Celebrate knowledge and imagination - Aotearoa’s School Library Week is happening next week.

School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa, SLANZA - Te Puna Whare Mātauranga a Kura, instigated Aotearoa NZ School Library Week to celebrate the valuable role school libraries have in education and to acknowledge the work of school librarians.  

​The inaugural event was a resounding success, and we are thrilled to once again celebrate the joy of reading, learning, and imagination. This year, the event will be held from 7 – 11 August. 
A plethora of exciting activities can be found on the SLANZA website, specifically designed by SLANZA and award-winning illustrator Paul Beavis, to help kura across Aotearoa celebrate their library spaces.  
Schools are encouraged to share School Library Week-inspired activities via social media using the #AotearoaSchoolLibraryWeek hashtag.  
Celebrating Aotearoa NZ School Library Week raises the profile of school libraries. It normalises the need for our tamariki to have access to this valuable resource. 
National and international research has shown the importance and necessity of having a school library, supported by a specialist librarian with an adequate budget, in improving student achievement, well-being, literacy, and in building information literacy, critical thinking and a love of life-long reading. 
We hope Aotearoa NZ School Library Week will provoke discussions on the correlation between Aotearoa’s crisis in declining literacy rates among our children and teenagers, and that fewer than a third of schools and kura in Aotearoa have paid library staff. 
Let’s come together to support our young readers, and reinforce the importance of the school library as a centre of knowledge and creativity. 
Mark it on your calendars and get ready for an inspiring and imaginative week ahead.  
For more information, visit the SLANZA website, www.slanza.org.nz  

Contact: Sarah Stretch – SLANZA National Administrator - [email protected]