A good number of school librarians from all over the Wellington region braved the challenging weather in early April to attend the first SLANZA bookshop night at Paper Plus in Lower Hutt. With the whole shop to ourselves we spent time perusing the shelves and catching up with fellow librarians to see how the year had started. Thanks to John Vallely's hospitality we also got to take away free books, bookmarks and book bags and stock up on brand new books for our collections.
Afterwards, we relocated to a nearby restaurant for more food and drink and another chance to renew friendships and meet some new members. Thank you everyone involved- it was a great night.
Clare Forrest
SLANZA Wellington Region Chairperson

We are  planning some exciting and worthwhile events and to help you plan your year, here is SLANZA Wellington Region’s planned schedule of events for 2017. We will provide you with more detailed information before each event.

• Term 1: Wednesday 5 April
  

            Books, Bargains and Best Sellers
            A bookshop evening hosted by John Vallely, Manager, at Paper Plus, Lower
Hutt.
            Recommendations, giveaways and 20% discount, with drinks and nibbles and
the chance to catch up with fellow librarians.
            Also the option of going to dinner at a nearby restaurant afterwards.
            A flyer will be out soon with all the information you need.

• Term 2: Wednesday 14 June
  

            AGM and guest speaker Fulbright Scholar Merry Willis
            

•  16 -19 July SLANZA Conference : Igniting and Inspiring Libraries  
  

             SLANZA’s  national conference (held every 2 years) is at Kings’ College in
Auckland.
             Check out the great opportunities on their website SLANZA 2017 .
             Information will be coming out soon about applying for a Conference Grant to
help get you to conference. This grant covers basic registration and
accommodation costs.

• Term 3: Saturday 9 September
  

            PD Day - workshops and sessions for primary and secondary school
librarians
            We will send a survey soon for you to help us plan this event, so it will be of
maximum benefit for SLANZA members.

• Term 4: Wednesday 15 November
  

            SLANZA Christmas End of Year celebration

We hope you can join us for some or all of these events. All welcome: SLANZA members and non SLANZA members, any interested parties. ​

It was a clear and windless day in September in Wellington (A Good Day) when an enthusiastic group of school librarians and their friends ventured out for the PD Term 3 School Library Bus Tour. 

First stop - Wellington College, kindly opened up and presented early on a Saturday morning by Library Manager Katherine McKenzie. Wellington College is a large boys college in central Wellington and its Girven Library is a large, well used vibrant space, full of resources and eye catching displays.
After a good poke around (nothing that librarians love more than having a look at other people's libraries) we boarded the large red double-decker bus, courtesy of Malcolm Little and expertly driven by Simon Cross. 

Next stop - Samuel Marsden Collegiate, newly remodeled and refurbished. Library Manager Karen Richards explained the huge amount of planning and work that has gone into making this senior school library the work of art that it is. Lots of glass and light combined with comfortable corners and modern furniture and different types of working areas, made for an enviable space for students to use. Samuel Marsden Collegiate is a private girls school that caters for Years 1-13.
Back on the bus and on the road again, we traveled the winding back roads that gave those on the top deck intriguing not usually seen views into peoples properties and weekend lives.
Next stop - Tawa Intermediate, a co-ed intermediate in the suburbs north of Wellington where Library Manager Shelley Knox gave us the guided tour and explained some of the ways she engages the students in the library. Tawa Intermediate's library is a great example of a colourful modern learning environment, with a diversity of furniture and spaces for students to be in, including a glass walled quiet room, that Shelley told us the students love and respect as a sanctuary.

Final stop on the tour - Cashmere Ave School, a medium sized primary school with Years 1-6 in the north-west suburbs of Wellington. Sarah Jordan, Digital Systems Manager and Rachel Huddleston, Library Manager, who had been on the tour with us all took on the role of library guide and explained how they made their more traditional library space the vibrant and well used facility that it is. 

Thank you to everyone involved in making this school library bus tour such a success and so much fun.
Thank you to the generosity of our hosts for letting us poke around your lovely libraries, take photos and pick your brains. Thank you to the participants for your support of each other and this SLANZA Wellington PD event. It is because of you that we do this.
Thank you to NZEI for sponsoring its members to go on this tour and thank you to Book Protection Products for your continued financial support so all this can be possible.


​

​Wellington Regional News Term 1 2016

On the 9th of March Wellington Slanza held its first event of the year.  Thank you to Helen Muxlow of Karori West Normal School for hosting.  Helen is also the newest addition to the Wellington Slanza committee.
The topic this term was ‘Genrefying Your Collection’. It was great to start the year of with a lively discussion on the pro’s and con’s of genrefying  your collection.
Sue Levine, an American Teacher/Librarian, who is visiting New Zealand at the moment  as part of her Fulbright Scholarship also attended our meeting.  Sue spoke about her ideas and thoughts in regard to her research in School Libraries in New Zealand.
The Wellington committee is looking forward to the challenges ahead  for the year, next up is the AGM.  See you all there.

Karen Clarke
Chair Wellington Slanza.

On the 18 of November Wellington members gathered for their final PD event of the year. We bought our xmas treats to St. Patricks College, Kilbirnie for a relaxed event for term 4. Firstly we farewelled and gave an Award to Sue Esterman of Scot's College.  Sue has been a wonderful ambassador for school libraries through Wellington and we we wish her well in her retirement.

