Life membership is SLANZA’s ultimate award and honour, recognising a SLANZA member whose contribution to school librarianship is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of school library service.
 
SLANZA National Executive would like to call for nominations for our Life Membership Award. Information and criteria for the award can be found on the Award Page on the SLANZA website.
 
As always, the awards are presented at the discretion of the Awards Committee. If a recipient is selected, the Life Membership Award will be presented at SLANZA’s National Conference in Auckland this July.
 
Please send nominations with all the required documentation to admin@slanza.org.nz by Friday 23 June 2017

It gives the Life Membership Committee great pleasure to announce that the following people have been nominated by their peers and been successful in achieving Life Membership of SLANZA in 2014.  These awards were announced at the Annual General Meeting 2014, held in Dunedin at the Weekend School.  

Life membership is awarded to people who have contributed greatly over a number of years to our organisation.  They have gone well above and beyond, they have given of their time and energy over many years for the betterment of our org and all of the people nominated this year have been stalwarts of the organisation since it’s inception.  

It is a hard thing making choices between such worthy nominees but after a great deal of deliberation the following people are being recognised for their contribution and awarded Life Membership in 2014.  

Jenny Millar
Jenny has been with SLANZA from the very beginning.  She was on the steering committee for SLANZA for the year before it’s inception.  Prior to that she was heavily involved in the School Library Network, she was the first Otago/Southland representative for SLANZA and her foresight and vision, amongst the others on that committee have formed and shaped what we have become.  She continued in this role for many years.  She has been a major contributor to sub committees of the National Executive, giving of her own time for years.  Keeping the Otago/Southland region humming when the chairperson was based in Otago and hosting and organising Otagoites, no easy job, organising meetings, and always keeping us in the loop with what was happening at a National level.  She has been a huge help to local librarians and her work promoting and reviewing books has been fantastic.  Jenny is a SLANZA stalwart.  She is tough, resilient and a rock to those in the school library world who need one.  We heartily endorse her nomination and are most pleased and happy to reward her with this Life Membership.

Rosalba Finnerty
This is a person who has been one of the standing stones of SLANZA since it started.  She has been involved in almost every area of librarianship over her career and not content with that has become an archivist on top.  Rosalba has served her time on the National Executive, she has been involved in so many conferences and committees that it is not possible to count them.  She has represented the National Executive at committees of many kinds over the years and still does this today when needed.  She has retired from her position at Samuel Marsden Collegiate, and gone on to have an illustrious career in archives, both for that school and for SLANZA, her lounge playing host to a mountain of paper and digital records, she has been in this privileged position for the last two years and her dedication and thoroughness has sharpened all the NE up.  Because of her we are better organised and future ready.  Rosalba gives up her weekend on National Executive weekends to cater to the National executive, it is a mighty thing, she is our emergency minute taker and advisor on matters of many kinds.  Her knowledge of the history of the organisation is regularly called upon.  This barely covers it.  She is an advisor, an ear to many, a fantastic stalwart of the Wellington committee and all round organiser of everyone and everything.  It is an utter pleasure to award her Life Membership of SLANZA.

Janet McFadden
The nomination for Janet McFadden was fulsome in its praise for her work for, with and alongside SLANZA for many years.  Janet has been one of the biggest advocates for the benefit of school librarians belonging to SLANZA, she has been a committee member of the Wellington region for many years.  Janet was the first convenor of the Wellington region, as early as 2002 she was helping organise Wellington conferences and has continued to do that regularly.  No conference is complete without a presentation from Janet.  Her dedication to school librarians across the country, and particularly in Wellington has been always appreciated.  Janet has spent her professional life working to provide a wide range of resources and skills to school library staff. Her willingness to help and support others, well beyond the realm of her role at National Library and her continued commitment to the profession of school librarianship at all levels is testament her professionalism and leadership.  Janet is a hard working endless promoter of school libraries, the people who work in them and SLANZA as an organisation of value and importance to those people and for this we are incredibly grateful and are delighted to award this Life Membership.

