National Executive October Communique

The National Executive met last weekend in Wellington at Raroa Intermediate School. Below is a summary of some of the discussions covered at the meeting. This communique is to keep members up-to-date with the work being done on their behalf by the National Executive.

News

Due to unforeseen circumstances, SLANZA President Karen Clarke has resigned. National Executive would like to acknowledge all she has done for SLANZA. During the last five years on NE Karen worked hard as Treasurer to balance the finances, and in her position of President Elect and President, she initiated many projects to improve the role of library staff. Thank you Karen for all you contributed and we wish you well.

Likewise, Jacky Reid has stepped down from her position as SLANZA Administration Officer. Jacky has been with SLANZA for a year and we wish to thank her for all her work.

Vacancies

Therefore, SLANZA National Executive is calling for nominations for the position of President. This position requires an in-depth understanding of the workings of SLANZA and its stakeholders so it is preferable that this person should be either a current member of the National Executive or someone with previous National Executive experience. Nominations are open from Wednesday 19 October until Friday 18 November 2016. Nomination forms are attached.

Sandi Faulconbridge has accepted the National Executive’s nomination for President. Sandi has been involved in school libraries for twelve years and is currently Library Manager at Taradale Primary in Napier. She has been Chairperson of the Central region and represented that region on NE since September 2014. Last year she took on the role as Team Leader for Professional Development and has run that admirably.

NE will be calling for nominations for the position of President Elect early next year.

In addition, NE are looking to fill the role of the Administration Officer. This is a paid position of up to ten hours a week, responsible for the day-to-day administration of SLANZA. This position will be advertised shortly.

Special Meeting

A special meeting needs to be held to ratify the changes required to the SLANZA constitution and to confirm election of a new President. We will be sending a form out to our regional committee members shortly asking to hold a special meeting. We need to gather sufficient member numbers (twenty) in order for this meeting to be called. Following this, an on-line Special Meeting will be held.

Fee-free offer from The Open Polytechnic

We have been overwhelmed with the positive response from the free fee study opportunity offered to our members in association with The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Being strongly committed to raising the professional standing of school library staff, NE are very grateful to TOPNZ for their willingness to offer some Level 6 papers free of cost to SLANZA members. Read the announcement on the SLANZA website for details. Don’t forget that enrolments for trimester 3 close on 23 October. We encourage members to take advantage of this amazing study opportunity.

Conference

SLANZA Conference 2017, Fiery Futures: Igniting and Inspiring Libraries, is now seeking abstracts for presentations at the conference. Do consider presenting a session, 15, 30 or 60 minutes long. For more information, see the conference website. Abstracts need to be in by October 31.

Collected Magazine

Thank you to all the members who have submitted articles for Collected magazine. The theme is ebooks, although we will be treated to other articles of interest as well as book reviews and business member submissions. Currently in the editing stage, the nineteenth issue of Collected will be out soon.  

Ebook Library

While we are on the topic of ebooks, don’t forget our ebook library of professional development books. We appreciate Wheelers support in providing our eplatform for free, as well as giving us some additional titles. You may register here anytime although this offer is only available for members of our organisation.

Connected Librarians

Congratulations to all those members who completed the Term 3 Connected Librarians online learning module. The topic was Content Curation, where participants explored how they could support students and staff by providing great digital resources. Connected online courses are free for SLANZA members and are another option for school library staff to extend our learning. Watch out for the next module in Term 1.

Google+ Community

The discussion topic, Transforming Your Library based on the ideas of Rachel van Riel, is due to finish this week. However, you may watch the videos and add to the conversations anytime. Rachel shares valuable insight into library management with her reader-centred library approach and the discussion questions aim to spark conversations and debate.

Readers Survey

Expect to see the annual SLANZA Readers Survey out towards the end of next month.

SLANZA National Executive would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing commitment to SLANZA and wish you all a great term 4. We will continue to work on your behalf and ensure that the voice of school libraries from all over the country are heard.

Julia Smith

Communications