Regularly reading school library and education related journals and blogs is one of the best - and simplest - ways you can undertake professional development. 

There is a wealth of information freely available online that can help you find fresh ideas, inspiring people, great tools, book reviews and more. 

But where to begin? To make it easy for you to incorporate professional reading into your library routine, we have put together a bundle of RSS feeds that are perfect for school librarians. RSS feeds help you keep up to date with all the newest content from a website, by sending updates to you as they happen.

To get started with our feed bundle, you will need

• an RSS feed reader application that allows OPML import (such as Feedly, The Old Reader) or email software such as Microsoft Outlook

• this OPML file containing the curated blog feeds
• some time set aside regularly for professional reading

Each RSS feed reader application will have its own instructions for importing the OPML file, but the first step is to save this file to your computer: use right-click (PC) or ctrl-click (Mac) and choose “Save link as” to download the file. Then follow your application’s directions (see below).

When you have imported the OPML file, your feed reader will be full of blog posts, and at first that can seem overwhelming. Your application will have an option to "Mark All as Read", and you might want to do this initially to clear the back-log, and then start reading later in the day with fewer, fresh posts to read. Removing any individual feeds that aren't pertinent to your situation will help keep things manageable, too.

If you’re not already using RSS feeds to make professional reading a regular part of your library learning, there’s no time like the present to get started!

Please leave suggestions in the comments here if you have any ‘essential reads’ that you think we should add to our bundle of feeds. 

Miriam Tuohy
Professional Development Team Leader

Instructions for importing an OPML file into a variety of applications can be found here.

• Feedly
• The Old Reader
• Outlook

All places on the second round of SLANZA’s Connected Librarians course have now been filled. Thanks again for your support of this initiative.

Emails will go out later today to all those who registered, to let you know whether you’ve been placed this time or not.

We apologise to those who have missed out this time – unfortunately we simply cannot fit you all in. Rest assured though that your registration will be held over for the next time the course is offered.

Miriam Tuohy
Professional Development team leader

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

For as long as it has been around I have been a member of SLANZA, I’ve been sitting around the National Executive table for about 6 years, and when not on the NE I’ve worked on side projects with members of the NE.  It is rewarding, fulfilling and time consuming work but something I believe has made a difference for our members.  I really believe that school libraries make a difference to the educational outcomes of students in New Zealand, I believe that the work we do every day is important, and that the students we work with would tell you that this is true.  But too few of our teaching staff know what we do, and can do for them, and we need that to change, and we need our members to buy into that.   


Around the National Executive table  there is great talent and all kinds of awesome new style librarianship, but we’ve got members stuck in the old days, members who just don’t want to embrace the new ways and those people are the ones who put us all at risk.  So, what I’d like to do is have a constant programme of embracing our members needs, driving everyone forward and using the power of the Pool of Talent, and our excellent NE to raise the level of librarianship and useful technical skills in our members.  This is already underway in some regions, but I want this to be the case in every single region and for every member in every region.


I believe that we run the danger of being irrelevant to our members unless we do the things that they want, combined with the things they really need.  While we know that the organisation has little to no clout in some Educational circles especially with the Ministry, I do know that it is a valued organisation to our members, and that we have done, and will continue to do fantastic things for these members.  We want people to see that we offer great real world PD, a fantastic publication, we have great connections with other agencies, that those on Exec are working hard for the members in a visible way, and that we are just like they are, with all the everyday issues that they have, but that we are striving to provide resources, networks, PD and connections which will make a school librarians job easier, and more meaningful to schools and students.  Also that we do this all in our own time, voluntarily and that we do it because we care.


I want our members to know that there is a network of people working in school libraries just like they are, and who are at the end of the phone, or an email away, who can help or give a word of advice from at the coalface, or who have someone in their network who can help.  A person who views the world from the same point of view as they do and who may have experienced what they are experiencing right now.  I want people to see SLANZA as a network of peers who care.  This is especially important for those who are new in school libraries, and this is where I see the regional representatives being especially important.