​

We then presented Barbara Murison her Life Membership Award.  Barbara has been hugely influential within, library and literature circles in New Zealand.  Her life has been filled with books, writers, libraries and her passion for literacy.

​

Then we awarded Marianne Dobie her recognition award and she talked to us about her experience of the Christchurch conference. Here is what she had to say:

Highlights of the 2015 SLANZA Conference


Where to start? The conference was such a positive experience it is very hard to choose just a few highlights.
Here are only a few of the highlights.


Roger Dennis’ keynote address was about how technology is changing the world and how to prepare children for entering the workforce in ten years. The point that was most memorable was that people can do great things, and so can technology. It is when the two work together that something amazing can happen.


Kay Oddone’s keynote on Makerspace gave practical advice on this phenomenon, in terms of setting up, staff roles, activities and equipment.  I took many ideas away with me, and have already contacted Kay for more information, which she was very generous in giving.


Alison Johnson’s workshop on eBooks was interesting, as her findings on eBook borrowing are very similar to our own experiences – namely that library platforms for eBook borrowing are not as popular as we had expected or had hoped. Alison also talked about different ways of promoting eBooks.


Visiting other libraries is always fascinating and I had the opportunity to visit Fendalton Open Air School, Halswell School, and the Secondary and Primary Libraries at St. Andrews. I took many photographs and ideas. Halswell was particularly interesting as we saw the purpose-built  MLE classrooms and the  new library. It never fails to amaze me how creative and adaptable librarians can be.


Meeting other colleagues, sharing ideas, experiences and laughter is always a highlight.
A personal highlight for me was being awarded the SLANZA Award of Merit for Library Assistant. This came as a complete surprise, and was a very humbling experience. Being presented with my certificate in front of my colleagues was especially meaningful.

I was fortunate enough to receive a grant from Wellington SLANZA which covered the registration costs of attending Conference, for which I am extremely grateful.

​

Clare Forrest treated us to a fantastically funny and challenging literature quiz.  Luckily for everyone we all went away with prizes.

​

On Saturday 20th Of June at Wellington Girls College, the Wellington region gathered for their annual Professional Development Day.  
The first session was presented by Tim Parkin, a Massey University lecturer of Design. Tim talked about the work that has emerged from their senior design student's exploration regarding the topic 'Exploring the library of the future".  The insights we learnt suggest the library has immense relevance within the 21st century and an exciting future beyond its role as a repository.

The second session was presented by Karen Clarke - Library Manager St. Patrick's college and Clare Forrest - Library Manager at Raroa Intermediate.  They presented on using Google apps in your library. The full range of apps was explored and shown to the attendees.

The final session of the day was presented by Colleen Shipley Library Manager of Marlborough Girls College.  Colleen talked about the Marlborough Inquiry that she put together between two high schools, an intermediate and a primary school in Blenheim. The aim was to collaboratively develop a research/inquiry process so that students have common understanding of the key stages, languages used and skills required for successful research as they transition from primary to intermediate to secondary school.

A great stimulating, informative and collegial morning was had by all with wonderful food to help us through the day.

Hi Everyone,
I would like to thank everyone who attended the three meetings Slanza arranged to discuss the changes to National Library Services to Schools.  We held three meetings at Wellington Girls College, one in Kapiti and one in Wairarapa so that all our members could have the ability to meet, discuss and think about the repercussion of the changes.  I will be at a National Executive meeting in two weeks time to discuss your concerns.

We had some great discussions and wonderful insights from our members. Here are just some of the comments that sum up our regions thoughts:

1.How will the National Library be able to provide better high-interest reading material for my students than I can and how will I be able to provide better non-fiction curriculum print material than the National Library can? 


 2.Reading engagement is about more than just dumping a box of books on a table. How will the new plan help teachers and library staff to get kids reading? Most of us already do a good job, and those schools that have low reading engagement probably need face-to-face help, not just at school but in their community. Telling them to find help online will not work.


3.National Library acknowledged that digital resources are currently inadequate and largely unsuitable for primary school children learning to read.  They had no plans for accessing NL books in the meantime or for the time it will take to develop digital resources


I spoke at the Wairarapa meeting to a teacher at a small Wairarapa primary school.  It is a small low decile school.  The National Library books are a Godsend for a school with a tight budget.  They cannot go to the public library and their community cannot help them.  This is going to disadvantage these children's education.

I think the main concern was as librarian's we want to get children reading and get wonderful books into all our children's hands not just those who can afford them.

Hi Everyone,
As you know there have been changes made to the Curriculum Services to School that the National Library provide.  Due to the serious nature of these change we are having as our first event of the year a meeting to discuss the ramifications of the changes for school libraries and their communities.

The meeting will be held at Wellington Girls College on 25th of February at 4pm.  Please RSVP to this email to let me know the numbers who wish to attend.

I will also be holding coffee meetings in the Kapiti and Wairapapa region on a Saturday so we canvas the views of all our members. I will let you know more details of those meetings in due course.

If you do not know what is changing here is the link:http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/national-library-transforming-its-services-school



Cheers Karen c.