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SLANZA is excited to see the government’s review of Tomorrow’s Schools. As the experts working at ground level in schools, we welcome this opportunity to engage with the review.
The school library is fundamental for students and staff to have equitable access to quality resources, skills and support. All schools should have a well-resourced library staffed by a specialist librarian to support the teaching and learning needed for student success. The review’s objectives of putting learners at the centre and providing barrier free access to learning are at the heart of school libraries. Research in New Zealand and in many overseas studies, shows that having a school library staffed by a qualified professional librarian increases student achievement. The National Library of New Zealand states that, “the research into school library impact shows higher student performance (with) improved reading test scores, higher academic achievement, and positive attitudes towards learning.” There are a number of challenges facing schools and school libraries including pressures of the funding model, lack of space, staffing and budgets. The review will be an important chance for our concerns to be considered as a stakeholder committed to all learners achieving educational success. SLANZA believes that all school students in New Zealand, at every level of their education, should have access to effective school library services that will support their reading and learning. Ngā mihi Julia
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 It's time for the next SLANZA Google+ discussion - A Pay Equity Tool Kit for School Librarians. It will begin Tuesday 8 May and run for 3 weeks.
Our G+ discussions are designed to be slow, to allow time for deep thought and to reflect on our practices. Over three weeks there will be weekly 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 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 this year. Clare Forrest For the SLANZA PD Team The first issue of Collected 2018 is approaching , and the editorial team is now calling for Submissions. Our Theme for issue 22 is Collaborative Practice . We are looking for articles that discuss collaboration in school libraries, with teachers, fellow librarians, and other professionals . Articles about successful collaborations or difficulty with collaborations( please ensure that these are professional) are all welcome. We also accept other articles of interest to school librarians and reviews of all types.
Our deadline for submissions is May 15th,with planned publication in June. Feel free to contact me at collected@slanza.org.nz, if you have any questions We look forward to hearing from you Regards Greig Daniels Editor, Collected  Welcome to SLANZA 2018 from the National Executive. We are excited about what our organisation offers and wish to share with you some of the opportunities available to you as a member of SLANZA.
This year has got off to a very busy start, and I can only reminisce about those long hot days when students enjoyed the sun and the lawn, rather than the game of “how many people can you fit in the library on a rainy lunchtime day”. TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: This year for SLANZA members we will be running a Google+ discussion each term and Connected Librarian online modules in Terms 2, 3 and 4. Google+ Discussions Term 1: Things I no longer do and the stuff I do instead (Steph Ellis’s 2017 Conference presentation) Dates: 12 March - 30 March Term 2: Pay Equity for School Librarians Dates: 7 May - 25 May (Week 2-4) Term 3: Reading Communities Dates: 27 August - 14 September (Week 6-8) Term 4: Fun Literacy activities to make the library cool Dates: 12 November - 23 November (Week 5-6) Join the SLANZA Google+ community and network and debate online, at your own pace, in your own place. You must be a member of SLANZA to take part in this discussion, as well as belonging to SLANZA’s Google+ Community. Connected Librarian Online Modules Term 2: Fake News (Revised from original module) Dates: 4 June - 22 June (Week 6-8) Term 3: Student Wellbeing and Behaviour, especially related to the school librarian role Dates: 6 August - 24 August (Week 3-5) Term 4: Book Promotion - Readers Advisory #2 Dates: 22 October - 9 November (Week 2-4) Other SLANZA news: We have an exciting opportunity coming up soon to take over as the Editor of our fantastic Collected magazine. This bi-annual magazine pertains to who we are, what we do and why we do it. We are keen to see if there are any expressions of interest to be the Coordinator and Editor for Collected from 2019 onwards. If this is something you think you could be interested in please email our co-president JSmith@kerikerihigh.ac.nzfor more information. SLANZA works so well because we focus on our regions. Each region has a strong committee that runs four events a year for your professional support and development. Each region has a representative on the National Executive and together we work to grow our organization both at a national level and within our regions. If you ever wish to speak to your representative, or ask them to bring something to the National Executives attention we would love to hear from you. We meet face to face three times a year and our next meeting is in April. To find out who your representative is and to access their contact details please follow the link http://www.slanza.org.nz/about-us.html About SLANZA www.slanza.org.nz Membership SLANZA membership is made up of school and public library staff, National Library staff, teachers, principals, publishers, book-sellers, and library ... Our newest rep is Lynn Vare from the Otago region, we are excited to glean her experience and knowledge and we know she is going to be a huge asset to the NE. Hopefully you have now all become paid up members of SLANZA for 2018, please check with your school administration person to make sure your invoice has been sent to you and has been paid. If you are unsure please can you contact Mel our administration officer admin@slanza.org.nz. If you are not a member at all and you wish to join, please follow this link http://www.slanza.org.nz/personal-membership.html Personal membership - SLANZA www.slanza.org.nz SLANZA Personal membership ... Why should you join SLANZA? The benefits of membership include: connection and networking with other school library staff locally We wish you a wonderful 2018 where you are free to grow and develop your libraries so that your students can flourish in their educational and social journeys. Glenys Bichan SLANZA Communications  The SLANZA PD team is excited to announce our first G+ discussion topic for the year will start next Monday 12 March. It has been developed from Steph Ellis’s presentation at the SLANZA Conference 2017 - "Things I no longer do and stuff I do instead".
