By Trena Lile

Late in Term 3 I represented SLANZA in a meeting with Hon. Brooke van Velden, Minister of Department of Internal Affairs. The meeting was in reference to a joint sector library briefing paper sent to the new Government early this year. Ivy Gao, President of LIANZA, Bernie Hawke, Chief Executive of Public Libraries New Zealand and I met via Zoom with the Minister. 
Ivy had prepared a statement around LIANZA’s concern for Archives New Zealand and processes pertaining to policy affecting job cuts in that sector. After that Ms van Velden asked questions relating to each of the sectors. She asked about why only one third of schools have a library. I talked about the inadequate funding from MoE for both physical libraries and the staff to work in them. I talked about the support given by school libraries to foster the love of reading and the requirements to provide rich and varied texts to complement the structured literacy being rolled out. While there was financial support put into structured literacy there was no support to fund schools to provide a library of diverse books to support the programme. 
She asked about the need for physical spaces for Public Libraries and whether they were still necessary given the high volumes of borrowing on eResources. All three of us were united in our views on how important the physical library space is to communities and how often it is seen as the home of reliable information about numerous things, whether that be the tomes they hold or the services they provide, especially in times of crisis. 
Discussions were had about collaboration with National Library and how vital that service is to schools, school libraries and their staff. Discussions also covered collaborations between school libraries and public libraries.  

This meeting with the Hon. Brooke van Velden was a valuable opportunity to discuss the critical role libraries play in our communities and to advocate for increased government support. Regular meetings with government representatives are essential to ensure that the needs of the library and information sector are understood and addressed. These meetings provide a platform for sector leaders to raise awareness about current issues, such as ongoing adequate funding for libraries and archives.  They also allow for collaborative discussions on how libraries can contribute to government priorities, like digital inclusion and literacy.

By working together LIANZA, PLNZ, and SLANZA can amplify their collective impact by presenting a unified voice to government representatives. SLANZA thanks LIANZA for organising this meeting and creating an opportunity to collaborate with fellow library advocates in shaping the future of our sector. Such cross-sector partnerships are vital for driving positive change and ensuring libraries receive the resources and recognition they need to flourish.

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The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA) is pleased to see reading remains a core component of the draft English curriculum released this week, but is concerned that the lack of resourcing for school libraries limits its potential success. 

“The draft curriculum requires teachers to ‘choose texts that expose students to a wide range of genres, reflect the languages and cultures of students, and explore the stories of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific’,” explains SLANZA President, Sasha Eastwood.

“To provide this variety of texts demands access to a well-resourced school library with a specialised librarian to aid teachers and students in making these choices, and to ensure that this choice is indeed possible,” says Sasha. 

Likewise, the draft curriculum requires reading for enjoyment and reading aloud to be part of students’ everyday experiences and SLANZA agrees that these are key to developing literacy and a love of reading.  

Yet it is currently estimated that two-thirds of students in Aotearoa do not have access to a school librarian, the key person to champion and bring the magic of literacy to life for them. 
 
“SLANZA is concerned that without access to school libraries and specialised librarians to promote, encourage, and facilitate the enjoyment of reading, the potential of any literacy programme or strategy will always be limited,” says Sasha. 
 
SLANZA urges the government to mandate that every student have access to a well-resourced school library and specialised librarian, to ensure that all students have equitable access to the resources needed to achieve their reading and learning potential.   

Contact: Sasha Eastwood - [email protected]

Ngā manaakitanga
SLANZA Advocacy Ohu Mahi

Kia ora school library enthusiasts, 
 
It's almost 2024 Aotearoa School Library Week!  We are excited to celebrate library joy across the motu again in 2024.  
Our theme is School Libraries Build Readers; with so much attention on structured literacy after the budget, we wanted to create a way for you to emphasise the work you do every day in your libraries.   
This year we have been blessed with the opportunity to have our very first Aotearoa School Library Week StoryWalk®, thanks to the generosity of Scholastic NZ, Swapna Haddow and Daron Parton.  

The SLANZA ASLW Ohu Mahi have put this year's activity guide together with you in mind. We are hopeful you can find inspiration here to create an atmosphere of excitement in your libraries this week. Some activities will need to be adapted to better suit the year level of your ākonga; we trust you know your community and what will work best for them. 

We encourage you to share photos of your activities and events online, using the #ASLW24 hashtag, so that as a community, we can all whakanui together.

We know that School Libraries Transform our students in so many ways. Let this week be the celebration of all the mahi your library does. 

Ngā mihi nui, 

ASLW Ohu Mahi 

Media Release 30 May 2024 
Building on Structured Literacy: The Need to Fund School Libraries

The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA) is concerned by the absence of funding in today’s budget announcement for essential school library resources to address the falling literacy rates in Aotearoa New Zealand.  

“Whilst we applaud the allocation of funds to structured literacy programmes, we are concerned that without access to school libraries and specialised librarians to promote and encourage reading for pleasure, the potential of literacy programmes will always be limited.” says Sasha Eastwood, SLANZA Interim President.

“Today’s funding announcement is an encouraging first step in supporting our ākonga to learn to read, however, school libraries are essential to ensure that the building blocks of structured literacy are strengthened by developing the joy of reading, increasing reading comprehension, empathy, and the capacity to learn.” continues Sasha.  

SLANZA urges the government to mandate that every student have access to a well-resourced school library, funded by the Ministry of Education, and staffed by a specialised school librarian. This way all students will have equitable access to the resources needed to achieve their reading and learning potential.  

The Education Minister has previously stated, “our education system should be the great equaliser. Your means should not determine your destiny.” SLANZA would argue that school libraries are the greatest equaliser, in that equitable access to books and reading for pleasure is crucial to every student’s literacy and learning success.
 
End

Contact – Sasha Eastwood, SLANZA Interim President – [email protected] 

Registrations for the SLANZA Module #17: Gender and Sexuality in School Libraries module of the Connected Librarians course are open from today Tuesday 28 May 2024 and will close on Friday 7 June 2024. 
 
Here is the link on the SLANZA website to register: 

This course is for anyone who would like to explore gender issues as they relate to our school library practice. In a librarian workforce that is predominantly female in Aotearoa schools, we have a responsibility to be informed about all gender issues and how we can ensure our collections and reading advisory are diverse and appropriate for all our students and staff.
This course is a repeat of the course run in 2021 and 2022, so you don't need to repeat it if you have already completed one of those courses.
What to expect in this course?
On successful course completion, learners will be able to:

• understand what gender is and what this means for our students and our practice
• investigate examples of gender stereotyping by looking at book covers, book genres and our own reading advisory expectations
• recognise sexism by looking at our own biases, dealing with others biases and gendering of books 
• evaluate the diversity in our collections and collection management practice
• understand our role in providing sexuality and puberty information
• understand our role in ensuring age-appropriate material and how we feel about censorship

The course will be starting on Monday 10 June and finishes on Friday 28 June 2024.
This course is designed by New Zealand school librarians, for school librarians - for anyone who is ready and willing to learn and try new things and share their thoughts and learning with others. You can work at your own pace, in your own time and network with other school librarians. For those school librarians working in schools on their own, this is invaluable.

The course is only available and free for SLANZA members.

Please visit the Online PD page on our SLANZA website for further information and to register. Or register here.