Reading inspiration at Whitcoulls

Our first SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau event of 2019 was an enjoyable and well-attended evening at Whitcoulls, Whangarei, in the first week of the Term 1 school holidays.

We gathered at 5.30 as the shop closed to the public, and were given a warm welcome, with refreshments provided, seating all set out, and a goodie bag of treats each - notebook and pens, flyers etc and some free books which always goes down well with librarians and readers!

We were fortunate to have as guest speaker Whitcoulls book buyer, Joan MacKenzie of Joan's Picks fame.  Joan gave an interesting, lively and insightful talk based on her many years experience in the book trade and a lifetime of wide reading. 

  
Many thanks to Whitcoulls for their hospitality and to Marama Keyte at Kamo Primary for organising it all.



After some sharing of reading recomendations and good book shopping with discounts, there was a convivial SLANZA committee meeting at the next door Dickens Inn for some planning for events for the rest of the year.
The SLANZA TTT committee is working hard to create opportunities for professional development and collegial networking, and just need you to come and join in :-)

Organising and utilising an army of Student Librarian Helpers : SLANZA TTT Term 4 event 2018

Te Tai Tokerau AGM and professional development

SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau held our 2018 AGM and professional development event for Term 2 at Whangarei Library on Saturday morning, and it was a stimulating, friendly, interesting morning. 

We started with the AGM while some technical issues were sorted, and members have been sent minutes from the AGM and Julia Smith's National Executive Report.

The AGM included a short discussion about the important task of reviewing and renewing SLANZA's Vision Statement and Mission Statement.  Feel free to contact Julia with any thoughts or suggestions about this to feed into the overall review process.  Read more in previous blogpost here. 

Wheelers  ePlatform 

Farah from Wheelers gave a great overview of the Wheelers ePlatform and options for schools for both ebooks and audio books, and drew on her personal experience as a reader of both formats. 
Current subscribers appreciated the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback with ideas for ways to make it easier for students to find the books they want.  Persistent and innovative marketing is crucial for making ebooks visible and inviting for readers.
 

When talking about harnessing the potential of audio books, Farah shared a useful infographic from the US Audio Publishers Association (Licensed for sharing with attribution)  How Audio promotes Literacy
and the links to the research behind this infographic is here


Megan Davidson : engaging readers with engaging booktalks

I tried to get a photo of Megan in action when she was talking about the art and science of book-talking and it was practically impossible (for my amateur photography skills) because Megan was so animated - hand gestures and facial expressions like lightning!  Her energy and enthusiasm filled the room and you could well see how she is able to successfully engage students with books...

Megan shared her practical strategies and variety of approaches, and encouraged everyone to give it a go -plan, practice, promote...

The links to her resources are here at the SLANZA Conference website - this may be something you'd like to share with English teachers?

Here's a link to the youtube video Megan has made so you can see her in action!  The bit at the end when the students rush up to get the books says it all...
 

Thanks to those who came along and gave up their Saturday morning to become more informed, inspired and connected to their library colleagues in other schools.  It takes a bit of time, money and organisation to create events like this and it is all worthwhile if people pick up on the opportunities!

Reviewing and renewing SLANZA's Vision and Mission statements

Good morning everyone

SLANZA feels it is time to revise our vision and mission statements. These are important to our organisation and we want to get them right to guide us in our strategic planning. Below are our new proposals, however we would encourage member participation in tweaking them, or even re-writing them. Any alterations will be submitted back to NE for consideration before we present the new statements at our AGM in September, which will need to be ratified by member vote.

I will be asking for feedback at our regional AGM on Saturday, but thought you would appreciate some time to consider these statements. If you are not attending but would like to submit a suggestion, please reply to this email.

VISION STATEMENT

Where do we aim to be? Inspirational and motivational statement that captures the essence of an ideal future, achievable, empowering, provides a sense of direction that focuses our organisation’s efforts.

MISSION STATEMENT

What do we do? For whom? Why? Purpose and values of the organisation, who the organisation is for.

Our Current Vision Statement

The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Te Puna Whare Mātauranga a Kura (SLANZA) aims to strengthen and promote the role of school libraries, to enable all school communities to become information literate.

