Collected to be in the EBSCO publishing database

Kia ora

We have good news about Collected magazine.  We have been approached by EBSCO who were seeking to obtain an agreement to include our magazine in their database. It was very nice to be identified as an excellent fit for their databases,and we can take this as acknowledgement of the standards we have set, and the quality of writing from all of our contributors.

Fiona has just signed off the licensing agreement and the folk at EBSCO publishing are working through the preliminary steps for getting our content into the appropriate database.  This is a process which may take several months, so we will keep you informed as updates come to hand.

So now you have even more reason to consider writing for the magazine, and we look forward to being inundated with offers the next time we put out a call!  Well done to all who have contributed, assisted with editing and especially to Miriam for the work she does in making it look so digitally fine.

Donna Watt
SLANZA Communications Leader

The wonderfulness of the National Executive

At the recent SLANZA conference, we farewelled several members of the National Executive who have been working for you and the regions, as well as giving up their time to be on the Executive. I'd like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Bridget Schaumann, Di Eastwood, Wendy Ballard, Kim Slack, Maree Pavletich, Cynthia Francombe, Sarah Fordyce and Joyce Richards, for all the work they've put in to the development of ways to communicate with and support you as members, as well as developing SLANZA as an organisation. Without their dedication and commitment, SLANZA would be poorer indeed.

I'd also like to say a huge thank you to our immediate Past President, Senga White. Senga has led the Executive for two years and represented SLANZA on a number of committees across the library sector, as well as managing a Y7-8 library and a Y9-13 library on two sites, and in her spare time persuading me to stand for President Elect! I'm very fortunate to still have Senga on the Executive and really appreciate her support, knowledge and experience, which continues to benefit all of us.

A very warm welcome to the new members on the Executive - Greig Daniels (Otago), Jude Cosson (Waikato/Bay of Plenty) and Bharathi Char (Auckland). I'm looking forward to working with everyone on the Executive as we look to the future of SLANZA and school librarianship in New Zealand. Joyce Valenza and Judy O'Connell gave all of us a very clear message at the recent conference - we cannot afford to be complacent about our role, services or environment, and I know the Executive is very mindful of that too.

The fabulous Donna Watt and Miriam Tuohy are working away at putting the next edition of Collected together, which will focus on conference and share lots of what went on and of course some very interesting photos... Midnight feasts in the hostel, lots of laughter and dancing at the dinner, catching up with friends and making new ones, celebrating achievements, being amazed and inspired by our keynotes and presenters - we had a great time!

Ka kite ano,
Fiona.