President Elect nominations now open

As you may be aware, when I assumed the role of SLANZA President in July my decision was to serve in this position for a term of one year only. Now that we are almost halfway through my term as President, it is time to begin the process of deciding who will take up that position from July 2016. Accordingly, nominations are now sought for the position of President Elect.

This position requires an in-depth understanding of the workings of SLANZA and its stakeholders so it is preferable that this person should be either a current member of the National Executive or someone with previous National Executive experience.

• Nominations open November 30th 2015.  
• Nominee applications are due by 5pm, Wednesday December 16th 2015.
• You can nominate yourself or another SLANZA member, using the nomination form here.
• Candidate(s) will be announced following the application closing date, in mid-December.
• If more than one nomination is received, an election will be held with online voting, in February 2016.

Miriam Tuohy

President – School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

Online PD Term 4 - Inaugural Discussion Topic

One of SLANZA's goals is to provide a variety of Professional Development options for our members.

Our Online Connected Librarians courses have been fantastically successful with a large number of our members participating over the last two years. However, we are only able to work with a small group at a time, and they require a lot of time commitment from all parties.

Over the past year we have been looking at running a discussion group that any of our members can participate in. We feel that Term 4 is the perfect time to kick this off as an alternative to holding another Connected Librarians Online course, and it will be an opportunity for you continue your PD in a more relaxed way. We know that secondary schools are currently in a crazy busy time of year, at least until seniors leave, and that all schools are still working right up to the very end.

We hope that holding this discussion group over the final five-week period of term (starting in week 5) will be a fun way of rounding your PD out for the year.

To find out more information, and to take part in our inaugural discussion topic - Expect More: Demanding better libraries for today’s complex world (R. David Lankes), please join our SLANZA community on Google+  https://plus.google.com/communities/117910246097309761328 where the discussion details will be listed under the ‘PD Monthly Discussion’ tab.

We look forward to seeing you online and sharing our own thoughts and ideas with you.

Sandi Faulconbridge

Professional Development Team Leader

School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

Conference presentations available

Our Conference proceedings web page now has a number of presentations and other information available to view or download. More will be added to the page as we receive presentations and other resources from our presenters. 

We are very grateful to those who shared their conference experience through Twitter, it adds value for those who were there and (like me!) weren't taking notes in all the sessions. And for those who couldn't attend conference it will give you much to read and follow up on - almost as good as being there! I would particularly like to acknowledge and thank Steph Ellis who tweeted prolifically during conference, and has now created Storify collections of the Twitter stream relating to all our keynote speakers. 

Miriam Tuohy
President

Life Memberships 2015

The SLANZA National Executive is delighted to announce the Life Membership awardees for 2015.  These were first announced at the SLANZA conference in Christchurch.  This year's recipients are:

Kaaren Hirst (Auckland) and Barbara Murison (Wellington)

You can read about their ongoing work on the SLANZA blog.  The National Executive congratulates Kaaren and Barbara for their achievements over many years.

Bridget Schaumann

Immediate Past President

SLANZA

2016 SLANZA study grant recipients

I am absolutely delighted to announce the recipients of SLANZA’s Study Grants for 2016.
Our warmest congratulations go out to these successful applicants:

• Brett Moodie (Wellington College)
• Debbie Airey (Hebron Christian College)
• Janine Holcroft (Trentham School)
• Kristal Montrose-Arnold (James Cook High School)

We all understand that working and studying takes quite some commitment. So it is especially gratifying to know that many SLANZA members are continuing their learning in the field of Information and Library Studies. SLANZA is committed to helping make this undertaking easier where we can, as we believe that it will benefit not just our members as their library careers unfold, but that the students and staff in their schools will benefit too, from working alongside a librarian with a deep understanding of their field, and a personal commitment to life-long learning, continual improvement and innovation.

Best wishes once again to all our grant recipients!

Sandi Faulconbridge
Professional Development Team Leader

National Library Services to Schools update

Yesterday the National Library have updated their website with some new information about their services. You can find new information about the lending service model here: 

http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/about/service-changes-2016

We are pleased to see some adjustments to the lending service, including a greater number of books available to larger schools, and loans in Terms 1, 2 and 3 rather than only Terms 1 & 3.

Please note that this is an interim update - more info will be going out to schools via National Library's usual communication channels (including Gazette ads/articles, MOE bulletin message, direct mail to principals etc.) in mid November.

If you have comments or questions about the update, remember that you can contact National Library directly using their email address s2stransformation@dia.govt.nz

Thanks,

Miriam

 Miriam Tuohy

President

School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

SLANZA Collected - submissions open

Conference is  over and  Term 4 has begun and the new issue of Collected is being prepared.

Our theme is  “From the Ground  Up Conference 2015”  We want reports and photos of events and gatherings. We would also welcome articles on, and responses to workshops and key notes that inspired you.  You might also share your impressions of conference, and the importance of networking. There was so much to inspire us and I know our readers will have taken this inspiration and planned to put it into action. Let us know what you took away from this inspiring event.

We will also accept other articles of interest and book reviews. Our deadline for this issue is November the 19^th. Submissions and questions can be directed to me at collected@slanza.org.

Submission Guidelines can be found on the Collected Page at slanza.org.nz.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

Greig Daniels

SLANZA Collected Magazine

Conference Evaluations

Conference is all done but the sharing continues!

What a great 2.5 days of networking and learning and it’s not too late to catch some of the great professional learning that took place.

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had safe holidays and journeys home from conference and are now ready to jump into the last term of the year with renewed energy.  Thank you to those who made it to conference and contributed to an amazing time of networking and learning.  If you were unable to make it to conference, there are still lots of opportunities to catch up with professional learning over the next few months.

Workshop Presentations

The presentations that are available to us will be added to the SLANZA website just as soon as we can, so you can catch up with any you missed or get the notes and links from those you attended.

If you presented at conference and are happy to make your presentation available, please send it to Mandy (mandy@conference.co.nz), preferably as a pdf or a web link.

A very big “thank you” to those who presented workshops and giving your time and knowledge so generously – this willingness to share our professional knowledge is the most valuable asset we have!

Conference Evaluations

If you didn’t get a chance to complete your evaluation form at conference we will send this to you electronically so we can gather your feedback.  This is an important part of conference for us so we can ensure that future professional development meets your needs.

Thank You from the Conference Committee

A special thank you to all for supporting our conference in Christchurch this year.  It was great to see everyone networking, sharing, learning, and just the general buzz as you caught up with colleagues made it a successful event!

Thank you to our sponsors who made conference possible and I encourage you to continue to support these businesses who were willing to give their time and a financial commitment to be there.

‘Till we meet again!

Cathy Kennedy

Conference Committee Convenor and your Aoraki Conference Committee

Ban lifted on Into the River

The Film and Literature Review Board have announced their decision yesterday, regarding Ted Dawe's book Into the River.

The book has had all restrictions removed, and can be placed back on library shelves today. There are no age restrictions in place.

Full details of the decision - and the dissenting opinion of FLRB President Dr Don Mathieson - can be found here:

http://www.dia.govt.nz/Into-The-River-decision

Quick interview on Morning Report this morning:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201774690/banned-book-back-on-shelves

 Miriam Tuohy

President

School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa

SLANZA Awards 2015

One of the nicest parts of being on National Executive is the presentation of the SLANZA annual awards. It is a chance to recognise the great work that is being done in school libraries all over New Zealand.

I would like to thanks all of those who took the time to nominate their peers for awards and  in this way ensuring these SLANZA members get the recognition they deserve.

Some awards were presented to those in attendance at the SLANZA Meet and Greet prior to the SLANZA Conference. I’d like to extend a big thank you to the Christchurch Conference Committee for helping us to organise that opportunity.

Regional NE representatives will arrange for those who did not attend the Conference, to have their awards presented at a local Function

The current list of award winners and their award citations can be found on the SLANZA website. Slanza.org.nz

Congratulations to all the Award winners.

Greig Daniels

Awards Committee

Conference Attendance Survey

SLANZA 2015 Conference in Christchurch was a fantastic and successful event, well attended by members with a general feeling that a conference provides very valuable professional development and a great opportunity for connecting face to face. Approximately a third of our members attended and although this is a healthy number for our small organisation, there was a large disparity between the number of secondary school attendees to primary school. We need to ascertain the reasons members did not attend the conference, and would greatly appreciate those members who did not attend filling out this quick online survey Conference Attendance.

Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey, your input will provide valuable feedback for planning future conferences

National Executive Meeting Summary

Following on from the Conference, SLANZA National Executive met Wednesday 30th September and Thursday 1st October at Burnside High School in Christchurch. Below is a summary of some of the discussions covered at the meeting. This communique is to keep members up-to-date with the work being done on their behalf by the National Executive.  

Financial and Treasurer's Report

Spending has been within budget this year due to the cost-effectiveness of holding the July NE meeting online through Google hangouts.

Membership

Membership is now at 621 paid members, with several new members signing up as a result of registering for conference.

Admin Officer

We welcome Jacky Reid (based in Wellington) as our new Admin Officer. Jacky will start at the beginning of Term 4. At the same time we wish to sincerely thank Carole Gardiner for so ably and effectively holding this position for the last two years.

Conference

SLANZA Conference in Christchurch was a fantastic and successful event, well attended by members with a general feeling that a conference provides very valuable professional development and a great opportunity for connecting face to face. Approximately a third of our members attended and although this is a healthy number for our small organisation, there was a large disparity between the number of secondary school attendees to primary school. We need to ascertain the reasons members did not attend the conference, and would greatly appreciate those members who did not attend filling out this quick online survey Conference Attendance.

After much discussion NE is keen to retain the existing time frame of a SLANZA conference once every two years, preferably in July. The Auckland committee will meet to discuss whether they are happy to take on this event in 2017 and we will inform you of the outcome.

If you have not filled in and returned the Conference Evaluation form please use this link to do so - feedback is vitally important in planning and organising future conferences.

Online Professional Development

To date, we have had 161 members participate in Connected Librarians, the online learning modules on digital tools that Miriam Tuohy created. This is a wonderful reflection on the quality and relevance of these modules in extending learning for school library staff. The new platform, Haiku Learning, is working very well and has helped streamline the service offered to members. Module #4 on Content Curation will be available towards the end of Term 1, 2016. See the SLANZA website for more details on this professional development.

The Google+ community currently has 88 members. Community members are welcome to share resources and join in discussions. This term we will be launching another PD option on this platform: in-depth monthly discussions. Our first discussion will be based on R David Lankes’ book Expect More: Demanding Better Libraries For Today's Complex World - issues important to our role in schools and how our library serves our school community. We’ll let you know more details soon.  

Collected Magazine

The next issue of SLANZA’s online magazine Collected will focus on the conference. Members are encouraged to write reviews, summaries and share tidbits of their conference experience and please include photos, with captions, for a visual treat. If you were one of the lucky recipients of a Book Protection Products Conference Grant then you will recall the expectation to contribute to Collected as part of the feedback process. As usual, we like to have a selection of book reviews on recently published books. All submissions to collected@slanza.org.nz thanks.

 

Study Grants

Applications have closed for SLANZA Study Grants for 2016 and the successful recipients will be notified shortly.

Sponsorship opportunities

To generate more income SLANZA needs to make the most of contacts and think more widely about companies and individuals who could be approached to fund specific projects and activities. Bridget Schaumann spoke about this at the AGM at conference. If you know of any company or individual that may be willing to sponsor a SLANZA project that benefits students or school libraries please contact your local NE representative.

On this note, National Executive wishes to acknowledge the ongoing sponsorship of Book Protection Products who donate $5,000 yearly to SLANZA Professional Development.

National Library Services to Schools Transformation

There is still some uncertainty about the implementation details of  National Library’s transformed services to be offered next year. However our president, Miriam Tuohy, is in regular contact with National Library management and will ensure you are kept informed as those details  are  finalised. Until clarification, members are encouraged to prioritise your topics for 2016 and consider what you may order in December for the 2016 Inquiry Learning Loan. Likewise, order your Reading Engagement Loans for 2016, this year.

National Library asks that members continue to direct any questions to: s2stransformation@dia.govt.nz

SLANZA Awards

A list of the recipients of the SLANZA Awards will be posted on the SLANZA website soon and will be in the next issue of Collected.

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.

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