Event Cancelled

Due to lack of interest, the Professional Development opportunity, Book Talks and Digital Tools for Curation, in Whangarei tomorrow, has been cancelled.

Study Grant applications due soon

Just a reminder that the closing date for submitting study grant applications is Thursday 24th of September 2015, and successful applicants will be notified in October.   SLANZA offers study grants each year, to those working in school library teams. Study grants are available for courses offered by an approved library education provider. We believe that continuing professional development is vital - it helps you increase the knowledge and skills you need to deliver a valued service to your school community, and it can open you up to new and exciting possibilities in the field of librarianship. 

If you are thinking about undertaking Library and Information Studies next year, you may be eligible to apply for assistance. Successful applicants will receive $600 towards the cost of a paper.

More information about the grants, including the application form, is available here. Sandi FaulconbridgeProfessional Development Team Leader

This Thursday in Kamo - love to see you there

Life Membership Nominations

The SLANZA National Executive is pleased to announce that nominations for Life Membership are now open.  You can read more about this on the blog post here.  The closing date for nominations is 10 September 2015 and it should be noted that some of the procedures have changed.  All the details are available on the website Life Membership Page.

History Books for Secondary Schools - BWB Publishing Trust

We are really pleased to share some terrific news for secondary schools today. 

The BWB Publishing Trust will be distributing a selection of BWB history titles to schools this week. Attached is an information sheet about the Books in School Libraries programme, and a list of the titles that schools will receive. The information includes a link to Teachers Notes for these books. Please share this news with your History teachers, and perhaps take the opportunity to talk with them about how these new library books and resources can be used to support student learning in your school.

On behalf of all SLANZA members I offer a huge "thank you" to the BWB Publishing Trust and their supporters - the Grace Memorial Trust, the Stout Trust (with the Friends of the Turnbull Library), and the family of Emeritus Professor Alan Ward - for making this possible.

Miriam Tuohy
President

Visit the SLANZA website for the information sheet with a list and details of the books being offered 

Nominations for annual SLANZA Awards

This is just a reminder that Nominations for the annual SLANZA Awards are open now and will be closing on the 15^th of this month. If you feel a SLANZA member’s professional work needs to be recognised, this is a great opportunity to do that.

The awards SLANZA  presents are:

Award of merit for information literacy

Award of merit for literacy and enjoyment of reading

Award of merit for promotion

Award of merit for research

Award of merit for library assistant

Principal's award

Certificate of appreciation

Certificate of recognition

The award nomination forms and criteria are available on the  website slanza.org.nz. The closing date for nominations is August 15 2015. Nominations should be forwarded to the address on the form. Awards will be presented at this years “ From the Ground Up” SLANZA Conference in Christchurch in September

Greig Daniels

Awards Committee

If you have any questions or queries don’t hesitate to contact me and I will forward your inquiry to the Awards Committee

Bringing the ear, the eye, the heart and the mind to poetry creation

Our guest speaker, poet Paula Green, treated us to two fabulous workshops in the first week of term, in Whangarei and Oromahoe, taking us to the realm of poetry making as the place to "fall in love with words".  Paula fell in love with words at an early age, reading the dictionary under the covers at night by torchlight - a self-professed "word nerd".

Paula talked about two key things to spark writing - writing about what you know, and writing about what you don't know - ie from your imagination, and then she demonstrated both through her poetry, from the observations of daily life (who amongst us doesn't have a cat who will find unlikely places to sleep?!) and from fantasy, riffing on a some very strange and possibly fearsome combination animals.

Paula showed us ways to get poetry "into the air", sharing it orally, generating rhythm and rhyme, word play and patterns and words that sing or pop, before putting it down on the page. She created "rules" about numbers of words or lines - and also allowed us to break them when we had a go at writing a poem ourselves.

Paula showed us a variety of ways to get into poetry reading and writing, from new entrants to secondary students level, and everyone went away with an anthology of ideas and renewed inspiration for sharing poetry in their classroom or library.

