Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Study Grants for 2012

Are you considering study to further your knowledge?

Apply now for financial help from SLANZA!

STUDY GRANT APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

The National Executive of SLANZA is pleased to announce that we will again be offering
Study Grants to members for the 2012 academic year.

Selection criteria, application forms and other information is available on the
SLANZA website.

Applications close on Friday 28 October 2011, and can be emailed to slanza@xtra.co.nz .

Please direct any inquiries to your local representative

Lisa Salter lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz

Monday, September 19, 2011

Bob Docherty's Northland Visit


Bob Docherty visited WBHS last Thursday as part of a tour ably organised by Jeannie Skinner on behalf of SLANZA. Together with "Coach Bob" (Robert Pollock, HoD of Drama) the two Bobs wowed two large groups of Juniors in the Library with their unique partnership of book-talking and students being rewarded with chocolate bars for answering questions relating to the books. Afterwards there was a flurry of book borrowing.

This was our second successful visit and we would love to make this an annual event if other schools are willing to join us.

SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau AGM 2011 minutes

Minutes of SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau AGM
Friday 16th September 2011 at Whangarei Boys’ High School Library, 3.30 – 4pm.

Present : Di Eastwood, Lisa Salter, Catherine Pilkington, Vicky Garnett, Carol Crowley, Elaine Heeny, Dee Brooker, Stephanie Gibbons, Alyson Gates, Angela Margison, Trish McKinstry, Katie Langridge, Maria Quin, Garth Rodda, Jeannie Skinner
Apologies : Kaye Neely, Julia Smith

No matters arising from 2010 AGM.

Report from Lisa Salter, National Executive Northland representative : Te Tai Tokerau Report 2011

In May I travelled to Kerikeri to meet the SLANZA committee at National Librarian Jeannie Skinner’s home. I was grateful to see five librarians sitting around the table with Di Eastwood’s warm date scones to share.
First up we chose Petrina Yuretich and Angela Margison for conference scholarships, and our region sponsored two further members, Elaine Shields and Liz Christensen, and supported members who were presenting at conference. Angela’s post on the SLANZA blog summed up her experience and her appreciation of the key note speakers.

At the meeting we discussed what type of workshops we could offer our members and how and where to start. We decided to start in Term Two with small book mending and processing workshops in Week 8 or so spread around the region. Book Protection Products was approached for suggestions and support which Warwick Ashton readily made available. We arranged to hold sessions in Dargaville, Kerikeri, Whangarei, Kaitaia, Wellsford and advertised on the TTT SLANZA blog as well as sending emails to members. We opened it up to non-members and made it free as a way of promoting ourselves and providing practical support in the regions. Three of the workshops had enough interest to run. The most successful with 20 in attendance.
The more ambitious plan for Term 3 was achieved with Bob Docherty in the north for three days with successful afternoons in Kerikeri and Whangarei and Bob also going out to schools.

The Conference was a huge success and every member who attended went away full of new ideas, enthusiasm and stories to share.

I have attended three NE meetings in Auckland since October last year. Our July meeting was Fiona Mackie’s first as Chairman and most of the committee is also new so we took time to identify strategic goals and our roles and responsibilities toward achieving our aims. Our priorities are Advocacy, Professional Development and Communication. We meet again in November in Auckland.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me as I settle in to my new role. We are very fortunate to have Jeannie Skinner of National Library on our team, her experience and sound advice is invaluable. I look forward to working with you all and hope to be able to contribute more as my experience and confidence grows.
Lisa Salter, Te Tai Tokerau, SLANZA NE
Lisa proposed that this report be accepted, Maria Quin seconded, all agreed.

Treasurer’s report from Kaye Neely (delivered by Di Eastwood) SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau Financial Report for January to December 2010.

The attached accounts document the transactions that occurred during 2010. During that time only one event was held – the Collection Development Workshop. This ran at a small loss of $123.04.

Because of changes to the way funding was distributed from National Executive, there was much confusion in 2009 and funding for one 2009 Conference registration was late being received, so this shows in the 2010 financial year. No Conference was held in 2010. $500 was transferred from the Accelerator account prior to receiving the NE funds to ensure that we did not go into overdraft.

