On Saturday morning I had the privilege of delivering a presentation to the great SLANZA folk of Nelson along with some enthusiastic people from the Nelson Public Library. We assembled at Garin College library and had a lovely morning tea and chatted school libraries, especially the joys and challenges we face in our libraries. I always love getting together with others who share my passion for school libraries and gleaning ideas and new ways of doing things from them, I think we are all pretty similar that way! It was a great mix of primary, college and intermediate school librarians. My presentation was well received and hopefully everyone came away with some ideas to try and some new tools to test out.
Nelson is at the very top of the SLANZA Aoraki Region, Aoraki is a huge region - many hours driving from end to end, and because of that there are many isolated school librarians in their region, as there are in almost every SLANZA region across the country, we acknowledge that like many other organisations we have some very large regions and that some people have to travel a very long way to go to a SLANZA meeting or PD. I got thinking about what SLANZA does to make those who are a long way from the big cities feel more connected to the rest of the membership who have more access to regular meetings and PD. While SLANZA executive work hard to provide resources which work for every member wherever they are, including traveling to the outer reaches of their region from time to time, there are still those who are isolated and that is where our online presence is so valuable. I believe that every member is important and I hope that we can continue to connect with our members in the far flung areas of the country. The beauty of our online presence is that everyone can connect these days by following #SLANZA on Twitter, joining the SLANZA Facebook page, our Goodreads Group, and especially by reading Collected which is full of great ideas every issue. These are good ways of keeping in touch with your regional representative who is there for all the members in the region, as well as with what is going on nationally and internationally in the world of school libraries. I would like to encourage those in smaller towns to have a SLANZA get together, like those in Nelson you will have a great time and learn new tricks, your regional rep can help you set it up. I believe in the power of gatherings of school librarians to offer collegial support, great ideas and good discussion. In this online world there is no need to be isolated but sometimes face to face is even better. There are plenty of SLANZA members out there who would love to meet up for coffee, to talk about school library stuff and who have great ideas to share and who are also craving contact with others. If you need help to set up a gathering get in touch with your regional representative, they are there to help you and to represent you. They may be able to provide resources and speakers for your gathering and will advertise it to everyone for you too. SLANZA values every member and we want you to feel valued, and to find out how you can become more involved. Bridget Schaumann President of SLANZA
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Check out this Term's issue of Collected. Lots of holiday reading to stimulate and energise you for Term 4. http://www.slanza.org.nz/collected.html To Avondale, Aranui and Wainoni Primary schools and Aranui High School Staff, Students and Community
The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa sends it's deepest sympathy to you all since the devastating news that your schools are to close. Around the country we react with sadness and shock that while you have been coping for so long with so many disappointments it seems that they just keep coming. Please know that we walk along side you in spirit and are willing to support you all in any way we can. This is true for everyone effected by earthquakes and school closures/mergers and the aftermath. Arohanui, Lisa Salter SLANZA Communications Leader www.slanza.org.nz 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. The closing date for submitting study grant applications is Thursday 31st October 2013, and successful applicants will be notified in mid-November. More information about the grants, including the application form, is available here. The Governments decision to close Learning Media is disappointing news to schools, libraries and teachers. We know that this resource has been a mainstay; supporting, encouraging and developing New Zealand content and authors for generations. Back issues of resources are still sought after for their insight into New Zealand culture and heritage. The materials published by Learning Media have allowed New Zealand children to read stories based in settings familiar to them, something that materials imported from overseas simply cannot do. These resources have been used in schools for generations and it is very sad to think that they may no longer be available.
SLANZA National Executive Lisa Salter SLANZA Communications Leader ![]() Regularly reading school library and education related journals and blogs is one of the best - and simplest - ways you can undertake professional development. There is a wealth of information freely available online that can help you find fresh ideas, inspiring people, great tools, book reviews and more. But where to begin? To make it easy for you to incorporate professional reading into your library routine, we have put together a bundle of RSS feeds that are perfect for school librarians. RSS feeds help you keep up to date with all the newest content from a website, by sending updates to you as they happen. To get started with our feed bundle, you will need
When you have imported the OPML file, your feed reader will be full of blog posts, and at first that can seem overwhelming. Your application will have an option to "Mark All as Read", and you might want to do this initially to clear the back-log, and then start reading later in the day with fewer, fresh posts to read. Removing any individual feeds that aren't pertinent to your situation will help keep things manageable, too. If you’re not already using RSS feeds to make professional reading a regular part of your library learning, there’s no time like the present to get started! Please leave suggestions in the comments here if you have any ‘essential reads’ that you think we should add to our bundle of feeds. Miriam Tuohy Professional Development Team Leader Instructions for importing an OPML file into a variety of applications can be found here. All places on the second round of SLANZA’s Connected Librarians course have now been filled. Thanks again for your support of this initiative.
Emails will go out later today to all those who registered, to let you know whether you’ve been placed this time or not. We apologise to those who have missed out this time – unfortunately we simply cannot fit you all in. Rest assured though that your registration will be held over for the next time the course is offered. Miriam Tuohy Professional Development team leader Follow the link below to register for the upcoming round of our Connected Librarians online professional development course.
Please note that you must be a current member of SLANZA to be able to participate in this PD. http://www.slanza.org.nz/online-pd-registration.html Please contact me if you have any questions regarding the course. Miriam Tuohy Professional Development team leader For as long as it has been around I have been a member of SLANZA, I’ve been sitting around the National Executive table for about 6 years, and when not on the NE I’ve worked on side projects with members of the NE. It is rewarding, fulfilling and time consuming work but something I believe has made a difference for our members. I really believe that school libraries make a difference to the educational outcomes of students in New Zealand, I believe that the work we do every day is important, and that the students we work with would tell you that this is true. But too few of our teaching staff know what we do, and can do for them, and we need that to change, and we need our members to buy into that.
Around the National Executive table there is great talent and all kinds of awesome new style librarianship, but we’ve got members stuck in the old days, members who just don’t want to embrace the new ways and those people are the ones who put us all at risk. So, what I’d like to do is have a constant programme of embracing our members needs, driving everyone forward and using the power of the Pool of Talent, and our excellent NE to raise the level of librarianship and useful technical skills in our members. This is already underway in some regions, but I want this to be the case in every single region and for every member in every region. I believe that we run the danger of being irrelevant to our members unless we do the things that they want, combined with the things they really need. While we know that the organisation has little to no clout in some Educational circles especially with the Ministry, I do know that it is a valued organisation to our members, and that we have done, and will continue to do fantastic things for these members. We want people to see that we offer great real world PD, a fantastic publication, we have great connections with other agencies, that those on Exec are working hard for the members in a visible way, and that we are just like they are, with all the everyday issues that they have, but that we are striving to provide resources, networks, PD and connections which will make a school librarians job easier, and more meaningful to schools and students. Also that we do this all in our own time, voluntarily and that we do it because we care. I want our members to know that there is a network of people working in school libraries just like they are, and who are at the end of the phone, or an email away, who can help or give a word of advice from at the coalface, or who have someone in their network who can help. A person who views the world from the same point of view as they do and who may have experienced what they are experiencing right now. I want people to see SLANZA as a network of peers who care. This is especially important for those who are new in school libraries, and this is where I see the regional representatives being especially important. When I finish my term I would like there to be two new resources that we can use in our libraries. I want to see all regions doing cool things for their members, providing speakers, skills, new ideas and new ways of doing things, things which showcase members with great skills, things which celebrate school libraries and school librarians. Lets be the SLANZA our members want us to be! Busy, focussed. visible and active. Lets work with other organisations to make new things happen in the school library world in New Zealand. Lets make a difference! ![]() We are pleased to announce that the much-anticipated second round of SLANZA’s online professional development course "Connected Librarians" will be offered again this term. In this course you will learn about a selection of online tools to use and to share with your school community. Topics include professional reading, social bookmarking, community connections, and more. This course is designed by New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians - those just starting out with online tools, who are ready and willing to try new things. The course is free for SLANZA members. Registrations will open on Monday 19th August. However, because we were overwhelmed with the response to our call for registrations in Term 2, we have a number of people who registered their interested at that time already on our list. This means that there are only 15 additional places still available. In order to ensure that our participants come from a range of school levels (primary, intermediate and secondary) we will select people from the registration list accordingly. Successful applicants will receive invitations to our learning community in Week 4, and the course begins in Week 5. More information about the course is available here, or you can contact me directly with any questions. Miriam Tuohy Professional Development team leader |
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