Now is the time to get your students to vote online for their Children's Choice category in the NZ Book Awards - and if they vote for Paula's The Letterbox Cat and other poems  it will send a good message to writers, publishers and booksellers about the appeal of poetry to children and the viability of publishing and promoting it in New Zealand.

Visit Paula's rich treasure trove of poetry ideas and inspiration on  The Poetry Box and The Poetry Shelf and explore the National Library Services to Schools poetry page too.

Do you have her books in the school library?  A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children is a must have and here is a link to the Random House Teachers' Resource Kit with ideas for introducing this book to students.

Paula at Oromahoe School Library

Very many thanks to Paula for sharing her passion for poetry and for helping children to discover the same, and to the NZ Book Council, Lynette Hartgill, Programmes Manager for arranging Paula's Te Tai Tokerau tour.   Thanks too, to the host schools for the SLANZA meetings - Marama Keyte at Manaia View School, and Annie McGlone, Principal and Liz Christensen, Librarian, at Oromahoe School.

President's message of handover

Having completed a 2 year term as President of The School Library Association, Bridget Schaumann is handing over the reigns of the work of the presidency to the very capable hands of President-Elect Miriam Tuohy, at the National Executive online meeting on Sunday. The official handover will occur at the AGM at the SLANZA conference in Christchurch in September, but the day to day work will be Miriam’s from the 26th of July.

Bridget would like to thank you all for your support and for helping our organisation grow and connect more widely and for all the help you have given in various ways to Bridget over her term.  Bridget will now become the Immediate Past President and we will soon begin the process of seeking a President Elect.

We will update the contact details on the SLANZA website and our social media sites in the next few days.

The SLANZA National Executive

Online professional Development - Connected Librarians

Registrations are open for the next SLANZA online Professional Development module which is on Social Bookmarking. 

This FREE online course is designed for those who would like to get started with online tools. 

For more information, see the SLANZA website

Term 2 Professional Development - Poet Paula Green

The New Zealand Book Council is bringing NZ Poet Paula Green up to Northland for school visits Week 1 of Term 3. Paula has kindly agreed to give two after school workshops for SLANZA. This will be a marvellous opportunity for librarians and teachers to meet such a passionate advocate for poetry, and to learn strategies and activities to lead children into poetry writing.

·         Manaia View School Library, Whangarei

Wednesday 22 July

3:30pm for afternoon, Paula starts her workshop at 4:00pm

FREE – kindly sponsored by the NZ Book Council

·         Oromahoe School Library, Kerikeri

Thursday 23 July

3:30pm for afternoon, Paula starts her workshop at 4:00pm

FREE – kindly sponsored by the NZ Book Council

Do have a look at Paula Green’s website The Poetry Box for a sample of her poetry, books, bookshops, children’s poetry, tips, competitions and challenges.

Contact me if you would like a copy of the PDF flyer to share

RSVP to me please

Post from President - SLANZA Needs You

Dear SLANZA members,

Our regional committees need you.  They need people who really care about school libraries to come along to committee meetings - or even to contribute online or by email - to ensure that our regions are able to continue.

Why do we need you:  
Our regional committees need a Chair, a secretary, a treasurer and a national representative to function.  They also need some committee members to share ideas and help. These people keep your region running, organising the events you go to, the PD you are offered close to home and in the major centres. You can’t have all this good stuff without having an enthusiastic bunch of people to make it happen.

New fresh blood is important.  Some of our regions are really struggling to find people to join the committee.

•      It isn’t an onerous job 

·         It is often really good fun
·         It looks great on your CV
·         You get to be more involved in what is happening near you and having a say in what is offered in your region
·         Principals love their librarians to be involved 
·         Enhance your skills and get to know some really great people.
·         Contribute to the development of school libraries in New Zealand

Are you interested?  Contact your local rep. Join at the next AGM. (Or just send an email to your rep saying you are keen to help.)  All our committees will welcome new members.  We really want new people to share their ideas and to get involved. We also need to have new people coming through the system so that SLANZA doesn’t run out of steam.