We remain in a reasonably healthy position, but need to be cautious about spending the money simply because it is there, because once it is gone it is gone. Consideration should always be given to ensuring events cover their costs.

Finally I would like to request that National Executive be asked to give clear instructions on accessing funding to support local events. Perhaps a motion could be moved to that end.

Prepared by Kaye Neely, September 2011
Di moved that this report be accepted, Lisa seconded, all agreed.
Action : Lisa to take to National Executive meeting a request for clarification around distribution of funding from NE to regions and to request the financial allocation for PD events in Northland.

SLANZA Term 4 2011
Term 4 meeting scheduled for Thursday 17th November at Whangarei Boys’ High School Library, from 2 – 4 pm, workshop with Lisa Salter on effective reporting in your school and “do you swim with sharks or dolphins?” presentation with Dr Hilary Greenbaum from Softlink on advocacy, communication and understanding roles.

SLANZA 2012
  • SLANZA will be based in Northland South for 2012.
  • Di Eastwood has stepped down from the role of Northland Chair which she has done so well and for so long – many, many thanks Di, and we know you will still be involved !
  • Lisa Salter will take on the role of Chair as well as National Executive representative meanwhile, and when the Northland South team meets in Whangarei in Term 1 2012 actual roles can be confirmed depending on interest and availability. Steph, Angela, Maria and Dee all expressed interest in supporting SLANZA in 2012.
  • Jeannie to send out survey to schools about ideas for meetings, preferred days and times.
SLANZA Northland blog
Jeannie promoted the SLANZA blog and encouraged everyone to visit it, comment on posts and add their contributions, and contact Jeannie if they would like to be an author and do posts on the blog. We can have as many authors as we like, so if you haven’t had a go at blogging before, this could be a good way to try it.

Meeting closed at 4pm.

Bob Docherty

I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Docherty, Jeannie. He really made the stories come alive. It is wonderful to hear such great story tellers. Cheers to Stephanie for hosting at the Whangarei Girls High School, on Thursday afternoon, 15th September.

Monday, September 12, 2011

SLANZA AGM 2011

Just to let you know that there will be a brief SLANZA AGM
  • this Friday 16th Sept 2011
  • in Whangarei after the Annual Northland Secondary PD day at Whangarei Boys' High School Library
  • at 3.30 pm.
We realised that the year is racing along and we hadn't had our Northland AGM which we are obliged to do, so have added it to the agenda for this day when there will be a group of us already gathered. I don't expect great numbers to turn up - we aren't having a guest speaker this time - we have just hosted Bob Docherty earlier in the week - but it is a formality we need to do, and this is inviting you to attend.

Anyone who would like to be on the SLANZA Northland Committee is VERY welcome. We seem to be more based in Kerikeri, but maybe we need to alternate SLANZA North and South in alternate years like we used to ?

The agenda is as follows : SLANZA AGM
  • National Executive Representative’s report – Lisa Salter
  • Chairperson’s report – Di Eastwood
  • Treasurer’s report – Di Eastwood on behalf of Kaye Neely
  • Election of committee – Chair, Treasurer, Secretary
  • SLANZA Northland blog – Jeannie
  • Plans for 2011 / 2012

Bob Docherty visits Kerikeri and Whangarei

Here is an opportunity to hear a knowledgeable 
and enthusiastic speaker
promote new and interesting children's and teen fiction


Come and listen to Bob Docherty, to find out what books hook teens into reading, and how you can hear about new books.

Bob Docherty

Bob Docherty:
  •       consultant promoting reading and literacy in schools
  •       20 years experience with National Library selecting fiction for the Schools Collection
  •            Judge and Convenor of Judges for the LIANZA Book Awards 2005-2008
  •       author of Bobs Books Blog - http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com
Kerikeri High School Library - this Wednesday, Sept. 14,
4:00-5:00pm

Whangarei Girls High School Library - this Thursday, Sept. 15, 
4;00-5:00pm

Afternoon tea will be provided at both venues at 3:30pm and a gold coin donation would be appreciated, plus there will be book browsing and buying opportunities with Take Note at Kerikeri and Storytime at Whangarei

Please email Jeannie re numbers for catering if you wish to attend

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Hello from Elaine

Really enjoyed going to conference. A big thank you to SLANZA northland for sponsering me. It was great to meet lots of like minded people and exchange ideas. Enjoyed the workshops especially Anita's on library displays, gave me lots of ideas to take back to share with my library teacher aide. Together we are creating a mural on native New Zealand animals in our library, to support our school Term three theme on our Country. I hope to get teachers and classes to contribute with visual and written language and art.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

SLANZA Conference 2011 sessions online

A number of the presentations from the recent SLANZA conference session are now available online http://www.slanza.org.nz/conference2011.html
so check it out... from the keynotes with Joyce Valenza and Judy O'Connell to a variety of presentations.

