SLANZA launches business memberships

The School Library Association New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA) is pleased to
announce the launch of Business Memberships for those businesses who would
like to enter into a productive relationship with our members.

Features and benefits to for all Business Memberships include article/s in SLANZA Collected Magazine with your logo and a live link to your website or current promotion on a banner at the bottom of the article’s page.

Our magazine Collected has a readership of over 800 with more than 10,000 unique page views per issue. Our readers are mainly from New Zealand but we also have readers in the UK, USA and Australia. Collected is developing as a leading source of information for school librarians in New
Zealand. This is your opportunity to reach those readers and inform them of an idea, trend or service that may interest them.

The article must be informational, providing reviews or commentary on new products or innovations, and will not be a paid advertisement.

The most recent issue of Collected is available to read at http://www.slanza.org.nz/collected.html

We are offering four tiers of membership:

Platinum Membership - Top Shelf -
* An article in all three issues of Collected each year.
* Your logo/link live on a banner on the bottom of the article page. * Your logo/
link live on a banner on the "Join Now membership" page of our website.
* The opportunity to provide promotional material at one PD event for each
region over the year.
Annual Membership $500.00**

Gold Membership - Circulator -
* An article in three issues of Collected each year.
* Your logo/link live on a banner on the bottom of the article page. Annual
Membership fee $350.00

Silver Membership - Reserved
* An article in two issues of Collected
* Live logo/link on banner on the bottom of the article page.
Annual Membership fee $275.00

Bronze Membership - Periodical
* An article in one issue of Collected
* Live logo/link on banner on the bottom of the article page.
Annual Membership fee $150.00

Membership forms are available on the SLANZA website under “join now” 

http://www.slanza.org.nz/businessmembership.html.

For further details, questions or suggestions please contact Lisa Salter
ruawailibrary@gmail.com or phone 021 116 1080.

** the first 2012 issue of Collected is nearly ready. If you do not join prior to our
first issue in 2012 you may join as Top Shelf for the adjusted price of $425.00.

Lisa Salter
Te Tai Tokerau SLANZA National Executive Representative

lsalter@ruawaicollege.school.nz

Current National Library Survey

Hi-

Thank you to everyone who has already done this year's National Library Profile survey. If you haven't had time to complete this years survey I am writing to beg you to do it today.

We all need good information to support our libraries and our roles in schools. To do this we need solid facts to base our goals and arguments on. Last year's survey did not get enough response to provide these vital statistics. To me that was a year lost of opportunities to see where my school fits in the realm of things. I want my reports/goals to be able to compare where I am with the rest of NZ. I want my reports/goals to have valid information to base realistic goals on and I want my reports/goals to celebrate all the things that I and my supporters (BOT, Sr Mgmt, students) are doing above average. Without a significant response to the survey from NZ school library staff, this will not happen. So PLEASE take the time to complete the survey urgently! Information below:

School Library Profile Survey 2012

Services to Schools provide support to all New Zealand schools, helping schools develop quality library services that support your students.

The annual school survey enables us to fulfill two important goals; to build a nationwide picture of NZ school libraries and to ensure we have current information about your school library. The collated information will help us shape our current and future services.
We invite the person with library management responsibility to complete this survey. It takes about 10 minutes to complete this survey. The survey will be online until 31 March 2012.

Survey link

If you have problems accessing the survey online there is a pdf version available for print at http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/news

All the best for the Easter holidays. I look forward to catching up with you all next term.

Lisa Salter - RLIANZA
Library Manager
Ruawai College and Community Library

Professional Development Survey 2012

We all know change is constant and we now live in a time of exponential change. There are few professions that have been unaffected by these changes and school librarianship is no exception. Professional development (PD) is a necessary response to these rapid changes.

Professional development enables us to maintain and improve our technical knowledge, professional skills and competencies. We have seen a number of instances in recent times where school librarian positions have been threatened. PD is an important way to support the viability of our changing roles both within our schools and publicly. It is important to keep abreast of the developments in the field of school librarianship and meet the challenges that face our profession.

SLANZA is committed to providing you with professional development opportunities to develop your potential and keep up with the rapid changes in school libraries. Since its inception, SLANZA has offered opportunities for learning through both formal and informal networking events. We would like a better understanding of your professional development needs so that we can make informed decisions as to the content and delivery methods of future professional development programmes.

Please take a few minutes to answer the questions in this anonymous survey - your responses are important to us. SLANZA looks forward to providing you with relevant and good quality opportunities that support your professional development.

Bharathi Char

Professional Development Survey

In an attempt to gather information on our members' needs regarding Professional Development, SLANZA National Executive has prepared a survey to gauge your specific needs.

To make sure you contribute to us providing the best opportunities we can, please take just a couple of minutes of your time to fill out the survey by clicking on this link http://goo.gl/TGF@Y

We value all feedback and will use it to guide us in our work both regionally and nationally.