Gerri Judkins
The name Gerri Judkins is one which is clearly associated with SLANZA and her dedication to SLANZA is legendary.  Not only within her home district of the Waikato but amongst all those who have stood back and admired the energy, the enthusiasm and the sheer gutsy determination that kids will read, that school libraries are the places where kids get the stuff to read.  Gerri is a reading and school library evangelist.  Her work on the SLANZA National Executive has left lasting effects.  Her understanding of the different circumstances in which school librarians work had a major influence on decisions made around the NE table.  Gerri understood the world that most of us worked in, it was refreshing.  Gerri is still giving presentations promoting SLANZA, the work that we do with reading in schools, promoting the Lit Quiz and being the powerhouse of energy she has always been.  I think she is currently in Russia at IASL doing exactly that.  Gerry is the little engine that could, could promote SLANZA endlessly, could attend meetings when others couldn't, could answer tricky questions and indeed could ask them, could use her endless supply of contacts to make stuff happen, could organise a mini-conference with almost no time and limited funding and could be the person who had read every book available so that she could promote it to her kids and sell it to a whole NE meeting.  Gerri Judkins does SLANZA proud and therefore it is not a difficult decision to award her this Life Membership.

As one of my last acts as President, it gave me great pleasure to be able to announce who had received Life Membership of SLANZA during last week's conference.

We were delighted at the calibre of the nominations for the people who received Life Membership as they exemplify all the qualities and attributes of best practice in literacy, advocacy, promotion, professional development and also a very evident willingness to be involved on a local and national level.
The recipients are as listed:

Pauline McCowan

In recognition of Pauline’s contribution to the formation of SLANZA, her long term role on the National Executive and SLANZAK and her promotion of SLANZA nationally.  Her participation on conference committees and her constant support of school librarians and their value over the last 12 years.

Pauline’s involvement with SLANZA dates from the very earliest meetings of the organisation.  She was part of the Auckland School Library Association (ASLA) for many years and then contributed to the creation of SLANZA, was on the National Executive for several years and was a member of the IASL and Auckland conference committees.  At the local level, Pauline was actively involved with SLANZAK until her retirement in 2011, organising professional development and events  as well as presenting at SLANZA conferences nationally. Pauline also trained as a teacher-librarian and has shared her knowledge of information literacy programmes and love of literature with others through her work at National Library.


John Fowler

In recognition of John’s long term role and contribution to the ASLA and SLANZAK committees over the past 34 years, his involvement in the provision of professional development in the Auckland region and his participation in the organisation of the IASL conference and the Auckland conferences.

34 years - what an amazing contribution to school libraries John has made.  He joined ASLA in 1979, quickly becoming the secretary and was the Chair for seven years.  John helped to form SLANZAK, was part of the the IASL and both Auckland conference committees, and has contributed greatly to providing professional development opportunities in the Auckland area too. John has just stepped down from SLANZAK and has signalled his intention to retire from Kings’ College at the end of the year, where he has been a teacher-librarian for 20 years.  His quiet manner and institutional knowledge will be greatly missed.


Jeannie Skinner

In recognition of the tireless effort Jeannie has put into the development of Te Tai Tokerau as a region, for her advocacy and passion for the promotion of literacy and reading, and the unstinting support Jeannie has provided to all involved in school libraries across Northland.

Jeannie’s nomination was accompanied by several heartfelt testimonies, outlining the dedication Jeannie has shown to SLANZA  and the invaluable support she provides to all people involved with school libraries across Te Tai Tokerau.  Jeannie is known for her love of and advocacy for all forms of literature and has been instrumental in assisting schools to apply for grants to improve their libraries and collections.  She is a moving force in ensuring Northland has author tours and the Storylines festival, to the envy of other areas. She has served on the committee for since it began and one of the testimonies said:  Since Jeannie returned to Northland, she has always been on  the SLANZA committee, and it will be a sad day when this is not so.


Linda McCullough

In recognition of Linda’s work on behalf of the SLANZA members of the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region, her continuous service to the schools in the area and her dedication to fostering the development of people on the regional committee, and for her efforts to provide excellent PD and support to members in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty.

Linda has worked tirelessly for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty area and has put a huge amount of effort into growing the talents and abilities of those on the Waikato/Bay of Plenty committee, ensuring the stability and development of the committee.  Linda has been involved with SLANZA since the steering committee meetings in 2000 and has been on the Waikato/Bay of Plenty committee since the beginning. She has played a crucial part in ensuring many others are recognised for their achievements and her nominators have quite rightly pointed out that it is time Linda was recognised for all she has done for others.


