What has your National Executive been up to?

It has been a very busy 2013 so far for the National Executive, so I thought I'd give you an update about some of the projects we've been involved in.

Most of us have a really good break over the Christmas break, but for some people their focus was the creation of SLANZA's new reading website.  Bridget Schaumann and Miriam Tuohy led a team who evaluated  all the lists, identified double ups and inconsistencies and re-formatted everything. Miriam created the site and layout and then the team started the mammoth task of transferring all the lists to the new site.  Sounds simple, but it was months of work for all involved.  However, I am sure you will agree that it was well worth it!

Miriam's other major project has been the development of the  SLANZA online Connected Librarians professional development course.  She was investigating the idea of Library Badges in recognition of skills learnt, and came up with the Connected Librarians concept.  The National Executive wanted to provide online professional development, and thanks to Miriam's perseverance, there are some very lucky SLANZA members who are starting this exciting course soon.  We were completely amazed at the amount of interest shown by you, and do intend to run it again, so all the waiting list have an opportunity to do the course.

One of my roles as President is to represent SLANZA in a variety of forums, and one of those forums is the cross sector Strategic Advisory Forum (SAF).  SAF meets three times a year, to talk with the National Librarian and each other regarding issues across the sector.  As a result of a recent meeting, LIANZA convened a cross association day to identify how each of the library associations across New Zealand could work more closely, support each other and try to stop re-inventing the wheel. Miriam and I represented SLANZA, and it was very interesting to see the commonalities between associations.  One of the issues we raised was the cost of PD provided by LIANZA.  We also pushed for a reduced LIANZA conference rate for SLANZA members, and that is being considered by LIANZA Council.

The Executive has been working on the SLANZA Constitution, as things have moved on since 2000 and it needed to be updated to reflect new ways of working and communicating.  Greig Daniels has been leading this project, with an updated Constitution now lodged with the Companies Office.  As a result, a number of amendments will be presented for ratification at the upcoming national AGM during the Wellington Conference.

One group of very busy people is the Wellington Conference Committee, and I'd like to thank them for all the organisation and planning, as the conference is going to be great. Karen Clarke is the Wellington representative on the Executive, as well as being part of the Conference Committee, and is the conference liaison too.  Karen has been doing  a sterling job of keeping us up to date with what has been planned, and I am really looking forward to attending such an exciting conference!

Membership is a big part of SLANZA and we have a number of people involved with it.  Carole Gardiner, our new Administration Officer, has been working through some very tangled membership renewals, and has done a brilliant job of sorting this out for us.  If you have not received a renewal, please email Carole ([email protected]) as we may not have a correct or current email address for you. Life and Business memberships were instituted last year, and Lisa Salter has taken responsibility for these, with Greig taking on the SLANZA awards.  If you know someone that you feel should be granted life membership, or receive an award, please do nominate them by June 20th.  More information is available on the SLANZA website.

Lisa has also taken on the Editor's role for Collected magazine, working with others on the Executive, and is currently pulling together all the articles written for the magazine, which will be published later this term. The upcoming edition will be all about reading, and having done some proof-reading, I know you are going to find it

The Executive is also very grateful to Rosalba Finnerty, the first member of the SLANZA Pool of Talent.  Rosalba has taken over the SLANZA archives, and is sorting through several years of documents, so our history can be preserved.

I hope this gives you an insight into some of the activities of your National Executive and the work we do for you.