From a personal standpoint, being a member of our committee makes me happy, we have lots of fun, we enjoy coming up with ideas of things our members might enjoy. Making our events happen is exciting and stimulating and we build relationships and networks with cool people.

I heartily encourage you to get involved. Bring your passion for school libraries and make our organisation hum.
Bridget Schaumann
President SLANZA

Submissions sought on Diversity in the School Library for Collected magazine

Don't forget that we are open  for submissions to Collected 16.

The theme for this issue is diversity. How do we provide for  the cultural, social, ethnic, and recreational needs of the diverse special interest groups in our schools, such as Maori and Pasifika students, LGBT students, refugees, international students, students with special learning needs and the gifted and talented? Any articles that reflect this theme will be welcomed.

We also need articles on other matters that may be of interest to your fellow  SLANZA members. This could include book reviews, articles about awesome PD you’ve attended or provided or anything you may think will be appropriate

Our deadline is July 15. Details about submissions, images and the magazine in general can be found at slanza.org.nz under the Resources tab under Collected.

We look forward to receiving your submissions. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at slanzacollected@gmail.com

Greig Daniels

Editor, Collected

Call to join your SLANZA committee

An excerpt from my Chairperson's report:

At a national level SLANZA offers members Professional Development in many forms: Collected magazine; Connected Librarians - online courses; community discussions on Google+; and the National Conference. At a regional level your committee strives to offer members local Professional Development through sessions and workshops.

Unfortunately, SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau is struggling at the moment.  We have no contributions from this region to the Collected magazine, no one from this region enrolled in furthering education through Connected Librarians online PD, and only one member from Northland has joined the Google+ PD discussion forum. Shockingly, four of the last six events planned for members have been cancelled due to lack of interest. In addition, the three committee members that hold positions of office are stepping down at our AGM and there are no apparent members willing to join the committee.

I am disheartened and deeply concerned for the future of SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau.

“SLANZA will only thrive if members value and contribute to the organisation at the local and national level.”  

~ Lisa Salter ~

If there is a problem in the PD provided then communicate that issue or better still, get involved and be the change. If the problem is the distances to travel, members driving to committee meetings are entitled to a petrol subsidy or can connect through Google Hangouts or Skype.

Providing local Professional Development for school library staff, the SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau committee meets four or five times a year to plan, implement and action these events. Committee members are expected to attend and contribute at meetings which are usually scheduled to follow on after a PD session. As a team, there is not a lot of work. 

Please get involved in SLANZA by joining your regional committee.

AGM this Thursday, June 25, Kerikeri High School Library, 3:45pm for afternoon tea, 4:00pm start followed by a session on Digital Tools for Efficient and Dynamic Curation, finishing with a Committee meeting.

Replies/discussions to me please - jsmith@kerikerihigh.ac.nz

Connected Librarians - free online professional development opportunity

We are delighted to announce that the new modules for professional development have been reworked onto a new learning platform and are ready to go. This online professional development is a wonderful way to upskill, gain confidence in digital technologies, connect with other librarians, and to challenge yourself and your library practices. Registrations will open next week and I’m hoping to see some Northland faces in the mix of applicants.

Do consider this opportunity of free online professional development that is so highly relevant and tailored for school librarians.

In 2013-2014 SLANZA offered our very successful Connected Librarians course to members. We are grateful to those who participated, for supporting SLANZA’s professional development and also for giving us feedback on ways we might improve what we do.

As part of a major review of the course - including participant’s feedback - we are very pleased to announce that each of the six topics that made up the original Connected Librarians course will now be offered as individual modules. We believe this will make our course even more accessible, by removing some of the barriers to participating, and offering the flexibility to better fit learners’ individual needs. 

The course modules are designed and fully facilitated by practising New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians. They are ideal for those library staff just starting out with online tools, who are ready and willing to try new things. 