Latest news from National Executive

National Executive meeting 3 March 2012

The National Executive team met this weekend, partly in Wellington as originally planned, and partly online via Skype.  Fiona suffered an injury to her foot just over a week ago, so was planning to chair the meeting from a comfortable chair at home, and Senga and I were affected by flight cancellations related to the weather 'bomb' that hit the North Island over the weekend.  So it was an interesting experiment, one that we had been talking about trialling as an alternative to some face-to-face meetings anyway.  On the face of it, as you will see from the following update, we still managed to cover a lot of ground, and we will be evaluating the experience as one way to potentially save costs.  So here goes!

Advocacy
We have the opportunity to bring Dr Ross Todd to New Zealand in July to deliver his one day seminar on evidence-based practice.  Fiona will be going out to the listserv for feedback tomorrow, so please respond to that message so that we can make our decision based on the feedback we receive.  It is not a cheap or simple exercise to bring seminars or experts like Todd to our shores, so we will be relying on solid feedback from members before making this decision.

The advocacy templates that are being prepared by the Advocacy team are almost ready to go up on the SLANZA website.  Letters to Principals, BOTs, and others, advocating for school libraries, are in their final draft form and will be with NE members shortly for final feedback.  They will be on the website by the end of this term.

Professional development
Conference planning is progressing nicely, the over-arching idea has been established, the underlying themes pulled out, and the venue is booked.  A wish-list of presenters and keynote speakers is waiting in the wings for follow-up.  Look for major announcements coming very soon via the website, listserv and regional communication channels.  Well done to the hard-working Wellington team.

The final draft of the professional development survey received its last tweaks this weekend, and will be embedded on the website on 19 March.  This will be widely publicised.  We encourage you to spend a few minutes completing the survey so that we can see where the gaps and needs for professional development are, and work with you to seek or provide appropriate training and resources.

Communications
Planning for the next issue of Collected is well in hand, and a final call for contributions will be issued in the second week of March.  It will be published early in Term Two, and is on the theme of content curation.

Miriam shared the progress she has made with the next stage of our website upgrade, and it is looking really good.  This upgrade will allow more people to contribute to upkeep, thereby spreading the load, and helping to protect our organisation from risk as NE members step down from the role. 

Discussions about the wiki and its place in our communications strategy have begun in earnest, and some initial decisions have been made.  Key players in the wiki scene will be approached to be involved in the work that is planned.  Expect more on this soon.

Several blog posts have been scheduled for the remainder of this term so make sure that you are subscribed so that you don't miss these updates.

Business
The hardworking business portfolio team are nearing completion on the business membership project.  Watch for an announcement on the listserv very soon.  Discussion about life memberships is continuing, and a resolution has been made that SLANZA will be reinstating annual awards.  These will be given at conference, as has been the practice in recent years, and we will resume the practice of giving awards at the AGM in the intervening year.  Again, watch for announcements on the website, blog and listserv. 

The National Executive will meet again, probably in July, depending on decisions made about the Dr Ross Todd seminars.  If you would like more information about any of the matters mentioned here, please contact your regional representative.  Their contact details can be found on the SLANZA website.

Kind regards
Donna Watt
Communications Leader

SLANZA Central PD day

We are very excited to bring you the details of our fantastic day of professional learning and networking, to be held on Saturday 17th of March, at Te Manawa, in Palmerston North. We have secured some wonderful speakers:

• Donna Watt, Technical Services Manager at Invercargill City Libraries and also SLANZA’s Communications team leader
  Donna will be our keynote speaker, and will continue sharing her skills and knowledge during a workshop session later in the day. Donna’s sessions at last year’s SLANZA conference were hugely popular, really inspirational, and full of practical ideas that you can put to use right away in your library.

• Paul du Temple from Wheelers
  Paul will be demonstrating and sharing details of their eBook platform. Don’t miss this face-to-face opportunity to keep up with what’s happening on the eBook front for school libraries in NZ.

• Warwick Taylor, Digital Services Librarian at Palmerston North City Library
  Warwick will be presenting a “Technology Playground”, showcasing a range of electronic devices and how these can be used in the library.

In addition, we’ve included time for those attending to network and share information, to “show and tell” what’s going on in their libraries, discuss current issues, and learn from each-other, because we know how important this kind of peer support can be for school library staff.

All this, plus lunch, for only $20 (SLANZA members) or $30 for non-members. So mark the date in your diary now, you won’t want to miss it!

Included here are the schedule for the day, including information about the speakers, and a registration form:
Central Region SLANZA Day 2012 (pdf)
SLANZA Day registration form (Word document)

For catering purposes, we ask that you please complete the registration form and return your info to Joyce Richards at Nga Tawa by the 7th of March (richardsjoyce@ngatawa.school.nz)

If you’d like any further information, please contact either Miriam or Joyce directly.

February 22nd 2011

Today Christchurch, we are with you more than ever before - in our hearts, memories, thoughts and prayers. We think of those who have lost loved ones, homes, possessions, livelihoods, their way of life and peace of mind, and hope that one day the pain will lessen and ease.
We will stand with you in silence at 12.51 now and always.
Kia kaha Christchurch and arohanui to our library whanau.