When I finish my term I would like there to be two new resources that we can use in our libraries.  I want to see all regions doing cool things for their members, providing speakers, skills, new ideas and new ways of doing things, things which showcase members with great skills, things which celebrate school libraries and school librarians.  Lets be the SLANZA our members want us to be!  Busy, focussed. visible and active.  Lets work with other organisations to make new things happen in the school library world in New Zealand.  Lets make a difference!

We are pleased to announce that the much-anticipated second round of SLANZA’s online professional development course "Connected Librarians" will be offered again this term.

In this course you will learn about a selection of online tools to use and to share with your school community. Topics include professional reading, social bookmarking, community connections, and more.

This course is designed by New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians - those just starting out with online tools, who are ready and willing to try new things.

The course is free for SLANZA members.

Registrations will open on Monday 19th August. However, because we were overwhelmed with the response to our call for registrations in Term 2, we have a number of people who registered their interested at that time already on our list. This means that there are only 15 additional places still 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. Successful applicants will receive invitations to our learning community in Week 4, and the course begins in Week 5.

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

Miriam Tuohy
Professional Development team leader

SLANZA is pleased to announce that a new resource for school library staff is now available from our website here: Resources | Professional Development.

Many of our members, and others working in New Zealand school libraries, take part in LIANZA’s Professional Registration scheme. Maintaining a journal as part of the process of revalidation can be very challenging, and SLANZA is keen to support our members undergoing that process. We hope that the document we have published today, which specifically targets school library staff who are revalidating their LIANZA registration, goes some way towards that.

The document provides examples and practical ideas you can use to develop your skills and experience across the bodies of knowledge, and also to document evidence of that professional growth.

The foundation document for LIANZA’s Professional Registration scheme, and a range of related information, is available from LIANZA's website.

SLANZA very gratefully acknowledges the help of members who have contributed to this document, particularly Donna Watt (Invercargill City Libraries) and Trish Webster (Rangitoto College).

We are currently establishing a network of mentors who have volunteered (via our Pool of Talent) to provide support to those working through the revalidation process. We’ll have more information about this for you later in the term.

Miriam Tuohy
for SLANZA’s Professional Development team

SLANZA is part of the National Reading Initiatives Group, which is a range of organisations that are working together to map summer reading programmes across New Zealand.  The group wants to establish a nationwide summer reading programme, linking schools, families and public libraries, but we need to establish a baseline first.  If your library or school runs a summer reading programme or summer reading activities, we would be very grateful if you could complete the survey.

Reading for Pleasure Initiatives Survey


The Reading for Pleasure Initiatives Survey is being conducted by the New Zealand Book Council on behalf of the National Reading Initiatives Group, which includes SLANZA. The aim is to map the range and spread of reading engagement initiatives in New Zealand, and to identify particular areas of need, as well as opportunities for collaboration and co-ordination.

 
We would greatly appreciate you taking part in the survey if you manage or co-ordinate a reading engagement programme or initiative.

 
The survey is an online questionnaire hosted by SurveyMonkey. Please read the following points before using the survey link below to begin:

·         Please complete the survey separately for each discrete initiative run by your school.

·         This is a survey of reading engagement activity and programmes across New Zealand, and its focus is reading for pleasure, as distinct from literacy programmes.

·         The questions refer to the way your initiative stimulates engagement in reading or an interest in books by New Zealanders.

·         Once you begin, your answers will not be saved if you leave the survey and return to finish it later, so it will need to be completed at one sitting. Below is a copy of the survey questions, for your reference. We recommend you review the questions in this document before beginning the survey.

·         If you would like further information about the National Reading Initiatives Group and this project, you can read it here: www.bookcouncil.org.nz/users/Image/General/Downloads/National Reading Initiatives Group_Survey.pdf

·         The survey period ends on Friday August 23. We thank you for your responses before then!

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or problems with the survey. You can also contact Catriona Ferguson at the Book Council on 021 02482637 if you have an urgent enquiry or problem.

To begin the survey, please click here (or copy https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WNR69BT into your internet browser).

Thank you

Nadya Kooznetzoff
New Zealand Book Council
on behalf of the National Reading Initiatives Group

 

National Reading Initiatives Group

Reading for Pleasure Initiatives Survey - Questions

 

This is a survey of reading engagement activity and programmes across New Zealand, and its focus is reading for pleasure, as distinct from literacy programmes.