Registration is free for SLANZA members. Class places are limited.

Registrations for module #1 - Professional Reading using RSS feeds and Feedly - will open on Tuesday June 2nd (week 7). Successful applicants will receive invitations to our learning community in Week 9, and the class itself runs in Weeks 10 and 11.

More information about Connected Librarians is available here, or you can contact me directly with any questions.

Miriam TuohyProfessional Development team leader

Creative Commons and a Curation session, plus AGM coming up this term

We have an exciting professional development opportunity lined up for you this term. A Saturday morning session on June 20^th at Kerikeri High School Library which will include two sessions: the Creative Commons Road Trip for New Zealand schools which aims to spread the word about Open Educational Resources – relevant for both librarians and teachers, followed by a presentation on Digital Tools for Dynamic and Efficient Curation for both classroom and library knowledge management. Importantly, our AGM will be included as well as a Northland committee meeting. All details on the flyer.

We are critically short on members for our SLANZA committee, please seriously consider getting involved. We meet approximately four times a year, usually after a SLANZA event, with just a little work in-between times. Members can be Skyped in to join the meetings if they can’t attend. Please, please think about how you can be involved.

You are welcome to print/share the PDF flyer, email me if you would like another copy of the flyer as a pdf, and promote amongst your school community.

Questions and RSVP to me please by June 10^th.

National Library information now in your schools

Just a quick note to let you know that the National Library have now mailed (hard copy) a letter and details about the Services to Schools transformation project to your school. Please ask your Principal if this letter has been received and can be shared with you.  The letter and accompanying document outlines the strategy and invites schools to apply to be part of the project.

“Input from schools in shaping the future design of services

We are looking for 15 schools to join with us in further shaping the services so that they become the best they can possibly be. We will select the 15 schools to ensure representation of schools of different sizes, deciles, type and location. This is an excellent opportunity for your school to take a leadership role in influencing the services so they best meet the needs of all schools.”

Cathy Kennedy

Communications

SLANZA National Executive

Book Protection Products Conference Grant expressions of interest

SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau are offering members the opportunity to attend the 2015 SLANZA Conference, From the Ground Up, in Christchurch at St Andrew’s College, 28-30 September, during the school holidays.

The SLANZA Conference is the ultimate opportunity for Professional Development for school librarians. Bedazzled in choice with three days of speakers, sessions and workshops, you will be inundated with new ideas and fresh approaches for your school library as well as professionally for yourself. Around two hundred librarians are expected at the Conference so you will be surrounded by a community of like-minded people for discussions and this type of networking proves extremely valuable. Attending a SLANZA Conference is a wonderful experience that I can’t recommend highly enough. This is the first time Christchurch has hosted the Conference since the earthquake so it is extra-special supporting them. In addition, we have been offered affordable accommodation at St Andrew’s College’s new Hostel.

For many years SLANZA has been fortunate to have received sponsorship from Book Protection Products. Even though the business is under new management, they have willingly supported SLANZA again this year with their generous sponsorship. SLANZA National Executive has decided that these funds should be tagged specifically for assisting members to attend Conference.

Therefore, on behalf of SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau I am delighted to ask for expressions of interest in receiving a Book Protection Product Conference Grant. Members who have not received SLANZA Conference grant money previously may apply for this funding. In addition, members need to be willing to share their Conference experience back to the region at a SLANZA event and to submit an article in to the Conference issue of Collected.

Please apply in writing outlining your interest in attending, and the benefits you foresee for yourself professionally and for your school. Applications must be in to Julia Smith by Wednesday, May 13, 2015, Week 4 of term. 

From the President of SLANZA - Re: National Library Services to Schools Transformation Programme

The School Library Association of NZ Aotearoa National Executive is pleased that our concerns and the concerns of many people across the education sector, have been noted and that the implementation of the Services to Schools Transformation has been adjusted to allow schools time to adapt to the new service (click here for the information released today from the National Library).

