Plans for 2012

What would you like to see happening with SLANZA Northland in 2012 ?

This is one of the places you can suggest topics or speakers for the committee to investigate - just add comments below or else email me jeannie.skinner@dia.govt.nz or contact any of the SLANZA Tai Tokerau committee : Lisa Salter, Di Eastwood, Julia Smith, Liz Christensen, Elaine Shields, Kaye Neely, Angela Margison, Dee Brooker, Maria Quin...

You might want to look at what is happening around the country with SLANZA for inspiration, eg this September workshop in Wellington reported on the SLANZA blog , or Waikato Bay of Plenty's wikispace with their programmes over the years... http://slanza.wikispaces.com/

(I wish each region had a blog like we have now and we could have links to them on the sidebar!)

All suggestions welcome - think about topics, speakers, workshops, areas of interest and need... and also preferences for day of the week /time of day etc too.

A couple of suggestions so far - a workshop / panel discussion on organising a bookweek for a Term 1 meeting, and a request for help with creating promotional posters and displays.

Please add your ideas below or get in touch and we'll try to see what we can do to make it happen.

Swimming with Hilary Greenebaum

Last Thursday we were fortunate to have Dr Hilary Greenebaum come visit us in the north to present her conference workshop "Do you swim with sharks or dolphins?" Hillary has much experience and wisdom to share, and I was delighted to hear her talk about effective library management, development and communication in such a practical way.
The message that resonated most strongly for me was that I need to understand senior management better and find ways to promote a positive partnership rather than just expecting it to happen. I have to plan, do, reflect, evaluate, learn and share in a focused way that supports student learning and achievement.
As often is with workshops there was some new learning and some reinforcing of prior knowledge. It's always good to be reminded that you are on the right track, even if sometimes you are running and sometimes stopping for a chat.
Thank you Hilary for taking the time to come and talk to us, we appreciate your visit.

Term 4 2011 meeting with Dr Hilary Greenebaum

Just a reminder about the SLANZA meeting this Thursday afternoon - 17th November, after school at Whangarei Boys' High School Library with Dr Hilary Greenebaum - see post below . The Wednesday meeting at Taipa Area School will not be going ahead this term - we are looking to offer this workshop in the Far North in 2012.

Hilary is coming up from Auckland for the meeting. I have heard her and think she has important messages about effective library management, development and communication, and her workshop at the SLANZA Conference was very well received.

I hope we can develop the culture in the North of making the most of library professional development opportunities as part of our performance planning / review / appraisal process - library staff and TLRs need to request it and do it when opportunities arise, Principals need to expect it of their staff and support it… and the organisers need participants in order to keep on creating events!

Professional development adds to your kete of knowledge, sparks new ideas, confirms existing practice, challenges you to raise your game, provides opportunities to network with others and to contribute your point of view and expertise to the school library community of which you are an important member…

Come and share some afternoon tea, hear a warm and engaging speaker, think about your library and strategies to make it more effective, and flock together with your library colleagues...

Report to National Executive

This weekend I am off to a SLANZA National Executive Meeting.

Most concerning to our profession is the future of School Libraries and who manages them. Some around the country are under threat and the government and ministry aren't yet prepared to make a stand regarding a 'national standard' for school libraries. I emailed all members last month asking for any information regarding threats to services or hours in our area, and have had no response, therefore assuming that things are settled at the moment. It is important for the National Executive to have concrete evidence when working with such a vital issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns at all lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz.


Below is my regional report for Te Tai Tokerau for your information. Any questions or suggestions are most welcome. Thank you to everyone who has supported SLANZA this year. I look forward to seeing many of you at our last event of the year next week with Dr Hilary Greenebaum from Softlink to giving us her presentation "Do you swim with sharks or dolphins ?!"

Te Tai Tokerau Report 2011

Professional Development

Our region was well represented at Conference this year and we are grateful to the National Executive for sponsoring two members attendance. All felt it a very worthwhile experience and commend the committee and St Cuthbert’s for the great atmosphere and smooth running of the event.

In Term 3 we invited Bob Docherty http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/ to speak at two after school sessions and made him available to schools during the day to assist with costs. As it turned out, Bob’s plane was unable to land in Kerikeri or Whangarei and after some scary landing attempts, the plane went back to Auckland and he was bussed up. Because of this Bob was unable to keep his appointments in the far north. He did attend his Whangarei engagements and I was fortunate to attend a packed after school session at Whangarei Girls’ High School. Bob’s enthusiasm is contagious and his recommendations are spot on, making for much discussion and book shopping afterwards. Thank you to the National Executive for making money available for the regions to host speakers of this quality.

We have an event planned in Term 4 with Hillary Greenebaum repeating her conference workshop “Do you swim with sharks or dolphins?” in Taipa and again in Whangarei. We felt that her session was well worth sharing with those who were unable to attend in July and Hillary has been gracious in combining her visit with other work to keep costs down.