One of the sessions I attended was with Miriam Tuohy on Bookapedia battles
http://www.slideshare.net/miriamtuohy/bookapedia-battles-8784559 which sounded like an amazing event at her school, generating lots of reading, writing, talking and laughing about books.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Library displays

Anita Vandenberghe from St Kentigern's College Library did a great session at the Conference from all accounts - Elaine S is going to do a post about the actual workshop, but just to say here is the link to Anita's webpage
http://www.creativelibrarydisplays.com/

Latest themes are the Rugby World Cup, Daffodil Day this Saturday 26th August, and FYI the whole of September is Self-Improvement Month !

You can find these dates (and heaps more) on the Calendar of Events http://www.creativelibrarydisplays.com/calendar-of-events/
just to get you start thinking about your next display.

I did a post a while back on Library Zest about displays and there are a few more links there http://libraryzest.blogspot.com/2009/10/library-displays.html

Anita is based in Auckland but has a place at Waipapa and often comes north - I'm thinking a SLANZA meeting with her in Northland would be good. Would you come ? Shall I organise it? Let me know what you think...



Sunday, August 21, 2011

Dinner at The Fat Camel

Are you coming to the SLANZA meeting in Whangarei on Thursday 15 September to hear the wonderful Bob Docherty talk about the amazing children's and YA books he has read recently? If so, then think about joining us at The Fat Camel afterwards.

RSVP to Dee so that I can book a table.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Northland Membership

Have you considered joining SLANZA?
The School library Association works in a professional manner at a national level promoting school libraries and their staff. SLANZA's purpose is to:
  • provide a national voice for all members of the school library team
  • advocate for the critical role of school libraries in reading, teaching, and learning; and to provide support and networks for school library staff
  • improve the professional standing, working conditions and qualifications for all staff involved with school libraries
  • support professional development through conferences, network meetings, and regular newsletters
  • develop links with associated national and international professional organisations

At this years’ conference in Auckland four Northland members received grants to pay their conference registration. Julia Smith from Kerikeri High School Library was recognised with a SLANZA Award of Merit for Literacy and Enjoyment of Reading and five members from the north presented workshops.

We try and offer one PD session every term. This year in Northland we have held five Book Processing workshops around the north, offered a Newspapers in Schools workshop and are organising and promoting Bob Dogherty’s visit from Christchurch to talk to about Teen Fiction (see previous post for details of these events).

Currently about one third of schools are members in the North. Membership may be paid for by your school because it is to their advantage to have professional staff whose knowledge is current and relevant to support teaching and learning at their school. To join please download the membership form from the website: http://www.slanza.org.nz

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information.

Lisa Salter
RLIANZA
Library Manager Ruawai College and Community Library
Te Tai Tokerau Representative to the National Executive
lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Storylines Story Tour, August 25th 2011

This years Storyline Story Tour is coming up to Kerikeri. I quickly jumped in and put my hand up for a writer to come and visit us and guess what excitement abounds at Excellere College, we are having Des Hunt, children's author, calling into Excellere on the way up to the Kerikeri Family day, on the afternoon of August 25th.
Des Hunt's writing emphasises the environment, flora and fauna of New Zealand, while giving a sense of adventure children enjoy.
At the moment I am reading "The Peco Incident", a must read.
The Peco Incident is about two cousins in the school holidays coming across dead sparrows. Cousin Nick has a suspicious mind and in no time they are in an adventure of suspense and drama when meeting two hippie tourists near The Peninsula Egg Farm (PECO), finding dead chickens hidden in the bushes, and a hole cut in the fence of the chicken farm.
Good reading everyone,
Angela

Angela's first ever blog post

I was lucky enough to be granted a registration award by the SLANZA Northland Committee of which I am truly grateful. I am happy to say I gleaned good information from all of the sessions I attended, and will be able to put it to good use over the coming months. Thank you very much SLANZA Northland.