Adaire Hannah

In recognition of Adaire’s advocacy for all involved in school libraries across New Zealand, her advocacy to people in very high places and to other organisations on behalf of SLANZA, her work in ensuring students have the information literacy skills necessary for success and her participation in SLANZA in Wellington and nationally over the past 12 years.

Adaire’s dedication to SLANZA and her advocacy for all working in school libraries is legendary.  She is renowned as someone who is forthright and direct and has used that to promote the cause of SLANZA and school libraries everywhere, as part of National Executive and as a SLANZA representative on committees such as TPSAC and the PPTA ICT taskforce. Adaire was part of the Wellington SLANZA committee since its inception and she also has been part of the very successful Wellington conferences too, both as a convenor of conference committees and as a presenter. Adaire’s work as a teacher-librarian was recognised nationally by SLANZA and LIANZA, for the whole school information literacy programme she created and has run in collaboration with other staff throughout Wellington High.


Glenda Fortune

In recognition of Glenda’s contribution to the formation of SLANZA, and her long term role on the Aoraki committee. Also for her support in so many ways of SLANZA and the work it does, but especially for the outstanding support she has provided to all in Christchurch during the last two years.

Glenda was part of the original group who discussed the possibility of a national organisation for those interested in school libraries, and she has been part of the Aoraki committee since then.  as well as organising professional development on a local level, she has has been on both the Christchurch conference committees, and has presented at conferences too. One of the most touching parts of Glenda’s nomination was reading about how Glenda has supported, helped and lead people who have been affected by the Canterbury earthquakes and they say: Glenda remains our quiet peaceful harbour giving us wisdom and support throughout.

Congratulations to our new Life Members and thank you for the dedication you have shown to SLANZA.

It has been a very busy 2013 so far for the National Executive, so I thought I'd give you an update about some of the projects we've been involved in.

Most of us have a really good break over the Christmas break, but for some people their focus was the creation of SLANZA's new reading website.  Bridget Schaumann and Miriam Tuohy led a team who evaluated  all the lists, identified double ups and inconsistencies and re-formatted everything. Miriam created the site and layout and then the team started the mammoth task of transferring all the lists to the new site.  Sounds simple, but it was months of work for all involved.  However, I am sure you will agree that it was well worth it!

Miriam's other major project has been the development of the  SLANZA online Connected Librarians professional development course.  She was investigating the idea of Library Badges in recognition of skills learnt, and came up with the Connected Librarians concept.  The National Executive wanted to provide online professional development, and thanks to Miriam's perseverance, there are some very lucky SLANZA members who are starting this exciting course soon.  We were completely amazed at the amount of interest shown by you, and do intend to run it again, so all the waiting list have an opportunity to do the course.

One of my roles as President is to represent SLANZA in a variety of forums, and one of those forums is the cross sector Strategic Advisory Forum (SAF).  SAF meets three times a year, to talk with the National Librarian and each other regarding issues across the sector.  As a result of a recent meeting, LIANZA convened a cross association day to identify how each of the library associations across New Zealand could work more closely, support each other and try to stop re-inventing the wheel. Miriam and I represented SLANZA, and it was very interesting to see the commonalities between associations.  One of the issues we raised was the cost of PD provided by LIANZA.  We also pushed for a reduced LIANZA conference rate for SLANZA members, and that is being considered by LIANZA Council.

The Executive has been working on the SLANZA Constitution, as things have moved on since 2000 and it needed to be updated to reflect new ways of working and communicating.  Greig Daniels has been leading this project, with an updated Constitution now lodged with the Companies Office.  As a result, a number of amendments will be presented for ratification at the upcoming national AGM during the Wellington Conference.

One group of very busy people is the Wellington Conference Committee, and I'd like to thank them for all the organisation and planning, as the conference is going to be great. Karen Clarke is the Wellington representative on the Executive, as well as being part of the Conference Committee, and is the conference liaison too.  Karen has been doing  a sterling job of keeping us up to date with what has been planned, and I am really looking forward to attending such an exciting conference!