Communication

As well as emailing everything to our membership mailing list we are using the Te Tai Tokerau blog Te Tai Tokerau blog share information. The blog is growing and with encouragement has been updated by various members who have found this a useful and friendly introduction to blogging and this new ownership has impacted on their following of the blog. With Jeannie Skinner’s direction we also have four online communities at National Library Services to Schools Northland Networks, Northland PD Day, Northland registered librarians and Moving on : young fiction. Jeannie is promoting these every chance she gets throughout the region.

Advocacy

The Northland Secondary School’s PD day in August had a strong focus on Advocacy with links to documents and resources posted on our Online Community. The clear message was that we must consider the future and how we can best provide services that keep our libraries relevant in changing times.

2011 has been an active year in our region, although our numbers are small our enthusiasm to provide the best service we can to our schools is huge. I am grateful to Jeannie Skinner, secretary, the local committee and the National Executive for their support and guidance.

Lisa Salter

Te Tai Tokerau

SLANZA NE

2012 Auckland Writers and Readers Festival Line Up

International authors, local authors, songwriters all in one place ready to impress your students. $10.00 per person and a programme that caters to schools and school hours. Inspire and reward your best readers. This is a wonderful opportunity for the School Library to take the lead - don't let the English department steal this from you!

I talk to the English teachers and chose a select group of students who had earned the privilege of attending. This trip an opportunity to extend and encourage our Gifted and Talented students. I gathered the students well in advance to offer them the opportunity and asked them to have read at least one book by one of the authors (I support this by ordering additional copies from National Library and our local public library). This is an excellent tactic as we discovered that we really loved the author’s books and connected much better to the presentations.

One thing that really supported our school this year was our successful application to the Festival’s generous Schools’ Transport Fund. They paid for our transport!

So start planning now. Get approval from whoever you need to and get your teachers excited. I just take the school van, but Auckland schools fill the isles. Let's see Northland filling a few seats as well.

Check out their website: www.writersfestival.co.nz

May 9 & 10 2012 at Aotea Centre

LOVE, LIES, GHOSTS, JOKES AND BOMBS: A ROLLERCOASTER OF WRITING AND READING

We're pleased to announce the following authors for the 2012 Programme: Emily Rodda (Aus), Mal Peet (UK), Roddy Doyle (Ire), Oliver Jeffers (US), Eoin Colfer* (Ire) and local luminaries Fleur Beale, Ben Sanders, DJ Connell* (NZ/UK).

Wednesday 09 May - Years 7 to 10 and Thursday 10 May - Years 9 - 13

Sessions run between 10am and 2pm and are 45 minutes long. There will also be writing workshops for smaller groups. Student tickets cost $10 per day. Teachers are free. Schools can also apply for travel grants.

If you would like us to post you a full brochure in February 2012 please email schools@writersfestival.co.nz and put "Schools Programme Please" in the subject line (making sure you supply your name, school, year/age of students, email, phone and physical address). The brochure will also be available as a downloadable PDF from our website from the beginning of Term 1. Applications for the Schools Transport Fund will be open from March 2012.

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival Schools Programme is now in its fourth year and has proven to be a keenly anticipated event for intermediate and secondary school students and teachers. We are committed to educating and inspiring young readers and writers. This programme is a prime opportunity for students to connect with the people behind the books and to learn more about the craft of writing and develop their skills as readers. Writers are keen to interact with students and answer their questions.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact the festival office on 09 376 8074 or email us at schools@writersfestival.co.nz. We look forward to welcoming you to the 2012 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Jenica Rogers - Reality-based Librarianship for Passionate Librarians

It was with great expectations that I travelled down to Whangarei Tuesday afternoon to listen to American librarian Jenica Rogers. Jenica is to be a keynote speaker at the LIANZA Conference next week in Wellington, but she had been persuaded to "practice" her talk up North. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to to learn from such a motivated and indeed, passionate, librarian.

Jenica's session, Reality-based Librarianship for Passionate Librarians was fabulous. Her focus was on  how to implement a new project within your library, whether it is a new technique, technology, event, change or concept, the process is the same. Her projects she conceptualised as mountains or hills, and she discussed how we must be completely committed, passionate enough to climb those mountains and achieve our goals. Jenica talked about naming your passion, identifying your goals and professionally organising, planning and managing towards achieving them. Embrace the process she said, even if you have to compromise on the way, it is all about focusing and following your passions, achieving those goals, creating a better environment or service. But that you can't do it alone, so build a support network, look for allies or flock mates, utilise the power of community.

Jenica also made us consider failure and how to deal with it, when to recognise that this project will not be achievable and climb back down the mountain. "Success requires some tolerance for failure" she stated, and challenged us to plan ahead about things that may go wrong and how we would handle it. 

Jenica reminded me of one of our own passionate advocates for libraries, Donna Watt from Invercargill, (check Donna's blog), they speak the same language with the same message - they really need to be flock-mates! 

Thanks to Corin of LIANZA Hikuwai  for organising this inspirational session for us. And thank you, Jenica Rogers, for exceeding my expectations and presenting an inspirational reality-based session.

