Dear Members

SLANZA is calling for nominations for Life Membership of SLANZA to be awarded at our annual AGM.

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 Friday June 6  2014 .Criteria and Nomination forms are available on the SLANZA website under the membership tab.

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 have been a member of SLANZA.  All further details are outlined in the form on the website.  Please do not hesitate to contact me for further clarification.  Thank you!

Greig Daniels

SLANZA Otago Representative

About 12 years ago I worked in a rural high school.  I was the librarian, with few clues about what I was doing, except that I rekindled my love for young adult books and I desperately wanted to share those books with anybody who would stand still long enough for me to issue one to them.  We had a fantastic reading programme and I was luckily included in any discussions about reading and literacy in the school.  In quiet times - there weren’t many - I spent my time looking on the internet for great ideas to use in my library and learning about research processes and learning to be useful to teachers.  By accident one day I found the Listserv and then once I was installed on there I found out about SLANZA, which was in its very early days, and joined.  School librarians, banding together for strength, trying to make good things happen for their colleagues - my kind of organisation!

Fast forward.  It is 2004, I work in a different school in a city now and I have put my hand up to be the representative on the National Executive for our region.  A bit scary!  But also really interesting, challenging and oh my the people I met!  And a new view of the organisation I belonged to, a view which showed frustrations and annoyances, but also so much fabulous work going on by reps from all over the country, work which just goes on, sometimes invisible to those off exec but always valuable and always working towards improving things for the members.  And then, someone nominated me for an award.  My school sat up and paid attention, the boss made a huge fuss, presented me with the certificate in front of the whole school and told everyone that they were the luckiest school in the country because they had me.  Wow!  A SLANZA award changed my reputation in the school, the perception of staff, and made the students think I was a little more awesome too.  SLANZA award nominations are open now - they are one of the best things SLANZA does for it’s members.  Recognising those who make a difference in their schools.  Nominate someone who makes a difference to his or her school through the work they do in the library.

Now it is 2014, SLANZA membership is up for renewal again.  There has been no rise in the cost of membership for 12 years. We work hard to keep this cost down by having a fantastic Major Sponsor in Book Protection Products, by having great Business Members who finance our Collected magazine.  We work hard to keep the costs of the National Executive members down to a minimum and we always have done that.  So sometimes, even though membership is only $50, people say to me, “Well what do I get for my membership?”  This is what you get:

SLANZA awards - see above.  And also Life Memberships for those who have contributed so much to SLANZA over the years.

Regular meetings with people who do what you do, who work at a similar coal face every day and who have the same kinds of problems as you.  The chance to have a group of friends who work in your field, who can give you advice and who get together regularly for a catchup and a vent.  You can’t get this online from any website, you can only get this by developing relationships, and for me that is the main purpose of SLANZA, relationship builder for school librarians across the country.

The Online PD - our third cohort is in their second week of the course.  This kind of professional development is valuable because it is self paced, easy to fit into your day, has been developed for you by school librarians just like you, and is full of things we know you can use in your regular working day.

Collected magazine - smart, professional and full of great stuff that you really want to read.  Lead articles by people at the top of their game in the school library world.  Information you can use straight away and ideas straight from the school library world locally and internationally, and you get this three times a year!

Conference.  Every second year you get the opportunity to hear luminaries from the international school library world, to go to workshops with fantastic practitioners, to attend a huge variety of events and opportunities and to network with school librarians from across the country.  A SLANZA conference is an event of significance because of the fantastic PD you receive but also because of the connections you build.  And it is very reasonably priced with great accommodation also reasonably priced to go with it.

Local Professional Development.  The regional committees organise regular PD for you: sometimes a small event, sometimes something much larger.  Visiting speakers, authors, workshops, information sessions and so much more.  Usually free and always valuable.  We are working hard to raise the levels of our profession through education and connection, and it’s working!  Look how far we’ve come!  Look at the amazing skills out in the school library community.  In large part SLANZA has inspired that!

SLANZA study grants. This is a chance to study, to upskill professionally and to have the majority of the cost of a paper paid for.  A long time ago I decided to do a paper, full of trepidation, and realised a) I could do it and b) passing was empowering!

Connections.  Connections with other organisations, outside agencies who have goals which are similarly aligned to our own.

Most importantly for me: SLANZA gives me a community.  Like minded souls.  A feeling that every time a group of SLANZA members gets together, that we work for a common purpose, have common goals and are in this school library business for all the right reasons.  I love my SLANZA friends, they come from small schools and large, they might even work in places which aren’t school libraries but which support school libraries. They are passionate, fun, and full of great ideas I can take away and use, adapt and make something else out of.  It is a cool group to be part of.  We do a great job of growing new leaders, encouraging people to step up and get involved and at local and national level it is wonderful that people are comfortable to do that in this community. Thanks so much to those people.  

SLANZA has filled my days, evenings and life for a long time now.  I work hard for this organisation because I believe it is valuable.  Like all volunteer organisations it can take it out of you.  It is the work I go to after work.  But it is the work I like doing because for all of you reading this, who are passionate about school libraries, the work I do is for you.

Join The School Library Association of New Zealand, your school can afford that $50. Feel the passion, get better at your work and find a community!  You don’t have to go to meetings to get heaps out of SLANZA, you just need to participate.  Say yes to the opportunities we offer and get more awesome!  A list of local reps are here; phone one up and ask any questions you have.  Non members are welcome to come along to a meeting and give us a try, you would be very welcome, we know you’ll like us and that you’ll want to join in our community.

Bridget Schaumann
President
SLANZA

The forecasted severe weather warning has made it necessary to postpone our event at the Auckland War Memorial Museum tomorrow (Saturday 15th March 2014).  We will reschedule it for later in the year

There is much talk and some action regarding MLEs (Modern Learning Environments) and MLLEs (Modern Library Learning Environments), especially in the Canterbury region and in pockets around the country.  What does this mean to us and how will it affect us?  That is a big question.  Whether it is around the corner for you or on a distant horizon, school librarians need to be aware of changing thinking in schools and be prepared with a way forward.  Having an idea of how your library fits in the scheme of things before the need arises is the best way forward.  

We are now calling for contributions to our first issue of Collected for the year with the theme “MLE, MLLE; What, Who and How” and will be looking at the big picture.  If you have knowledge in this area we hope you will share your experience with our readers.

And in every issue we like to include reviews of books suitable for students.  Please consider sending in a review for this issue. 

Deadline is Wednesday 14 May and we plan to print mid-June.  

Any questions or offers to Lisa Salter - [email protected]

Thank you
Lisa Salter 
SLANZA Communications Leader

Once again  SLANZA is pleased to open applications for nominations for the 2014 SLANZA Awards to be awarded at our AGM at the 2014  Otago Weekend School in Dunedin in July.  Nominations close on Friday 20 June.

You can nominate in the following categories:

Award of merit for information literacy
Award of merit for literacy and enjoyment of reading
Award of merit for promotion
Award of merit for research
Award of merit for library assistant
Principal's award
Certificate of appreciation
Certificate of recognition

Eligibility criteria for the awards  and directions for nominations can be found at
the  SLANZA website under the Advocacy banner in Resources
This is a chance to recognize excellence among your peers,in your region  Please consider those around you who are worthy of recognition and either nominate them or encourage them to apply.
Thanks!

Greig Daniels  SLANZA Advocacy 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

Follow the link below to register for the upcoming round of our Connected Librarians online professional development course.

Please note that you must be a current member of SLANZA to be able to participate in this PD.

http://www.slanza.org.nz/online-pd-registration.html

Please contact me if you have any questions regarding the course.

Miriam Tuohy
Professional Development team leader