The School Library Association is glad that our lobbying and the lobbying of our members, has resulted in the implementation of the new service provisions being slowed to allow for a more well thought out transition.  More importantly, the aspects of access to curriculum services have been addressed and this service will continue until the end of 2015.  

It heartens us to know that our concerns were listened to, and that a small organisation was able to make a difference within the massive wheels of government.  We are delighted on behalf of our members and also on behalf of the students and teachers who were so affected by the pace of these changes.

We would like to thank all the individuals who supported us, who supported the cause and who gave of their time and energy to send a clear message to the National Library about the effects of the changes.  We look forward to working with the National Library and being involved with the discussion about the implementation of the National Strategic School Library Framework, being involved in the research opportunities and the Professional Learning Networks.

Rest assured, your SLANZA National Executive will continue to work on your behalf and ensure that the voice of school libraries from all over the country are heard.

Bridget Schaumann

President

School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

SLANZA National Executive Meeting: 28 & 29 March

As you will already know from our communication regarding the meeting with the National Library, the SLANZA National Executive met last weekend and below is a summary of some of the areas of discussion. These are not full minutes but rather some of the discussion points to keep you up-to-date with the work being done on your behalf by the National Executive. 

Membership 

Our membership numbers remain strong with an increase to date compared with last year of new and renewed memberships.  The regions are all working hard to increase members as there is power in numbers – the greater the number of fully paid up members means the more work SLANZA can do to support libraries and student outcomes.  Talk to the people in your own personal learning networks and encourage them to consider a SLANZA membership. 

National Executive Meetings: Online or Face-to- Face 

Last year the NE trialled an online meeting using Google hangouts and although this can come with technical issues, it was still a useful and productive way to hold a meeting.  Because face-to-face meetings can be costly (flights and accommodation), it was decided that NE would hold just two face-to-face meetings in 2015 and the third meeting would be online (July).  We hope this will mean that the work of the Executive can be done but in a more cost effective way, enabling us to channel funds directly into projects for our members. 

Book Protection Products 

We are pleased to announce that once again Book Protection Products have agreed to sponsor SLANZA professional development in 2015 for $5000.  BPP have done this for many years and SLANZA values and appreciates this ongoing support that they offer our members and school libraries.  As the upcoming conference is our major professional development for 2015, it was decided to use these funds to sponsor members from all the regions to attend conference.  We are very aware that in many cases schools will not fund library staff to attend conference and we hope to make conference accessible to some of these members.  Watch for more information from your region on how you can apply for this sponsorship money to attend conference. 

Ministry of Education and the Future of School Libraries 

Karen Clarke shared a summary of her research into recent Ministry of Education documents and their position on school libraries.  SLANZA is staying well informed with the MOE directions and ensures that we not only advocate for the school library and librarian, but also align our directions with current education thinking.  If you are interested in knowing more in this area, below are some links where you might like to begin some reading. 

Future Focused Learning Report  
Digital Hubs in Schools  
Modern Learning Environments  

National Library and the Services to Schools Transformation Programme 

The outcome and information of this discussion has already been covered in an earlier communication.  If you haven’t received this please click here.  

  

Collected Magazine 

The next issue of Collected is due for publication early next term.  The theme will focus on reading and submissions for this issue will close on April 2^nd.  Articles on topics other than reading are also welcome and please don’t be shy about writing an article for Collected – we know there are some great things happening in school libraries all over the country and Collected is one way we can share and celebrate the work being done. 

As members of SLANZA you will be the first to receive your copy of Collected via an email link.  It is important that we show how much we value your membership and Collected will be available for general release a few weeks later.

Finance and Treasurer’s Report 

The financial report was presented and we are currently on budget for the 2015 financial year.  We have received some income from downloads of full text articles from Collected and $700 from the Open Polytechnic for an article submitted by Karen Clarke and Bridget Schaumann who have kindly donated this income back to SLANZA.  The National Executive are also considering a variety of other avenues for income which we hope will support initiatives such as Collected and our online professional development so these initiatives can continue to be free of charge to members. 
 