I thought I would write my post on the Key Note speakers.

Opening address by John Carr, writer, cartoonist, performance poet and stand-up comedian. Well! what a way to start ! His presentation call "Cold ducks, Old ducks and the never-ending wave"had me in fits of laughter. He rapped and rapped, about Mango's Medi-tags and Colostomy bags. What a great way to start such a full on three and a half days.
This should bring up the Mango Rap if you wish to reminisce.

Judy O'Connell, "Do you have the keys to tomorrow?" Well true to her title, e-learning lecturer in Library and Information Management in the Faculty of Education, Charles Sturt University, Judy is a mine of new information. I joined the Tweet community and follow her, well, every now and then,tweeting still hasn't become part of my daily routine, the sites she introduces to us are very "now". I have checked a few out and found them very useful.

Joyce Valenza, "The Wizard of Apps (seriously remixed)". I really enjoyed Joyce's enthusiasm, I would love to be able to visit her library, one day. I absolutely agree with her this is the best time to be a teacher-librarian. (My case just librarian). Keeping up with all the new opportunities that are presented today is an ongoing challenge, sifting through what is available and choosing what would be relevant for my little library.

Paul Little, "Future Imperfect". I could hardly hear what Paul was saying, unfortunately. He was speaking on the changing language of today.

Carol Hirshfeld, "Feel the Fear". A woman of my own heart! I really enjoyed hearing about her life and how that gave her the strength to be what she is today. A very successful lady who is currently the General Manager of Production for Maori Television.

Fleur Beale, "The Usefulness of Boundaries". Fleur is a teen writer, whose stories are made up from people and activities of her everyday life. Fleur is a very inspirational speaker, well received by everyone.

Please feel free to add to what I have written about these speakers.
Cheers, Angela

Monday, August 8, 2011

Good Advice for Teens Using Social Media


Are you concerned about how teenagers are using social media and what they are sharing publicly? As a parent of teenagers and a person in my school with influence on them I want to promote sensible use of all these new tools and environments.

I came across this letter to teenagers over the weekend and thought it was a sound and non-threatening way to get the message across. I have just blown up to A3 size and made a display promoting it. I will also ask teachers to post a copy in classroom, especially the computer room.

Have a look at the link below and feel free to share with everyone!

The Internet never forgets. Is that what you want for your future you?

http://socialmediatoday.com/brandsprout/330622/open-letter-teens-re-social-media

Sunday, August 7, 2011

A belated post ...

A belated post from me - my excuse is that I have been relaxing in sunny Rarotonga and since then have had a sad case of total information overload.

I found the ideas at the conference very stimulating both from the keynotes and the workshops as well as from the other librarians. It was great to connect with librarians not seen since the last conference as well as spending some quality time with my Northland "flockmates". Special thanks to Angela for providing transport and to my roomie Julia.

There was so much of interest at the conference. A few highlights were hearing ideas about marketing, branding and advocacy of the library. Being at the forefront of the e-book revolution when Wheelers launched their eBook Library Lending Platform and learning about how much Maori information was available through the National Library portal. Still working through all the material I received ....

Looking forward to seeing Bob Docherty again - do make the effort to see him if possible he is so enthusiastic about the books promotes it makes you want to go home and read them all!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Bob's Books : "I want your kids to read!"

I did a post last month, but just a reminder about the SLANZA meetings in week 7 this term with Bob Docherty from Christchurch promoting new and interesting fiction for teens. Could be of particular interest to English teachers.
  • Kerikeri High School Library, Hone Heke Rd, Kerikeri, Wednesday 14th September
  • Whangarei Girls’ High School Library, Lupton Ave, Whangarei, Thursday 15th September. Many thanks to both the host schools.
  • 3.45pm for afternoon tea, 4 - 5 pm for Bob
  • Free meeting, all welcome, gold coin donation welcome as contribution to afternoon tea, and please RSVP to Jeannie.skinner@dia.govt.nz with numbers attending which meeting.
Bob's Books blog is at http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/

Sunday, July 31, 2011

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.

Monday, July 25, 2011

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.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

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...