 

The following questions refer to the way your initiative stimulates engagement or interest in reading or in books by New Zealanders.

 

This is the list of questions in the survey, for your advance information, but we ask that you complete the survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WNR69BT

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or problems with the survey.

 

1. Initiative/ programme name:

 

 

 

2. Managing organisation/lead agency in the delivery of this initiative:

 

 

 

3. Any partnering organisations in this initiative or sponsors:

 

 

 

4. This initiative is administered within:

·         The library sector

·         The publishing/bookselling industry

·         A not-for-profit/charity/community organisation

·         The education sector

·         Other (please specify)

5. Best contact person (name and email address):

 

 

 

6. Please briefly describe the initiative or programme (30-50 words):

7. What is the primary objective or purpose of your initiative/programme?:

 

 

 

8. Which of the following best describes how this initiative stimulates reading for pleasure or an interest in books?: (please select one option)

·         This initiative is an event or series of events, where the primary focus is to celebrate writing or writers, illustrators and reading (including festivals)

·         The primary focus is to increase access to books, through owning or borrowing (this would include book distribution programmes and retail promotions)

·         The primary focus of this initiative is the reading experience, and increasing motivation to read, pleasure from reading, and/or frequency of reading

·         The primary focus of this initiative is on building capability, skills, knowledge and confidence among students, families/whānau, teachers and librarians

·         The primary focus of this initiative is to champion reading, writers and writing (this would include awards; mentor/hero programmes and public awareness campaigns)

 

Comment:

 

 

 

9. Do any others apply? Please select one option, or 'Not applicable'.

·         This initiative is an event or series of events, where the primary focus is to celebrate writing or writers, illustrators and reading (including festivals)

·         The primary focus is to increase access to books, through owning or borrowing (this would include book distribution programmes and retail promotions)

·         The primary focus of this initiative is the reading experience, and increasing motivation to read, pleasure from reading, and/or frequency of reading

·         The primary focus of this initiative is on building capability, skills, knowledge and confidence among students, families/whānau, teachers and librarians

·         The primary focus of this initiative is to champion reading, writers and writing (this would include awards; mentor/hero programmes and public awareness campaigns)

·         Not applicable

 

 


 

 

What types of readers are you attempting to reach with this initiative?: (select as many as appropriate)

10. Type/s of readers

·         Regular readers

·         Occasional readers

·         Non-readers

11. Age group/s

·         Pre-school children

·         School children – primary

·         School children – secondary

·         Young adults (17-20 years)

·         Adults (21+)

12. Other target groups (for example, families, school decile grouping/s, income level/s, ethnicity):

 

 

 

13. Which channel/s do you use to deliver your activity or service, or reach your target audience: (select as many as appropriate)

·         Retail

·         Media

·         Online

·         Schools

·         Libraries

·         Public events

·         Other community location

·         Homes

·         Other (please specify):

 

 

 

14. Which would you consider best describes the scale of the activity (within its field)?:  (select one)

·         Small

·         Medium

·         Large

If possible, please indicate levels of participation or reach, or budget to explain your answer:

 

 

 

 

 

15. Which of these options best describes your geographical reach? (select one)

·         National

·         Targeted regional

·         Targeted centre/s (please specify which city/cities or town/s)

 

If your initiative targets a particular region(s) or centre(s), please specify here:

 

 

 

 

16. What would you describe as the main benefits of your initiative?

 

 

 

 

 

 

17. Tell us about your success with this initiative. How do you measure this success?

We are keen to hear about successes measured qualitatively or quantitatively. Please include, if possible, such success measures as reach of the target audience, geographical coverage, growth targets

Success:

 

 

Means of measurement:

 

Success:

 

 

Means of measurement:

 

Success:

 

 

Means of measurement:

 

Comments/more:

 

 

 

18. Is there anything that restricts or inhibits better engagement by your target audience in your initiative? Please indicate any restrictions or barriers, from a reader’s point of view: (select as many as appropriate)