Proposed New Vision and Mission Statements

The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

Te Puna Whare Mātauranga a Kura

VISION STATEMENT

SLANZA will empower and support school librarians and strengthen and promote school libraries in Aotearoa New Zealand

MISSION STATEMENT

SLANZA is the national professional organisation focused on school librarians and school libraries providing community, guidance and professional development on library practice and programmes while reflecting the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi

Thank you for your time

Julia

Julia Smith BAppSci (ILS)

Qualified Librarian

Kerikeri High School

Hone Heke Road

Kerikeri

Ph: 09 407 8916

SLANZA co-president

SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau representative on the National Executive

SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau chairperson

SLANZA Te Tai Tokerau

Term 2 event, June 2018, Whangarei

Getting books in hands and on devices: promoting print and digital reading options

Come along to hear about ways to get students reading, digital and / or print books.

eBooks and Audiobooks
We'll start the morning with Wheelers who will demonstrate their ePlatform. Bring your own device if you'd like to have a hands-on session exploring what it looks like and how it works, otherwise just come along to hear all about it and how it is going in other Northland schools.

After a brief SLANZA AGM and a lovely morning tea, our second guest speaker is
Megan Davidson, the teacher librarian at Westlake Girls' High School who will share the art of booktalking to engage readers.

Megan regularly book talks a pile of books to students and then stands back as they rush to the table to grab the titles they are keen on. It doesn't take long to give a hook into a book, but it is a powerful way to get the students eager to find out more. Megan was recently selected to participate in the World Booktalk Championship Competition!

This morning professional development is suitable for primary, intermediate and secondary school library staff and interested teachers. All very welcome.

Programme

• 9.45 - 10.00 : Join for a cuppa and catch up
• 10.00 - 11.00 : Wheelers presentation on eBooks and Audiobooks for your library
• 11.00 - 11.30 : SLANZA AGM and Morning tea
• 11.30 - 12.30 : Guest speaker Megan Davidson The Art of Booktalking
• 12.30 : Farewell

Getting books in hands and on devices: print and digital reading options

When

Saturday, June 23rd, 9:45am-12:30pm

Where

5 Rust Avenue

Whangarei, Northland

More information

• Our meeting is at the Whangarei Central Library in the May Bain room (upstairs).
• Free for SLANZA members/schools.
  $10 for non-SLANZA members, payable on the day.
• RSVP please to Julia Smith jsmith@kerikerihigh.ac.nz
• The Forum North carpark is free on Saturdays.

Get Directions

Thanks to SLANZA's sponsor, Book Protection Products, Ltd.

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Submissions open for next Collected Magazine on Reading

The next issue of  Collected magazine is being prepared and we need as many of you as possible to contribute and share your expertise with us all.

The theme for this issue is Reading:

It will cover:

Professional Reading

Personal reading

Reading programmes (that you use successfully or want to try)

Reading Activities (how reading is promoted by you or your school)

Literacy in schools

Primary School Reading Activities and programmes (it would be great to get more input from our Primary Schools)

We also need any other articles of interest, book reviews and articles of interest about local activities and events. The call for Submissions begins September 18 and deadlines for articles will be October 20^th.

If you have any questions or concern,  please don’t hesitate to contact me at

collected@slanza.org.nz

Greig Daniels

Editor, Collected

Term 4 Connected Online Learning Module - Active Collection Development

Registrations for the Active Collection Development module of the Connected Librarians course are open today Monday 16 October and will close Friday 27 October. 

One of the best parts of our job is the chance to buy books and resources for our students and schools. This course will help you with that selection process and possibly challenge the way you do it.

On successful course completion, learners will be able to:

·  develop a thoughtful selection criteria for one of their library’s collections

·  collate a collection of resources to aid in the selection process

·  identify personal and external biases in selecting resources

·  develop strategies for overcoming bias in the selection process

The course will be starting on Monday 30 October and run for 2 weeks. 

This course is designed by New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians - for anyone who is ready and willing to learn and try new things and share their thoughts and learning with others. 

The course is free for SLANZA members. 

Please visit the Online PD page on our SLANZA website for further information and to register.

Clare Forrest

PD Team Leader

Term 3 Google+ Discussion - SLANZA Conference 2017 Empowerment

The SLANZA PD team is announcing our next G+ discussion topic for the year.

For those lucky enough to go to the SLANZA Conference this July it’s time to share, reflect on, celebrate and challenge ourselves about our experience.

We will be starting this Term 3 discussion on Monday 21 August 2017 and we will keep adding topics and questions for 4 weeks.

Our G+ discussions are designed to be slow, to allow time for deep thought and to reflect on our practices.You can dip in and out of the discussion as time allows you, and participate as much or as little as you wish.

You must be a member of SLANZA to take part in this discussion, as well as belonging to SLANZA’s Google+ Community.

We look forward to meeting you and hearing your thoughts – either for this discussion or one of our next professional development discussions.

Clare Forrest

SLANZA PD Team

SLANZA Administration Officer vacancy

SLANZA has a vacancy for an Administration Officer. This is a paid position, approximately ten hours a week.

