if you haven't visited this wonderful resource.

If you know someone in the school library community who is deserving of an Award, have a look at the SLANZA website for more information about the various possibilities - recognising work in reading, information literacy, promotion etc by library staff, teachers, principals...

SLANZA Conference 2011

Thanks Lisa for gettting us started here on our Northland SLANZA blog with some feedback from the Conference to our colleagues in Northland, and beyond...

There was a great group from Te Tai Tokerau...

• Lisa Salter, Ruawai College - Northland SLANZA National Executive rep
• Di Eastwood, Kerikeri High School - Northland SLANZA Chairperson
• Julia Smith, Kerikeri High School
• Liz Christensen, Ohaeawai School
• Angela Margison, Excellere College
• Trina Yuretich, Ahipara School
• Elaine Shields, Kaikohe East School
• Dee Brooker, Whangarei Boys' High School
• Stephanie Gibbons, Whangarei Girls' High School
• Jeannie Skinner, National Library

Here are most of us, sitting front and centre in the front row, early birds waiting for the rest of the crowd to appear... From left to right, Steph, Dee, Angela, Julia, Liz, Elaine, Lisa.

Lisa presented a workshop on good reporting, Julia presented a workshop on blogging, and Liz and Jeannie presented a session together on young fiction creating readers, and we can share elements of those workshops here. There is so much other good information to share too from all the various workshops we attended, so hopefully we are all going to have a go at posting here on this blog to pass on information and links with you.

To start off, here is a link to the two main keynote presenters, Judy O'Connell from Australia and Joyce Valenza from the United States. They were impressive, inspiring, challenging, overwhelming, encouraging, expert, articulate, generous, knowledgeable, passionate, and 100% committed to student learning and empowerment.

Judy O'Connell - see her blog Hey Jude and her presentation "Do you have the keys to tomorrow?" http://heyjude.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/do-you-have-the-keys-to-tomorrow/

Here is the link to the public document written during Judy O'Connell's workshop session, showcasing many of the great ideas shared during Find it fast and get things done http://bit.ly/mYILEn

Joyce Valenza - here is the link to Joyce Valenza's SLANZA conference 2011 presentation and many more of her fantastic ideas http://joycedownunder.wikispaces.com/

You can post and share learning and ideas in the SLANZA ideas section.

From here you can follow links to her school's virtual library at http://springfieldlibrary.wikispaces.com/ and her School Library Journal hosted blog The Neverending Search at http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/


The next SLANZA conference is in Wellington in 2013, so start planning to attend that one if you can !

SLANZA Conference- Riding the Wave of Change

An inspiring group of librarians traveled to the very successful SLANZA conference in Auckland this week and were motivated to Ride the Wave of Change in Libraries.
It is true that you don't know what you don't know, and I have been empowered to take my learning and sharing to the next level. I've now tweeted, blogged and started looking for my 'flock'.

Coming up in Term 3...

Just a quick post to say that SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau will be hosting teen fiction enthusiast Bob Docherty in Northland in week 7 of Term 3 - two meetings scheduled :

• Wednesday 14th September, at Kerikeri High School Library and
  
• Thursday 15th September, at Whangarei Girls' High School Library
• After school - 3.45 for afternoon tea, 4 - 5 for Bob and his booktalking extravaganza...

Here is a link to Bob's blog http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/ but reading the reviews is no substitute I've been told to meeting Bob in person and being engaged by his passion for teen fiction.

This session would be great for teachers of children in upper primary (Year 5 / 6), intermediate and secondary schools - how often do they get PD on what is new, great, classic, popular, award-winning, controversial... in the teen fiction scene ?

Wayne Mills said that teachers who don't read children's / YA literature should be sacked ! Fighting talk, but how can you possibly promote the books and reading if you don't read it and know about it yourself ? Please share this opportunity for enjoyable, relevant, free PD with others in your school.

More information to come early next term, meanwhile put this date in your diary, gather a carpool, and plan to come to these hospitable school libraries for a book-y afternoon...

Northern Wairoa Has It Covered

Braving wind, hail and rain twenty one librarians converged on Dargaville Intermediate School Thursday 7 July to have a look at ways to cover books.

After a masterful display from Linda and Allison, so kindly lent to us by Kaipara District Council Dargaville Library for the afternoon, we all rolled up our sleeves and had a go. Also presenting was Fleur Simpkin from Ruawai Primary who shared her proficiency with the sticky stuff (cover seal / duraseal) and made it look easy (which we found it was with her fool-proof methods).

Warwick from Book Protection Products was in attendance and keenly showed us all how to save and preserve books with his drill and stitch method. Dargaville High School Library was the lucky winner of Book Protection's Library Find-it Index.

Even those who have been covering books for years learned a few new tricks, and if the decibel level is any indication of the value of the workshop then it was uproariously successful!

Thank you to Kim and Diane from Dargaville Intermediate School for hosting us all in their very warm and welcoming Library.

Covering and collegiality

A series of book covering workshops took place, from small to large, over the past few weeks, and it was an opportunity for some capable and generous people to share their expertise with colleagues from local school libraries.

Rachel Rahui hosted a dozen or so at Hurupaki School - she reported that they were all actually very proficient book coverers so they shared some tips and techniques and suppliers and had an enjoyable catch up. There was a draw for a Book Protection Ltd Library Index and the very happy winner was Leeann at Hora Hora School.

Liz Christensen had a session at Kerikeri Primary School with people coming from Matauri Bay and Okaihau as well as a few locals and it was a useful opportunity for some newbie librarians to practice covering, as well as ask about other aspects in the great library that Liz developed. Jenny Puckey had a good meeting at the lovely Kaitaia Primary library with Linda from Mangonui which was appreciated.

Lisa Salter from Ruawai College organised a great workshop in Dargaville with full involvement and support from Kaipara District Libraries too, and she is going to do a post about it here too so I'll let her tell about it.

Many thanks to all involved - for providing /attending /hosting - creating opportunities for networking and information sharing.

School library gathering at Hurupaki School