·           geography

·           lack of awareness

·           cost of participation

·           cultural relevance

·           skills/confidence

·           other/comment

Survey ends

We are calling for contributions to our next issue of "Collected", to be published this term. This issue has a conference theme, what did you learn, what were the highlights, if your weren't there this is what you missed. 
We also require book reviews relevant to school libraries and are looking for keen proofreaders, you know who you are... you never miss a mistake and it drives you crazy that nobody noticed it before publication. 
Further clarification for submissions regarding guidelines can be found at: http://www.slanza.org.nz/uploads/9/7/5/5/9755821/_collectedsubmissionguidelines.pdf 
Deadline for contributions is Thursday 5 September. If you are planning on submitting, please contact me as soon as possible so we can make space for you. 
Email for further information or to send an article is [email protected] or you may reply to this address. 
We look forward to your contributions! 


Lisa Salter 
SLANZA Communications Leader

Hi everyone,

Below is my final President's report, presented at the recent AGM.


Thank you all very much for coming to today's AGM. This AGM is an important one for our organisation as there are several amendments to the Constitution that need to be presented for ratification.  Once the amendments have been ratified, the Constitution can be altered to reflect those and the updated Constitution will be lodged with the Companies Office.  We will move on to that part of the agenda after the reports from myself and Carole Gardiner, our Administrative Officer but you need to know that if the  amendments and financial reports are not accepted, SLANZA will cease to exist as an entity from July 31st as we will not have a current Constitution  and financial reports filed with the Companies Office, as required by law.This is because the 2011 financial report compiled by Deloitte was not presented as it had inaccuracies, so it has had to be re-done and presented now.

I hope you all enjoyed the Awards presentation last night. It was a privilege to have made the presentations both last year and this year.  We have a small team who co-ordinate and organise the Awards and they do a lot of work in a very short time.  Thank you to Lisa Salter for convening the Awards committee and making sure I had everything I needed to be able to present the awards.

The last year has been an extremely busy one for the National Executive. On your behalf,  we submitted a response to the Inquiry into 21st century learning environments.  Michele Whiting and I spoke to the Select Committee about our submission, with our key messages being the absolute necessity of school libraries to support student learning and achievement and the need to fund and staff them adequately to do this, and the disparity that now exists for our schools.  This message was reflected in the Inquiry's report, however it has no ability to effect change in the ways schools are funded or resourced.
We also were invited to contribute to an article in the Education Gazette about the transformation of school libraries.  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to outline how school libraries can support student learning and achievement as well as identifying how new technologies can make us work smarter so we can work with students and teachers far more.

It is very important to us that members can access information to support them in a variety of ways. Collected continues to be an absolute stand out every issue, and I'd like to thank Donna Watt for her leadership in starting up Collected.  As Donna has now stepped down from SLANZA, we owe a big thank you to Lisa Salter for taking over from Donna so capably, as the editor of Collected and also as our Communications Leader.  Lisa will be calling for articles for the next issue of Collected, which is all about conference, so I hope you'll contribute something. We'd like to know what you discovered, how the conference has made a difference to your professional practice, what you thought was interesting or challenging and how that has affected you.
 A massive vote of thanks is due to Miriam Tuohy, our technical guru, being responsible for the crisp design of Collected. Miriam is also responsible for the update of the SLANZA website, which is a giant step forward in usability and ease of navigation for all users.

Many of you will have used the SLANZA wiki, especially the reading lists.  These were very useful but the format wasn't the most user friendly.  I'd like to express my appreciation to Miriam, Bridget Schaumann, Karen Carswell and Carole Gardiner, for all the work they put in over the summer break, tidying up lists, collating and combining, transcribing everything over to the new reading website. I think you'll all agree that the new site is magnificent - so user friendly, attractive and current.  it is a really valuable resource which I hope you are all sharing with your staff and students.

And as if Miriam wasn't busy enough, she also spent a lot of time over the summer investigating badges for professional development.  We were really excited when Miriam demonstrated her brilliant concept for SLANZA online PD and I am really grateful to Miriam and the test team who worked through the modules as guinea pigs, sorry  - beta testers! I know that we were totally oversubscribed and that lots of you missed out, but it is going to be run again and we will work through the wait list. Some people have asked what value do you get for being a member that non- members won't have and that is why you must be a member to participate in the online PD.