To learn more about Jenica Rogers, start with her blog Attempting Elegance 

Term 4 event - Dr Hilary Greenebaum

One more chance for a get together in Term 4 and to be inspired by a guest speaker...

We have invited Dr Hilary Greenebaum from Softlink to give us her presentation "Do you swim with sharks or dolphins ?!" which she gave at the SLANZA conference in Auckland in July.

This presentation will explore how traditional senior management often thinks about libraries, and will offer concrete, action-oriented steps school library teams can make to change that thinking.

Considering finite resources such as time, energy, information and money, Hilary will explore ways to successfully collaborate, advocate and communicate with school staff and leaders about the library and student learning.

Hilary’s abiding interest is learning, and then supporting student and staff learning in schools - especially in a Web 2.0 context. During her 20+ years in the field of education, Hilary has been a primary school teacher, a Literacy Resource Teacher, a Teacher Librarian, an Intermediate School Principal, University Lecturer, and Technology Consultant. Hilary joined the Softlink team as an Educational Sales and Training Consultant and is excited to be able to support student and staff learning using their robust web based product.

Hilary has kindly agreed to do two meetings for us to make the event as accessible as possible.

Wednesday 16th November at Taipa Area School Library
and
Thursday 17th November at Whangarei Boys' High School Library

3.45 for afternoon tea, and Hilary's presentation from 4.00- 5.00pm.

The intended audience is school library teams - TLRs and library staff.

It will be a free meeting for SLANZA members though a donation towards afternoon tea would be welcome, and if you are not a member here is the link to join with a downloadable PDF http://www.slanza.org.nz/join.html which will be for 2012 too.
We are charging for a meeting for the first time this year for non-members - though only $5 - as a way to try to cover costs but mainly to encourage membership!

It would be helpful to have an idea of numbers, so please RSVP to jeannie.skinner@dia.govt.nz

There are no school library network meetings this term, so this could be our last get together for the year. There is some talk of going out for a bite to eat after the Taipa meeting - maybe a pizza at the Waterfront Cafe in Mangonui ? Anyone interested ? and Whangarei ?

Look forward to seeing you at Taipa or Whangarei.

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 

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.

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

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.

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9clYEG5evAM

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

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

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!

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/

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

Newspapers workshop not this term...

Just in case anyone is looking here and planning to attend the newspapers workshops tomorrow in Whangarei or next Wednesday in Kerikeri, they have been postponed until next term when hopefully we can get some more registrations... I guess everything is feeling a bit rushed coming towards the end of a busy term.
Di Eastwood said she is happy to contact people individually to share her resources / links, deastwood@kerikerihigh.ac.nz

Newspapers in Education workshops

Di Eastwood, TLR and English teacher at Kerikeri High School has had a very successful time using Newspapers in Education resources with her Year 7 and 8 students in English and Social Studies classes and in the library.

She is offering a free workshop on this in Whangarei and Kerikeri – all welcome, classroom teachers especially, Years 5 – 9 (may be of interest to librarians, but probably more about classroom teaching using these resources).

RSVP please by Wednesday 22nd June to jeannie.skinner@dia.govt.nz

• Whangarei Girls’ High School Library Friday 24th June 3.45 for afternoon tea, 4 – 5 for workshop (Many thanks to Steph Gibbons for the venue).
  
• Kerikeri High School Library, Wednesday 29^th June 3.45 for afternoon tea, 4 – 5 for workshop

Visit this page http://www.nieonline.co.nz/ to see more about the Newspapers in Education Programme.

APN's Newspapers in Education (NiE) programme is a free, multi-media education programme dedicated to helping educate and develop informed, socially-aware youth across New Zealand. NiE promotes student literacy and analysis of the news and media, while encouraging effective use of newspapers in the classroom. Click here to download an A3 NiE Programme Introduction poster.

Book processing workshops

These free, informal sessions are being offered around the region. They are open to anyone who is interested in learning about some good techniques, resources and materials for processing school library books. Parent helpers, teacher aides, teachers with library responsibility – all welcome.

Lisa Salter at Ruawai College (SLANZA National Exec Rep) is organising the event in Dargaville – RSVP to Lisa with expressions of interest and she will get in touch with you to confirm date / time / venue etc lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz

For all other book processing workshops please RSVP to jeannie.skinner@dia.govt.nz by this Friday 17^th June please !

	Dargaville	Kerikeri	Whangarei	Kaitaia	Wellsford
Host / Workshop presenter	Lisa Salter (& presenter to be confirmed)	Liz Christensen and Kris Robertson	Rachel Rahui	Jenny Puckey	Rosalie Kippenberger
Venue	Dargaville Intermediate School Library	Kerikeri Primary School Library	Hurupaki School Library	Kaitaia Primary School Library	Wellsford Primary School Library
Date	Thursday 7th July	this Monday! 20th June (week 8 term 2)	Wed 29th June (week 9 term 2)	Wed 29th June (week 9 term 2)	Wed 29th June (week 9 term 2) TBC
Time	3.30 - 5.00	1.30 - 2.30pm	1.30 - 2.30pm	1.30 - 2.30pm	1.30 - 2.30pm TBC