Our current Administration Officer, Ngaio Blackwood, has accepted a full-time position in a school library and as such she no longer has the time to commit to this position. We sincerely thank Ngaio for all her administrative skills and knowledge that she has helped us with.

If you would like to know more about this position or to request a job description please contact president@slanza.org.nz

Applications close on Friday, 11 August 2017

National Executive Communique

Fiery Futures SLANZA 2017 Conference was amazing, and for many of us this week we are looking around our libraries with eyes wide open and a large action plan! Thanks for all your contributions, your energy, your feedback and your input into conference 2017. We hope it inspires and ignites you! We will have photos and presentation links up from conference soon on our web page!

During Conference at the AGM, the appointment of the co-Presidents was confirmed. Julia Smith from Kerikeri (Te Tai Tokerau region) and Kirsty Adam from Invercargill (Southland region) will share the role for the next two years. We are really excited at the energy and skill these two will bring to SLANZA - we are in for a great journey!

National Executive are thrilled to confirm that Book Protection Products will continue to sponsor SLANZA until 2020. This ensures that we have ongoing support to provide excellent professional development to all our members. Please support our sponsors
Unfortunately, NE has accepted the resignation of our SLANZA Administration Officer, Ngaio Blackwood. Ngaio stepping up to a full-time, sole charge position in a large school library. Although Ngaio only held the position of Administration Officer for a short while, she whipped us into shape with exceeding efficiency. We will miss her skills, but this does provide the opportunity for employment for another person in this role, and this job has been advertised through the Listserve.

Another change announced at conference was that we will hold the SLANZA National Conference tri-annually instead of biannually. SLANZA is trialing Regional Conferences, weekends of learning, networking, and inspiration. This change from our bi-annual National Conference is in direct response to the extraordinary workload on our volunteer members in the three major cities to produce such a high standard of conference every two years. We hope to extend and spread that workload by introducing these Regional Conferences in between our major National Conferences. Therefore, we are excited to announce that next year, Otago will host the 2018 SLANZA Regional Conference in September, followed by the Waikato / Bay of Plenty region in 2019.  We will celebrate our 20th birthday at the big 2020 SLANZA National Conference in Wellington.

We also have some new professional development in the pipeline, and just to make sure we are on the right track we will be sending out an email to ask members what you want. Please when it hits your inbox reply to us, so we can target what you need and want!

Lastly thanks to all of you who put your hand up to serve SLANZA in your recent regional AGM’s. We applaud you all and hope it is a meaningful and enjoyable experience for you!

Below is your local NE representative and their contact email should you need any help or support as you library on…

Te Tai Tokerau - Julia Smith  JSmith@kerikerihigh.ac.nz
Auckland - Trish Webster  trishwebster@rangitoto.school.nz
Waikato/Bay of Plenty - Glenys Bichan bic@camhigh.school.nz
Central - Stephanie Gibbons  Stephanie.gibbons@npbhs.school.nz
Wellington - Clare Forrest  c.forrest@raroa.school.nz
Aoraki - Sally Stanley Boden  sts@burnside.school.nz
Otago - Bridget Schaumann  sc@kingshigh.school.nz
Southland - Kirsty Adam  kadam@jameshargest.school.nz

Glenys Bichan
Communications
SLANZA National executive

bic@camhigh.school.nz

Congratulations to Marama Keyte!

Marama Keyte captivated her audience with her enthusiasm and creativity at her presentation at the SLANZA meeting at the end of last term in Whangarei.  She shared so many fun, practical, interactive strategies to make the library a lively, literary learning place.

Marama also represented Northland brilliantly at the SLANZA conference in Auckland with her presentation there – people were buzzing about it afterwards and the Northland contingent was very proud of her.

At the Conference, Marama was also presented with a SLANZA Award of Merit as someone "who has demonstrated an outstanding level of service to their school library to support its contribution to improving student academic achievement".  

Marama receiving her SLANZA Award of Merit from SLANZA Co-President, Julia Smith

2017 SLANZA AGM

SLANZA AGM

Tuesday 18th July 2017

Kings College, Auckland, 12.30 – 1pm

Agenda

·         Welcome

·         Apologies

·         Minutes from previous AGM and any matters arising

·         Co-Presidents report

·         Financial report - in progress. Will be sent out separately when back from the accountant.

·         Appointment of Auditor

·         Membership report

·         General business

o    Future conferences

·         Any other business arising

Please send any apologies to admin@slanza.org.nz

Regards

Kirsty Adam Library Manager, James Hargest College SLANZA Co-President Phone: 032176129  Mobile: 0273157976  Email: kadam@jameshargest.school.nz  Website: library.jameshargest.school.nz  Address: 288 Layard Street, Invercargill 9810