National Executive Update

The National Executive met in Wellington last weekend with a focus on how we can better support our members.  

We are committed to providing a quality conference in both 2013 and 2015, with relevant PD to all our members throughout the country.  The 2013 conference ‘Winds of Change’ is shaping up very well and will have something for everyone.  I do hope you have requested to attend in your planning for next year. It is also good to mention your desire to attend in your annual report.

NE will soon be starting work on a new Strategic Plan. In order to formulate the plan we will be seeking your input early next year on what you would like to see.

NE are excited about Word Up (see Collected #8 www.slanza.org.nz/collected.html if you missed news of this) and the potential it holds for a range exciting initiatives to be offered next year. To tie in with this and the launch of the new SLANZA reading site, our first issue of Collected will focus on reading on all it’s forms. Contributions for articles related to all types of i.e. reading book clubs, summer reading reflections, ESOL, book talks etc. will be called for early next term.

We are looking for someone to take over the layout and design of Collected magazine. If you have an interest and experience in layout and design in an online environment please contact Miriam Tuohy at miriam.tuohy@gmail.com for further information.

This week we called for applications for the SLANZA NE Administration job. The position description is on our website at http://www.slanza.org.nz/vacancies.html.  Please share this information with anyone you think could be interested.  They do not have to work in a school library to apply.

National Executive members in some cases expressed concern about the workload of running both a regional committee and being the regional rep. The NE roles have changed over time and the workload has increased, to this end it is no longer a requirement that the NE Rep also chair the regional committee. The regional committee has many portfolios ie the regional rep, treasurer, membership person and these can be combined or shared within the committee as suits your region.

We welcome Karen Clarke as the new NE rep for Wellington and thank Michele Whiting for her enormous contribution. From 2013 Karen will we working with on membership with our new admin person to improve our membership processes.

We thank all our members for their support this year.  Reflecting on our successful Ross Todd events we look forward to continuning to provide relevant PD to our members while we search for other ways to meet your needs.  We wish you all a restful holiday season and all the best for next year.

Lisa Salter
Communications Leader