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 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 this year. Clare Forrest For the SLANZA PD Team Hi Everybody
The latest Issue of SLANZA's online Magazine Collected is now available to non members. Our theme for this issue is Reading but we also have the usual selection of thought provoking articles as well as business member submissions and heaps of reviews. Check it out at slanza.org.nz under the Resources tab. Happy reading. Greig Daniels Editor, Collected magazine The SLANZA Otago Committee are delighted to give you advance notice of theOtago Regional Conference to be held at Otago Girls' High School in Dunedinfrom Friday 28th to Sunday 30th of September 2018. Planning is in the early stages, but we are already in talks with some exciting speakers and presenters, and have some wonderful southern hospitality just raring to go!
More details will be available in the new year, but to assist with your planning, we can confirm the following: - Cost of registration for the weekend: $150 for SLANZA members, $200 for non-members - Morning/afternoon teas and lunches will be included as part of your registration. Optional social functions are not included in the registration cost and will be at your own expense. - The weekend will begin on the Friday afternoon/early evening and conclude on the Sunday afternoon (unfortunately we don't have exact times for you just yet) - There is ample accommodation to suit all budgets available in Dunedin. Please make your own accommodation arrangements. We are also seeking conference sponsors and trade exhibitors. If you would be interested in either of these options, please contact the co-conveners Bridget Schaumann (sc@kingshigh.school.nz) or Carole Gardiner (caroleg@queens.school.nz). We look forward to welcoming you to Dunedin in September next year. kind regards, The SLANZA Otago Committee SLANZA National Executive met in Wellington last weekend, 11-12 November, and we would like to inform you of the work we did and the ideas we discussed.
Three representatives from NZEI joined our meeting to discuss the issue of pay parity and how that affects us as school librarians. We found the session both informative and enlightening. It was heartening to learn that School Librarians pay equity claim will be assessed separately and following on from the school Admin staff as our role includes a pastoral element with personal contact and teaching of students and a direct impact on their learning. During Term 1 2018, SLANZA will hold regional meetings to discuss pay equity. Importantly, we need to encourage our members to think about recording the skill sets they are using throughout the day, NZEI will provide a form for this. We need everyone’s contribution and support to build a strong case for our claim. In addition, we will run a Google+ SLANZA community discussion on pay equity early next year. We are excited about the Professional Development we are offering our members. When the Google+ community formed, we had 85 initial participants - we now have 192. Fifty members signed up for our latest online course, Active Collection Development. We are fully committed to offering further opportunities of learning in 2018, which will include new Connected online learning modules, new Google+ discussions, our Collected magazine, regional professional development, as well as fee-free Open Polytechnic courses. Watch out for a survey that will be coming to your inbox. This is a combined venture between National Library, LIANZA and SLANZA. We hope to gather data on the number of school libraries, staffing hours, funding, and their function. This survey will be forwarded to members of the library team and the principal, it is important we have different perspectives to build an extensive picture of how our school libraries are working. Please support this initiative. Speaking of surveys, soon it will be time for our annual SLANZA Reading survey. By sharing your most issued book, most favoured author and most popular series from your library, it builds a popular reading list of New Zealand children and teenage reading. We are trialling Regional Conferences for the next two years before our National Conference in 2020. Dunedin is the venue next year on the weekend of 29-30 September 2018, the first weekend of the school holidays. They have amazing ideas, speakers and plans. The Otago SLANZA Committee are hoping to keep the cost less than $150.00. Put a circle around the date and add it to the 2018 school budget. At our meeting, we discussed our vision statement, strategic plan and our annual action plan. We are also looking at a new Policies and Procedures Manual. These documents set a firm foundation for our core values, focus our priorities and help transition new National Executive members. We are currently looking at updating the website too. We will keep you informed as these take shape. Lastly, we welcomed Jay Shaw as Southland rep onto NE and Melanie McVeigh as the SLANZA Administrator. Sadly we also had to farewell the stunning Bridget Schaumann. Bridget has served over 10 years on SLANZA NE, she has a wealth of knowledge, is fully passionate about the power of SLANZA and is a huge believer in advocating and demanding the best from school libraries. She has given fully to SLANZA and we will miss her advice, her courage, her energy and even her corrective smile! We wish you all the best and we thank you. Have a great Christmas break, enjoy the sun, your families and many good books. On behalf of SLANZA we thank you for all you do for school libraries, we acknowledge your hard work on behalf of your students, your school and our organisation. Glenys Bichan Communications Members
Just a note to remind you that submissions For the latest Collected magazine, close on the 20th of October. I've extended the deadline a week to take the holidays into account. Our theme for this issue is "Reading" , but we welcome any articles, reviews, and reports of general interest to members Please don't hesitate to contact me at collected@slanza.org.nz if you have any questions or concerns. Thank You Greig Daniels Editor, Collected We are pleased to announce that Registrations for the Active Collection Development module of the Connected Librarians course are now open.
One of the best parts of our job is the chance to buy books for our students and schools. This course will help you with that selection process and challenge the way you do it. On successful course completion, learners will be able to:
Applications close on Friday 27 October, and the course will be starting on Monday 30 October. This course is designed by New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians - those just starting out with online tools, and who are ready and willing to try new things. The course is free for SLANZA members. More information is available in the course flyer and outline documents, and you can register here. |
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