SLANZA Conference 2013 : Many things…

Lisa asked me to write a piece for the SLANZA Collected magazine about highlights of attending the Wellington SLANZA Conference, with the instruction to keep it brief...  I thought I was doing well at just under 500 words, but the limit was an-almost-impossible 100, so I'll post my entry here as originally written and provide an edited version for Collected which will be, as ever, full to the brim with many great contributions...

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.  Archilochus

Attending a SLANZA Conference is always rewarding but this year’s conference in Wellington was memorable for a number of reasons – and nothing to do with another one of those “storms of the century” and all the airport shenanigans… 

Wellington’s Winds of Change Conference highlights for me include :

• being challenged to try new things and hearing new ideas.  Sometimes a speaker can encapsulate a big idea in a memorable way – Ross Todd is brilliant at that, and I appreciated Erica McWilliams’ “fox / hedgehog” advice for libraries about taking an approach which is about many little things rather than one big thing – being multi-disciplinary, hybrid, adaptable, tolerant of complexity, getting the right mix of virtual and physical, and embracing people, culture and experimentation…
• hearing from real practitioners at workshops about some of the great things they are doing - Michelle Simms from Te Totara Primary School on “How to gamify your library” gave a workshop which was brilliantly researched and presented, providing both high tech and practical examples of strategies to engage students. Sue Esterman and the students from Scots College with SCRABOL, and Bridget with her flying solo strategies were other highlights. It was hard to choose which workshop to attend and I’m glad that the Conference proceedings are up on the SLANZA website to explore, refresh memory and share… 
• catching up face to face with National Library colleagues from around the country, and putting faces to names – from librarians through their list serv communications, to guest speakers like inspiring Tara Brabazon and steady Cathy Wylie, not to mention the inimitable Kim Hill after years of listening to her on the radio…

I also want to mention that I was very grateful to receive sponsorship to attend Conference from the SLANZA National Executive and Te Tai Tokerau region – it has been lovely in the past to give grants out to people and this year I felt very fortunate to be on the receiving end.  

Also, at the Conference I was presented with the SLANZA Honorary Life Membership Award which was a huge compliment, unexpected and truly delightful. I’ve been an Adviser with National Library for so long, working with many schools over the years, and feel very strongly that SLANZA is a crucial partner and ally in achieving the same goals of successful school libraries to support young learners.  Working with SLANZA committees in Northland over the past 13 years has been a really rewarding part of my job, and continues to be so.

Jeannie Skinner, Programme Adviser, Services to Schools Northland.