Conference: From the Ground Up: Growing Libraries for the Future 

The conference is shaping up well and we look forward to this event in September.  For current information regarding conference, click here. 

Conference 2017 

The National Executive had a lengthy discussion about the future conference in 2017 and the possibilities of alternative ways of providing professional development.  Conferences are expensive, time consuming for our regional volunteers and a major undertaking for a small organisation.  Because the future of a national conference and the possible alternatives is a major change for our organization, we intend to ask you, our members about how we can best provide professional development.  After our conference later this year we will survey our membership and ask for your feedback before we move forward on this issue. 

President, Immediate Past President and President Elect

Miriam Tuohy is currently our President Elect and will take over from Bridget Schaumann in July (the end of Bridget’s two year term.)  Because the AGM will not be held until the conference in September, this will be a ‘soft’ handover in July and the reins will pass over officially at the AGM in September.  A new President Elect will be confirmed at the AGM – watch for more information on nominations for this position. 

Online Professional Development 

Our very successful (and free to members) online professional development is about to get underway again.  The format for this will change slightly.  Rather than enrolling for all modules as a package, members will be able to just select individual modules to complete.  We will let you know when enrolments open as NE are currently looking at offering this via a new learning platform in order to improve and streamline this service.  

SLANZA Google+ Community 

SLANZA is about to launch a Google+ community where members can “share resources and to join in discussions relating to the practical day-to-day running of a school library.  We hope that members will share their knowledge and skills with each other and provide encouragement and help to those with questions.”   

This community will launch in the beginning of Term 2 where your request to join will be processed if you are a member of SLANZA.  If you don’t currently belong to Google+, make it your holiday task to set up your Google+ account.  If you are new to Google+ or Google products, click here for some helpful guidance. 

Thanks everyone and congratulations for making it to the end of this very long update on the work of your National Executive team.  As you can see by the scale of issues covered over the weekend, we are working hard on behalf of you all but also value hearing from you.  Please don’t hesitate to contact your regional representative with any issues or concerns that SLANZA may be able to assist you with. 

Cathy Kennedy 

National Executive Communications 

Changes to National Library Services to Schools and the Curriculum Service

This weekend the SLANZA National Executive met with Geraldine Howell and Mark Stanley from the National Library.  Geraldine is Director Literacy, Learning and Public Programmes and Mark is the project manager for the implementation of the Services to Schools Transformation Programme (SSTP). 

Firstly, thank you to everyone who attended meetings in their local regions, wrote their concerns to their SLANZA representatives by email, wrote letters and generated news reports regarding our concerns to the change in service.  Throughout the country, 20 meetings were held by SLANZA to discuss this issue and were attended by 217 SLANZA members.

The National Executive collated all your feedback from the regional meetings and correspondence.   From this we created a list of major questions regarding the changes to the Services for Schools and the implementation of the SSTP.  Geraldine and Mark were able to give us some clear answers and assurances to some of our questions and we are waiting on Geraldine’s written replies to these which we will then share with you, along with a summary of the verbal replies from the meeting. 

Many of the questions however, could not be answered at this time as some of the decisions made around the proposed programme have implications for National Library staff who must be (quite rightly) informed first.  To this end, we are told that a major announcement and information pack will be sent to Principals on Thursday from the National Library, both by surface and electronic mail.  Please make sure you ask your Principal to share this information pack with you and your teachers.  This pack will outline the proposed plan and service offer for the remainder of the year and the coming years from the National Library Services to Schools.  Geraldine assured the National Executive that our concerns have been listened to and expected we would see this reflected in this service offer on Thursday. 

The SLANZA National Executive also eagerly await this information pack on Thursday and the service provision it will outline. Once we have had time to read and discuss this document, we will send you further comment. 

Thank you again from the SLANZA National Executive and regional committees for your continued concern and commitment in ensuring we have services that continue to support our students and their learning outcomes.