​The SLANZA PD team is excited to announce our second G+ discussion topic for the year. It will begin on Tuesday 6 June.

The Ministry of Education is committed to providing innovative learning environments where everyone can work together to support the best learning for everyone. What does this mean for school libraries and the way we practice?
 
Our G+ discussions are designed to be slow, to allow time for deep thought and to reflect on our practices. Over four weeks there will be four readings followed by reflective questions. You can dip in and out of the discussion as time allows you, and participate as much or as little as you wish.
 
You must be a member of SLANZA to take part in this discussion (and it’s a great year to join with conference coming up), as well as belonging to SLANZA’s Google+ Community.
 
We look forward to “seeing” you and hearing your thoughts – either for this discussion or one of our other professional development events planned for later this year.​

We are very pleased to announce that SLANZA members can now access a selection of eBooks to support their continuing professional development. ​

These resources will be available to members only, through SLANZA’s new eBook platform.
Wheelers have made this possible by generously providing our ePlatform at no cost. We are very grateful for their support of our organisation, and our members’ ongoing professional growth.

We invite all current SLANZA members to register for the SLANZA ePlatform now.

When you register, please use your preferred email address (not a shared library email) and your personal membership number if known.
​We aim to process new registrations within 24 hours.

The next issue of Collected magazine is starting to come together with many submissions already received. Thank you to those who have written articles for this conference themed issue, and also to our team of proof-readers who assist Greig (our Editor) with getting the magazine ready for publication. You can still submit content for this issue, too. The final date for articles or book reviews to reach us is this coming Thursday, November 19th. Information about writing for the magazine is available on our website, and you can email articles, photos, or book reviews directly to collected@slanza.org.nz 
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This week Sandi (PD Team Leader) has kicked off the first of our regular PD discussions in SLANZA’s Google+ community. Our chosen text for the inaugural discussion is R David Lankes’ free eBook “Expect More”. David presented a keynote session at LIANZA’s conference last week, and you can watch the video of that presentation (and others) online. To take part in our discussion group, you’ll need to join the G+ community first - over 100 of our members have joined so far. There has been some really interesting sharing and commenting already, relating to the first couple of chapters of Expect More. It’s not too late to join us, if you’d like to be part of this stimulating and thought-provoking conversation!
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Please do get in touch with me (president@slanza.org.nz), or with your local representative on the National Executive if there is anything mentioned here that you'd like to discuss, or if there are any other matters you'd like our help or input with. We'd love to hear from you!

Miriam Tuohy

Registrations for module #1 (Professional Reading) of the Connected Librarians course close this Friday, June 12th.

Next week all applicants will receive confirmation of whether they have been placed in this intake. 

More information is available in the course flyer and outline documents, and you can register here.

In 2013-2014 SLANZA offered our very successful Connected Librarians course to members. We are grateful to those who participated, for supporting SLANZA’s professional development and also for giving us feedback on ways we might improve what we do.

As part of a major review of the course - including participant’s feedback - we are very pleased to announce that each of the six topics that made up the original Connected Librarians course will now be offered as individual modules. We believe this will make our course even more accessible, by removing some of the barriers to participating, and offering the flexibility to better fit learners’ individual needs.

The course modules are designed and fully facilitated by practising New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians. They are ideal for those library staff just starting out with online tools, who are ready and willing to try new things.

Registration is free for SLANZA members. Class places are limited.

Registrations for module #1 - Professional Reading using RSS feeds and Feedly - will open on Tuesday June 2nd (week 7). Successful applicants will receive invitations to our learning community in Week 9, and the class itself runs in Weeks 10 and 11.

More information about Connected Librarians is available here, or you can contact me directly with any questions.

Miriam Tuohy
Professional Development team leader

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:

• Julie James (Mountainview High School)
  
• Lis Marrow (Hutt International Boys School)
  
• Fran Knapman (Ngakuru School)
  
• Deborah Wing (Botany Downs Secondary College)

Undertaking tertiary study is a huge undertaking, and these grants are one way that SLANZA can show our support and encouragement to those working in the field of school librarianship who choose to further their professional learning.

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

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 25th of September 2014, and successful applicants will be notified in October.

More information about the grants, including the application form, is available here.

We are pleased to announce that registrations for the fourth round of SLANZA’s online professional development course - Connected Librarians - will open next Monday, May 19th. Because we have a waiting list for course places, there are currently only 10 places 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. Because Term 2 is somewhat shorter than normal, successful applicants will receive invitations to our learning community during Week 3, and the course will begin in Week 4. 

If your registration is accepted, it is essential that you ensure you have access to Google Plus using the email account you have registered with, before the course starts.

The Connected Librarians course is designed by New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians. It is aimed at those just starting out with online tools in their library. Participants will be required to sign up for, and use a selection of 6 online tools (1 new tool each week). Each week’s work contains background readings and/or videos, tasks to complete using that week’s tool, and participation in discussions to share and reflect on your learning for the week.

The course is free for SLANZA members.

More information about the course is available here, or you can contact me directly with any questions.

Miriam Tuohy
Professional Development team leader

Thanks to another tremendous response to our course announcement yesterday, places have now been filled, and registrations closed.

The course will be run again in Term 2 - announcements regarding signups will be made at the end of this term.

Miriam Tuohy
for SLANZA's Professional Development team