Click on the link below to read about our SLANZA President, Bridget Schaumann, from the latest Education HQ.
http://nz.educationhq.com/news/15262/president-profile-bridget-schaumann-the-school-library-association-of-new-zealand-aotearoa-slanza/
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Hi Everybody
Welcome back to 2015. Collected is calling for submissions for our next issue, #15. The theme is Reading/ Library Life and we would welcome any relevant articles. We also welcome reviews and any other articles on related matters. We would also encourage you to write about events of interest in your region. Don’t just assume that someone else will write it. You may also think it may hold little interest for others but our readership likes to hear what other regions do at meetings, PD sessions and social events. The closing date for submissions is Thursday the 2nd of April If you have any questions about articles please don’t hesitate to drop me an e-mail at this address [email protected] Guidelines for submissions can be found on the SLANZA website ( slanza.org.nz ) under the Resources tab ,under Collected Looking forward to hearing from you all Greig Daniels Editor, Collected All current financial SLANZA members have now been sent an invoice for the renewal of their membership for the 2015 calendar year. If for any reason you were expecting a renewal invoice but have not yet received one, please contact the SLANZA Administration Officer at [email protected].
If you are not yet a SLANZA member but would like to join, please download and complete the membership application form and return with payment (details on how to do this are included on the form). For any membership queries, please contact us at [email protected] As you are aware there has been growing opposition to the changes the National Library has made as part of the Services to Schools Transformation Programme. There is a great deal of information and developments so below are some links of interest just in case you would like to read more or have missed a piece from the news!
You will also find below the details of meetings in your region to discuss these changes – click on the link for your region to view details via the SLANZA website. If you would like to know more about these meetings or would like to submit questions or concerns via email, please contact your local SLANZA representative – contact details on the regional pages: http://www.slanza.org.nz Cathy Kennedy Communications SLANZA National Executive Services to Schools: The National Library is Transforming its Services Open letter to the National Library from SLANZA Sunday Star Times: Library book cuts hit schools hard. Jan 25, 2015 Press Release from Hon. Peter Dunn. Labour just plain wrong about library services to schools. Feb 5, 2015 Radio New Zealand News: National Library firm on school service cut. Feb 5, 2015 The New Zealand Herald: National Library book cuts will hit hard, says Labour. Feb 10, 2015 National Library: Services to Schools Transformation documents. Current independent petitions: Stop the Cuts Let’s keep our kids books Parliamentary Question 9 (Feb 12, 2015) What are the expected savings per year as a result of the changes to the National Library curriculum topic loan service? LIANZA Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa: Services to Schools Regional Meetings to Discuss National Library Changes Te Tai Tokerau Auckland Waikato/ Bay of Plenty Central Wellington Aoraki Otago Southland Update regarding our opposition to the National Library Services to Schools Transformation Programme4/2/2015 Dear SLANZA Members,
I trust your new year has begun well and you are excited for all that 2015 will bring. As many of you will already be aware, at the end of last year the National Library announced some changes to their Services for Schools. If you are not familiar with these changes, you can read about their Transformation Programme here. Bridget Schaumann, our President of SLANZA, and the National Executive have been working hard throughout January to advocate on your behalf against this decision. In order to bring you up to date, here are some of the actions taken so far. Firstly, meetings are being arranged in your local regions to discuss the National Library changes and by now you will have heard from your local representative or will do very soon. It is hoped that Geraldine Howell, Director of Literacy and Public Programmes for the National Library, will be able to attend these meetings so our members have an opportunity to ask questions and put their concerns directly. If you would like to know more, please contact your local SLANZA National Executive representative whose contacts can be found on our SLANZA website. An open letter has been sent to the National Library as well as personal letters to Geraldine Howell, Bill Macnaught (National Librarian) and Hon. Peter Dunn, Minister of Internal Affairs. In addition to this many other ministers and members of Parliament have been contacted: Hon. Hekia Parata, Catherine Delahunty, Chris Hipkins, Jacinda Adern, and Hon.Nikki Kaye. Bridget and the National Executive are also contacting many other organisations across the education sector in order to ensure our concern and dismay about this decision taken by the National Library is clearly heard. Bridget was also interviewed by the Sunday Star Times (Jan 25, 2015) and an interview with Bridget by John Gerritson will air on Morning Report, Thursday 05 February. You can help by ensuring that the teaching staff in your schools and your Principal are well aware of this change of service from the National Library and encourage them to mobilize their own networks in opposition to this decision. We will continue to work on your behalf and keep you updated. Cathy Kennedy Communications Leader SLANZA National Executive [email protected] The members of the School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa National Executive wish to express their concern at the changes to the services National Library will be offering to schools in 2015. These changes and the timing of the announcement - which came just as schools prepared to close for the summer, their budgets for 2015 already submitted, and with end of year commitments to support students learning and reading over the summer to fulfil - leave school librarians across New Zealand disheartened and confused.
The changes to Curriculum Services will have a negative impact on teaching and learning in many New Zealand schools. For many years students and staff working on research and inquiry topics, from primary through to secondary, have been able to request books on specific topics to support that learning. This is a service which many teachers and librarians have relied on and used regularly. These topic-specific - and sometimes title-specific - requests have enabled teachers and librarians to provide timely access to a range and quantity of print materials that many schools would otherwise be unable to match. Given that many assignments require both print and electronic resources, we believe the lack of access to print resources via Curriculum Services will seriously disadvantage some students. Although schools will be able to borrow high interest non-fiction books from NLCS as part of their 'reading engagement' loan, it is not (yet) clear to what extent - if at all - these NL-selected “high interest” titles will address the need for print materials to support the subject- or topic-specific research and inquiry learning that students are engaged in. SLANZA has concerns about equity of access to quality materials, bearing in mind the enormous range of funding/support for school libraries by school boards across the country. NLCS loans provided a bastion of support for school libraries which otherwise struggle to provide resources for staff and students because of various constraints - funding primarily, but also difficulties sourcing materials that may need to be more focused, or individualised (as can often happen with student-led inquiry and research projects). While adequately funded and staffed school libraries will already have print collections purchased specifically to match the school’s range of students and student interests, both fiction and non-fiction, it is those schools who have limited funding who will find the new system does not meet their needs. School boards are renowned for cutting library budgets and this new system will disadvantage students in those schools even more than before. SLANZA believes that improving student reading engagement is an important goal, and we acknowledge that under the transformed NLCS, the ‘reading engagement loan’ as a supplement to a school’s existing collection is a way of distributing the collection already held by NLCS towards reaching that goal, but for schools with excellent collections there is unlikely to be uptake, and for others it may be too difficult to manage. The ‘reading engagement loan’ brings with it increased administrative work in managing that loan, which although providing an opportunity for school librarians to use their collection management expertise, brings with it associated problems. As Services to Schools has recognised in the past, many school library staff are employed part-time and with limited library management skills. This will be challenging for them. National Library are expecting that students will be able to use websites curated by their staff as well as resources on Pond as a replacement for the topic specific print resources that they previously provided. These are already available via librarians and teachers working with students to help teach information and inquiry skills in many schools, and it is considered by SLANZA that teaching students the skills to find useful websites for their inquiry and using information literacy skills has never been more vital. However this new online initiative does not take into consideration those schools that have limited access to computers and poor Internet connections. The School Library Association of New Zealand is very disappointed that no schools or school librarians have been consulted at any point as this proposal was being developed. At no time was the proposal brought to the SLANZA National Executive prior to the sign off by the Department of Internal Affairs. At no time were school librarians or principals informed of these changes so that they might be able to budget for the changes in 2015. Given the close relationship which has developed over many years between the National Library Services to Schools and SLANZA, this has been a very disappointing turn of events. While we understand that there must be cost cutting, this particular service seems to have had ongoing support from schools according to the DIA Annual Report, (see page 65) and it’s demise will not save the DIA significant funds, according to Minister Dunne, only $392,000. While we have become used to the fact that services will be offered online, the changes to curriculum services have come as a shock to our members, particularly when the loss of such a well supported service will result in such a minimal cost saving. We know that the change has been signed off by both the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Education and that therefore there is nothing which can be done to reverse this decision, however we feel obligated to register our objection on behalf SLANZA members, whose feedback to us speaks of outrage at the lack of consultation and concerns that the changes will disadvantage learners, teachers and school library staff. As a stakeholder in the National Library we feel that the goals of the Stakeholder Engagement Framework have not been fulfilled. SLANZA’s National Executive members look forward to meeting with staff from Services to Schools in March. While SLANZA will continue to support its members as they work through the ramifications of the NLCS changes in the coming months, we also firmly believe that improved consultation and communication between NL S2S and the major stakeholders affected by this service transformation (namely school library staff, teaching staff and SLANZA) is imperative. We look forward to clearer communication from the National Library staff and management, and hope that there will be full and clear responses to our concerns. The National Executive The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa This year 160 school librarians from across New Zealand have shared their borrowing statistics for 2014 so that we can compile this list of best books for New Zealand children, available here now.
These titles have been voted the most popular in the way it really counts, by students borrowing and reading them from their school library. We have included the most popular New Zealand authors and titles. There are some old favourites, and some new favourites in these lists. Thank you to all school librarians who contributed to the survey. Trish Webster on behalf of the National Executive The latest issue of Collected magazine is available today. This issue has Summer Reading as it's theme. Follow the link above, or click the cover image to read it now. Many thanks to those who have contributed articles and reviews for this issue, and to those who have helped with proof-reading and editing - we couldn't do it without your help. As the number of issues continues to grow, we've made some small changes to the website to accomodate them, so you will now find older issues of Collected on a separate page. We send all our readers best wishes for the holiday season, and hope you enjoy your summer break - do make sure you find time to fit in plenty of reading! In an interview yesterday, Hekia Parata discussed the Innovation in Education programme, which is about bringing teachers who achieve results in their own schools to schools who may be struggling. Ms Parata was discussing collaboration between schools and teachers when she also moved on to discuss shared facilities. She asked the question “do schools need their own Library?”, but she also questioned the need for schools to have their own gym and assembly hall. She was discussing the pooling of resources so that several schools could share one ‘state of the art’ facility. This of course seems reasonable. Schools would like to use state of the art facilities for their students, but these facilities need to be accessible to all students and members of the school community.
The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa supports providing all students with convenient access to a school library on site, with a text rich environment that supports their research, reading and learning as well as providing access to technology and ICT resources that support the curriculum. This will enable students to gain the skills they need to transition from school into the next phase of their education or working life. School libraries are areas for growing greater learning outcomes for all school students at all levels of their schooling. At the moment many schools - especially primary schools - do not have a library. If they have a library it is often small, understaffed or unstaffed, often being used for other things such as a spare classroom. This is very disappointing. Access to a school library is very important to all students and teachers, providing a one stop shop for information and resources but also a vital place for community interaction, solitude and where interests can be stimulated. SLANZA would like all schools to have a library that is staffed, open and easy to access. A school library’s collection is hand picked for the community it serves. School librarians know their students, their interests, their curriculum needs and have an understanding of the community their library serves. Access to the services the school library provides is important for every student in New Zealand. How else are we to grow the literacy and encourage the love of reading and the quest for knowledge that a school library gives students the chance to obtain? We must not forget about the 10 - 12% of students with challenges of various kinds, about the 70,000 students who start school every year. School libraries provide working spaces, quiet places for meeting these students’ individual needs, and resources to support foundation literacy and to encourage these students towards better educational outcomes. SLANZA National Executive On behalf of the National Executive, I am pleased to announce that the recipients of SLANZA’s Study Grants for 2015 have been decided. Our warmest congratulations go out to these successful applicants:
Congratulations once again to all our grant recipients, we wish you every success with your studies in the coming year. Miriam Tuohy Professional Development Team Leader |
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