As your President, I've been representing you on the Steering Group for the National Year of Reading, or Word Up! as it was renamed last year.  Despite trying very hard to obtain sponsorship and partners from the business world, we were unsuccessful and so a year of reading is now on hold.  However  the Steering Group of NL, APLM, LIANZA, SLANZA, TRW, the Book Council has not given up and we are now looking at National Reading Initiatives, because together we are stronger and able to accomplish so much more.
One area of focus is the concept of a nationwide summer reading programme for summer 2014-15.   The Book Council of New Zealand is investigating exactly what happens for summer reading everywhere across the country, so we can work out who is going to need what if our idea is to come to fruition.  Very soon you will be sent an email from your regional representative which will have a link to a survey from the Book Council.  Please fill it in if you do any kind of summer reading with your students.  It doesn't have to be a big programme, as we want to get the scale of what is happening everywhere.  I would love it if we had a significant response from those in school libraries, to show that we are aware of the need to keep kids reading and we are doing just that!

Another focus has been strengthening links with other groups in the library sector.  I attend regular meetings of the Strategic Advisory Forum, convened by National Library, which is attended by representatives from LIANZA, TE Ropu Whakahau, NZLLA, APLM, Open Polytechnic, CONZUL, Health SIG.  We share what is happening in our sector and look at ways we can support each other.  For example, LIANZA wanted to know how they could attract more people in school, libraries to attend their conferences, so we had a frank discussion about relevance, cost, timing etc.  I previewed the reading website and the online PD modules to SAF and everyone was most impressed because there is a bit of a perception that we are the poor relation at the table!  OK, so we are in comparative terms, but in terms of looking after our members by providing affordable targeted PD, we are ahead of the game.
LIANZA convened a cross sector meeting in April which Miriam and I attended.  The focus was the similarities and differences between organisations, how we can work together and not reinvent the wheel.  It is an opportunity to start having closer links with LIANZA and Te Ropu Whakahau especially and we are continuing to talk to them about how we can potentially work together.

The Conference committee have done a superb job.  We are going to thank them properly tomorrow, but I just wanted to acknowledge them now, as part of the formal record of the AGM, as this is a truly great conference.

We are now going to move to the financial reports and appointment of the Auditor

Membership report (Carole Gardiner, Administration Officer)

Ratification of changes to Constitution

Any other business

There are many people who have given a huge amount to time to SLANZA but have now stepped off regional committees or the National Executive and I'd like to acknowledge them now.

I owe a huge vote of thanks to all on the National Executive, for their dedication, hard work, willingness to take on new projects, pitching in to sort out problems and good humour! We've had a difficult time recently with the administrative areas of SLANZA and have discovered that if this area isn't running smoothly, neither are we. The biggest vote of thanks goes to our new Administration Officer, Carole Gardiner, as without her persistence, digging into the difficulties, and sorting out the chaos we found ourselves in, we would not be here today. (And that isn't actually a joke....)
Carole has spent countless hours sorting out exactly what we needed to do to move forward and I am very very grateful.  She is the perfect person for this role and we are very lucky to have her working with us.

As your President, I've tried really hard to visit all the regions and almost succeeded! Thank you all so much for the privilege of leading SLANZA. I've had so many opportunities to participate in such a range of events and projects over the last two years and intend to continue supporting SLANZA at a national and regional level.
Our organisation continues in good heart, with a truly dedicated group making up the National Executive. We have new people coming on to the Executive now and I'd like to formally welcome Saskia Hill, Michelle Simms and Trish Webster to the Executive.
It is time for me to perform my last duty as President and hand over to our new President, Bridget Schaumann. Bridget is the librarian and careers advisor at Kings High in Dunedin and has been part of SLANZA nationally and regionally for a number of years, as well as being a moving force in the development of the SLANZA wiki, the reading website and our social media presence. This is actually Bridget's second time on the National Executive and we are so lucky that she has generously chosen to provide her guidance, knowledge and enthusiasm to us.
 It gives me great joy to pass on to Bridget the official SLANZA taonga and the mantle of SLANZA Presidency because we all know she is going to be brilliant!