Membership is a big part of SLANZA and we have a number of people involved with it.  Carole Gardiner, our new Administration Officer, has been working through some very tangled membership renewals, and has done a brilliant job of sorting this out for us.  If you have not received a renewal, please email Carole (admin@slanza.org.nz) as we may not have a correct or current email address for you. Life and Business memberships were instituted last year, and Lisa Salter has taken responsibility for these, with Greig taking on the SLANZA awards.  If you know someone that you feel should be granted life membership, or receive an award, please do nominate them by June 20th.  More information is available on the SLANZA website.

Lisa has also taken on the Editor's role for Collected magazine, working with others on the Executive, and is currently pulling together all the articles written for the magazine, which will be published later this term. The upcoming edition will be all about reading, and having done some proof-reading, I know you are going to find it

The Executive is also very grateful to Rosalba Finnerty, the first member of the SLANZA Pool of Talent.  Rosalba has taken over the SLANZA archives, and is sorting through several years of documents, so our history can be preserved.

I hope this gives you an insight into some of the activities of your National Executive and the work we do for you.

Term three is just whizzing by in the North and spring in the air.  I do hope the regions down South are starting to defrost!  

I expect you have all had a chance to puruse our new website.  Miraim Tuohy has provided us with an improved site which we hope members will find useful http://www.slanza.org.nz/index.html  .

Collected magazine is just about ready!  We look forward to sharing this edition with you very soon.

The SLANZA Awards and Life Membership process is under review.  We would appreciate any comments, suggestions, complaints regarding the present process from anyone who has something to offer the review team.  Please send your ideas to Lisa Salter lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz by the end of Term 3 and I will report on the changes in due course.  

Region News-
Te Tai Tokerau Term 3 events:
Check out our blog to see the two interesting events in Northland this term:
http://slanzanorthland.blogspot.co.nz/

Southland Term 3 coffee meeting
Pam Garry (John McGlashan College) will talk about her recent visit to Suzette Boyd’s fabulous library at Scotch College in Melbourne
Where:   Salt Café, Esplanade, St Clair
When:    4pm Wednesday 29 August
Everyone Welcome ~ we’d love to see you there
Please RSVP by Monday 27th August to Bridget at
sc@kingshigh.school.nz or Carole at caroleg@queens.school.nz

To recognise those who have played such an important role in the creation and development of SLANZA as an organisation, the National Executive instituted Honorary Life Memberships and called for nominations from the members.  The convenor of the Awards Committee, Lisa Salter, was impressed with the calibre of the nominees and the amount of thought that had gone into the applications.

The Executive is delighted to announce that Honorary Life Memberships have been awarded to the Steering Committee who worked tirelessly to create SLANZA:
Karen du Fresne
Margaret Forbes 
Judi Hancock 
Elizabeth Jones
Dr Penny Moore
Elizabeth Probert 
Jill Stotter

As an organisation, we owe so much to the Steering Committee, who not only created a national organisation that we can be proud of, but who were also instrumental in bringing the IASL conference to New Zealand in 2000.
Regional areas will be organising special events to present the awards to each recipient, and also to thank them for all they have done (and continue to do) for SLANZA and school library staff nation wide. 

SLANZA is pleased to offer Honorary Life Membership to recognize those whose contribution to school librarianship or a closely related field is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole  field of school library service.

Please think about those in our field who deserve to be rewarded in this way.  Applications are open now and close Thursday 21 June 2012.  The first Honorary Life Memberships will be presented at our 2012 AGM in Wellington on Saturday 21 July. 

An application form may be obtained from Lisa Salter, email lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz.  This new form of membership will be up on our website in the near future.

WHAT IS SLANZA HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP? 

Honorary Life Membership is considered to be SLANZA’s highest honor.  Honorary life  membership may be conferred on a living member whose contribution to school librarianship or a  closely related field is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole  field of school library service.  It is intended to reflect honor upon the SLANZA as well as upon the  individual.

NOMINATIONS PROCEDURE:

Any SLANZA personal member (except current members of the SLANZA Executive Board) may nominate an individual for Honorary Life Membership.  The nominee will be a member of SLANZA.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for further clarification.

Lisa Salter
Phone 09 439 2216
lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz
Te Tai Tokerau NE School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa