SLANZA Collected issue #17

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ISSN 1179–8548

The Conference 2015 Issue!

Collected Magazine // www.slanza.org.nz

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Features 5

Reflections from the Aoraki Conference Committee 7

Diary of a SLANZA Conference winner 9

Suicide and other mental health issues in books for young adults 11

The Tertiary Prep Programme – Transitioning Students from Secondary to Tertiary Learning 13

Reflections on SLANZA Conference September 2015 14

Around the edges... of the Christchurch Conference 15

From the ground up 17

Sponsorship to the SLANZA Conference 2015 18

From the Ground Up – Conference Photos 19

Problems of a Conference Attendee 20

SLANZA Conference 2015 – a new Librarian’s experience 21

Conference reflections 22

Conference reflections

Business Members Contributions

Short Articles 29

SLANZA Study Grant

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Perform – Inspiring In-School educational productions

Regular

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Cengage – Gale & Google 26

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Hydestor

Contains graphic content

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2020 Trust – Linked Up, Loud and Literate

Book reviews

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Softlink – From the ground up

Region News

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issue 17/2015 EDITORIAL

As I write this in mid-October, Conference is just over, and I’m still feeling the buzz from that great event. It was an awesome event and once again, I’ve gone to the well and come back refreshed and invigorated.

A bit too poetic you say? It is true. For a sole charge librarian, the conference is one of the best professional development and networking events that I attend. It is often my first exposure to new concepts and ideas that I may have read about. This is a chance to deal with them close up, ask questions and compare experiences. I sometimes think that librarians are the most sharing group I’ve ever been involved with.

It has been a busy year for our organisation.

SLANZA has dealt with National Library changes; the issue of “Into The River”, held a major conference; and consulted with other interested groups on issues that affect our future. It is great to hear members of the National Executive and our president being talked to about issues that affect us all. The good thing was that, I think, SLANZA were the voice of reason on many of these issues.

Thanks to you all for expressing our views succinctly.

We welcomed our new President Miriam Tuohy, and farewelled immediate past President Bridget Schaumann. We have also welcomed Sandi Falconbridge, Julia Smith, Kirsty McAdam, Nick Vincent and Sally Boden-Smith on to the National Executive.

We also bid farewell to Carole Gardiner our Administration person whose commitment and organisational skills have been invaluable. Replacing Carole is Jacky Reid.

Welcome aboard, Jacky.

All of the members of the National Executive are committed to working for our members in all aspects of SLANZA and contribute a huge amount of their own time.

This issue is the last issue of Collected for 2015, and our focus is on Conference.

Feedback and response to this bi-annual

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event is always energetic and I hope in this issue to capture some of that lightning in a bottle. So enjoy this issue’s accounts of workshops, keynote speakers and the many and varied networking and social events.

One of the fascinating workshops I attended was concerned with teen mental health issues and suicide. It was an illuminating discussion with two representatives from groups concerned with these issues. The short time we had gave us the chance to talk about the tip of the iceberg and I’m sure attendees would have welcomed more time to discuss the issues with presenters. There is an article about that workshop in this issue provided by Tracey Winslade.

Once again I’d like to thank Kate and Miriam and the team of proof readers Rosalba Finnerty, Liz Jones, Jackie Phillips and Sue Esterman and our contributors. In addition to making Collected look great, Kate, our designer and her husband are now proud parents of a son – Carter. Congratulations to you both.

We have had a great response to our call for contributions to our Conference issue. It is really great to have submissions from our members and I encourage you all to think about contributing to your magazine.

Personally, I find the articles from both our business and personal members always illuminating and interesting and like our Google + communities is one of the major ways we communicate and share with our members.

I hope you all enjoy Collected 17. I also hope that you have a great summer break and return refreshed and invigorated for 2016.

Greig Daniels Editor

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President’'s Column COLLECTED 17 SLANZA Conferences are always a highlight of the year for me. This year’s conference in Christchurch was the fourth I’ve been privileged to attend, and it lived up to all my expectations. I can’t thank our organising committee enough for bringing together so many wonderful speakers, for their expert planning, for making sure everything ran as smoothly as possible… it is a mammoth job and I am sure all who attended will join with me in extending our gratitude to them for their many many hours of hard work.

In this issue of Collected, we’ve got reports from those who attended the Conference and were inspired to share their learning. We also have articles that remind us Conference isn’t just about the workshops or keynote speeches. The chance to meet up face to face with colleagues that we may not see from one year to the next, or who we’ve only ever met online, is a big part of what makes our Conference so special. It’s particularly important, I think, for those who run a school library on their own. Conference is also a time when we celebrate the wonderful work so many of our members are doing in their school, and also when we recognise the outstanding contribution of our new life members. This year life memberships were awarded to Kaaren Hirst and Barbara Murison, who have both devoted so much time and energy to advocating for school libraries and those who staff them, and to promoting reading and a love of story-telling in the wider community. It is a further testimony to their dedication that both these women continue that work, retirement (in Barbara’s case) and full-time job (in Kaaren’s case) notwithstanding!

As we approach the end of the year, I’d like to thank the National Executive for the work they’ve done on behalf of all our members.

It’s been another busy year for us, with

many changes to contend with and some unexpected issues to respond to. I must say that being part of the National Executive offers opportunities to learn a great deal about all sort of things.

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This year we’ve continued our involvement in the mandatory review of sub-degree level Library & Information Studies qualifications. The resulting qualifications will form part of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework from early 2016. It will be interesting to see how the qualifications are implemented and delivered, particularly the new Level 3 Certificate in Library Practice and the Level 6 Certificate in Children and Teen Library and Information Services.

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We’ve seen up close the way that censorship and classification happens in New Zealand, as part of the decisions made around Ted Dawe’s novel Into the River.

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We’ve played a part in representing school library staff as the National Library Services to Schools redevelop their services.

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We’ve reviewed and redeveloped our online professional development, incorporating a new learning platform, and initiating our first monthly discussion forum.

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And we have had many conversations with many other groups such as LIANZA and NZEI where our contributions can hopefully help to bring about positive change that supports the work our members – and all school library staff – do to improve library services for our communities.

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I must also thank all those who belong to our regional committees for everything they’ve done this year to organise some fabulous PD events throughout the country, and to provide a network of support for their local members. It’s really reassuring to know that we have so many people in our regions who are prepared to volunteer for SLANZA, on top of their paid jobs and family commitments. If we’re to continue to be able to provide a strong voice for school library staff, it’s so important to have people with a passion for what we do who are willing to step forward and make that voice heard.

As this is our final issue of Collected for 2015, I’d like to wish you all a very relaxing break, and hope that you are able to spend lots of time with loved ones, and a few good books – I’m looking forward to that!

Miriam Tuohy President

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Reflections from the Aoraki Conference Committee The Aoraki Conference Committee would like to say a warm and sincere thank you to everyone who supported our 2015 Conference in Christchurch. We were so pleased that everyone was willing to travel to our slightly broken city and the warm atmosphere was not due just to the spring weather, but was all about the great people who attended. We hope the spirit of the conference will continue in your regions and there are opportunities to share the learning or further the discussions.

The committee would particularly like to thank everyone who presented a workshop at the conference. Thank you for giving your time freely and generously in order to share your experience and message with others. We hope the experience of presenting at conference was a positive one and a chance to further your own professional practice. We would also like to thank our keynote presenters, all of whom were outstanding and gave us practical ‘takeaways’ as well as ideas to open our minds and spark further discussions.

Below are some reflections from members of the Aoraki Conference Organising Committee and what it means to be ‘at the pointy end’ of a conference!

“I was somewhat surprised to find myself on a conference organising committee because arranging big events is something I’ve always dreaded.

In the event, I thoroughly enjoyed the process. This was partly because we had such a decisive and well-organised committee convenor in Cathy, as well as an excellent conference organising company (Conference Innovators) who made everything fall into place very nicely.

The most interesting part for me was choosing the keynote speakers. There are so many amazing people out there, some of whom are too expensive for a SLANZA conference, but the interesting thing was whittling them down. Some people have amazing ideas to share but are not good speakers; some have a very entertaining manner of presentation, but have little to say. We were very pleased with the speakers we eventually settled on

and felt we had a good balance of challenging ideas and practical action plans. As a committee member I had to go to workshops that were not my first choice, but every one I attended was impressive and from every one I gained valuable new ideas. The trick now is to put all those great ideas into practice!”

Liz Jones “I have always gained so much from the SLANZA Conferences – I never fail to be astounded, enthused, challenged and sometimes a little overwhelmed at what I have heard and participated in. SLANZA conferences have played a huge part in informing my practice and have given me the confidence to upskill, try new things and continue to make changes so that our school library can better meet our students’ needs. When the call went out to join the conference committee I decided that this was a good time for me to give something back to the organisation. I have to admit that in some of the meetings I felt a bit daunted and not sure what I had to offer but it was an amazing learning journey with a wealth of experience and ideas from the other members of the committee, who basically were all awesome.

We were very, very lucky to have Cathy as our convener – she did a huge amount of work, kept us focussed and moving forward, and I have no doubt it probably nearly killed her! Mandy, our conference organiser was always so calm and competent and she was a good role model to someone like me who doesn’t do calm very well. There was so much I learned from all my committee colleagues and I really appreciated working with them. I imagine they probably could tell from the look on my face that I was often thinking “Crikey, I’m a bit outside my comfort zone here” but I have to say that after all that hard work, I have experienced such an immense sense of satisfaction and pride. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about joining a SLANZA conference committee to go for it!”

Helen Duckworth “Being part of an organising committee is no small feat and is quite a commitment! I’d like to thank all of the committee who were prepared to give their time to meet monthly for 18 months and even more often in the final run up to conference. Not only that, but between meetings everyone

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was working away and the emails were flying – everyone was still juggling their day jobs and the usual regional committee work – thanks everyone – you are a great team of people and I even miss our monthly get-togethers!

There were so many things that I gained from being part of the committee but there was one particular aspect that made me pause and reflect.

Having the conference in my own school meant I had to liaise with so many different people or departments – sound, IT, catering, boarding…on and on. I always knew I worked in a great place with great people but was just blown away at the generosity and the ‘nothing’s a problem’ attitude that I met every time I had to ask something else of someone! So thank you to everyone at St Andrew’s College who had a hand in making our conference such a success.

Although organising a conference sounds like a big commitment, the rewards are many, not least, just the chance to give something back to an organisation which is small but very important if school libraries are to continue to have a voice. If you have the chance to be a part of something like this – don’t think you have nothing to offer, everyone brings something important to the team and don’t hesitate – it will be busy, at times scary and frustrating but definitely a fun ride!”

Cathy Kennedy

As an attendee I found the enthusiasm, passion and collegiality of other school librarians to be inspiring! New Zealand has an experienced and committed group of school librarians who willingly offer their own knowledge and skills in order to build, enhance and lead the knowledge and skill development of others. The workshops I attended energised and informed and there were many ‘takeaways’ that could be implemented straight away. Thank you for such a smorgasbord of offerings.”

Jan Boustead “Professional Development, collegiality and fun – that’s what springs to mind when I consider what I got out of being part of the conference committee. Of necessity we needed to investigate potential keynotes, evaluate workshop proposals and look to deliver a balanced programme, all good for our personal PD as we needed to ensure we were current and informed. Working with a committee from across schools rather than within a school provided a great opportunity to learn about what’s going on where, to have fun (going mad together!) and forge friendships; excellent for those of us who are professionally isolated in a school setting and good to all be speaking the same language! Overall I loved the experience! It can’t be all bad as it was the second time round!!”

Bridget Hayes

“SLANZA Conference 2015 created two first time experiences for me: as a member of the organising committee, and as an attendee.

As a member of the organising committee I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with colleagues plotting a varied programme to whet the appetite of school librarians from all over New Zealand. I appreciated the diversity and experience of others on the committee and the unflappability of the conference planners – Conference Innovators. I would do it all again without any hesitation!

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DIARY OF A SLANZA CONFERENCE WINNER CHRISTINE HURST – MACLEANS COLLEGE DAY 1 We’d discussed sharing a taxi on the School Library email listserv and once the flight arrived and there was no sight of the person we were supposed to meet, I realised quite a major flaw in my plan – we hadn’t exchanged phone numbers. The taxi pulled into the main driveway at St. Andrews School, and I’m sure the driver thought we were going to do a runner because he repeated several times “The school is closed – school holidays.” I found our accommodation in the hostel, which was a pleasant surprise, and then went to the Meet and Greet. I spoke to several people I know, and met several more whose names I recognised from the listserv. After a long chat with the ladies at AccessIt (l’m a huge fan) I did the rounds of supplier exhibits and grabbed a few pens. A few of us from the hostel were ready for dinner so we set off across the field and down the main drag towards the shops. The first place we came across was a Thai restaurant, so we dived in to a selection of dishes. Back at the hostel, a pre-bed cup of tea and I was ready for bed. The daylight saving change that morning meant it was only really 7pm, but it felt like 10pm. A long read of a good book (The Girl on the Train, in case you’re wondering. It was an excellent read). All in all a good first day!

tricky, and having to think about all the different technology can be challenging.

Next I went to find out about the librarian’s toolbox. I got so much out of this session! The presenter had a website full of links to some really cool ideas, and I walked away from her session thinking that my Year 9 orientation sessions next year are going to be transformed.

Mark Osborne from CORE Education was our second keynote speaker who delved into the modern learning environment. He challenged us to think of the library as no longer a storehouse, but as makerspaces/ hackerspaces. We heard about, and saw, some amazing collaboration spaces.

The last workshop of the day was on how libraries are “the new relevancy”. The presenter talked about the many ways she has changed the library space at her school, in particular bringing the library staff out from the back room to be ‘front of house’ and interacting with the students more. The vacated space was then used

by IT. I love the idea that the IT Department is more accessible to students.

DAY 2

The SLANZA awards and happy hour was next. A full, exhausting day.

After trying not to fall out of the single bed all night, I headed off to breakfast. The dining room manager was a humorous man, which helped to start the day on the right note.

DAY 3

The first keynote speaker, Roger Dennis, was interesting (technical issues aside). He talked about how the world was changing rapidly and the growing technology curve showed an increase in technology over a short period of time. He talked about the pace of change going faster and faster, and to keep up he recommended buying Wired magazine, and also checking out Scanadoo, Tell Spec, and Thingiverse.

He also reckoned that reverse mentoring is all the rage these days; find a digital superhero kid who knows what changes are coming up. I shall be on the lookout! When asked if we should be teaching our kids coding he said no, get kids to learn the logic that computers use, but not coding. When asked about eBooks and print books, he said that print offers a serendipity that you don’t get with digital; you don’t know what’s coming next in print.

My first workshop of the day was on eBooks and e-literacy.

Apparently research shows that we are reading more than ever before, just differently. Some read digitally, and some by print, and others a mixture of both. Setting up for eBooks in your school can be

Keynote, Janelle Riki, was an amazing speaker. I loved hearing about her family, and her journey. Hers was another message about change, and Janelle’s Seek slide showing the demand for certain industries, and lack of demand for others, was an eye opener. She helped me view my students from a different perspective, and my library (and I) will be better for it.

My first workshop of the day was on eBooks with the AccessIt ladies.

I gleaned some great ideas for using the new OPAC. My second workshop was about using custom-made quizzes to engage students.

We did some Dewey quizzes while learning about how Kahoot and Socrative works (I wasn’t the fastest, but was pleased to see I know my Dewey!) Oh what fun! This built on the session from Day 1, and I was starting to see how my student librarians training sessions might be transformed.

The final workshop was Creative Commons. I thought I had a good grasp of this topic, but I was educated further. I came away with a plan to make sure my school is licensed.

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We were then bussed to Cashmere High School followed by Upper Riccarton Community Library. I had a great nosy around, took loads of photos and came away buzzing with ideas.

Browsed the trade tables and got pens.

That night was the conference dinner. The food served at the Ilex Centre was delicious (I don’t think I will ever taste better than Canterbury beef!) and the entertainment was…well, it was entertaining.

DAY 4 The last day of conference, and the keynote speaker first up was Kay Oddone talking about makerspaces. This is definitely the buzzword of the conference, and Kay showed many ways that our libraries can become makerspaces. This talk also focussed on the changing world and how the job landscape for our young people will look very different in the next 2-5 years. Much food for thought.

I did a final round at the sponsor’s stands and made sure I had spoken to all of them. Got more pens.

chose some workshops at the expense of missing out on others that I desperately wanted to go to. Luckily for me, a colleague was able to plan her workshops so that we didn’t go on the same ones, and we were able to have an in depth debrief following the conference. This is a strategy I recommend to anyone who has a buddy or colleague going to conference.

So with a focus on eBooks, I listened to how schools were implementing their programmes, how they’d gauged the reception of eBooks vs print, and how successful (or not) eBooks are in their schools. My conclusion is that while they add a dimension to the collection, they are not the holy grail of library services.

There was much talk of makerspaces, or hackerspaces. I watched and listened, fascinated at how this new philosophy (dare I call it a craze?) was being adopted in school libraries. And while I had moments of excitement, I know deep down that this is not something that will work in my school – at this time. In the meantime, I will be taking all the wonderful things that I have learnt and adapt them to my school community. Which is the way it should be, don’t you think?

The last workshop was how to Zhoosh up your Book Club. Is it telling that out of all the workshops this one solicited the most note-taking from me? I came away with squillions of ideas and can’t wait to implement them in my book club.

WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THE CONFERENCE? •

Librarians are an amazing bunch of people

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The amount of collective knowledge within the SLANZA membership is far-reaching

WORKSHOPS I WISH I COULD HAVE GONE TO:

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There is no substitute for meeting your peers in person

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Engaging readers with engaging book talks

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Spicing up summer: summer reading programmes

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You can discuss library things over a glass of wine much easier than in an email list

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Don’t panic: a hitch-hikers guide to book week

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SLANZA rocks! (thank you SLANZA for my conference ticket)

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Why don’t they just behave?

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I will never run my library orientation sessions the same again

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Developing info-savvy students

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You can never have enough pens

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Digital footprints: you are what you click

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Tertiary prep programme

So in conclusion, did I love my first SLANZA conference? Hell yes!

Will I go to another one? Hell yes! Try and keep me away!

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BYOD: One school library’s journey

Christine Hurst, Macleans College, Auckland

My overall focus on this conference was eBooks and digital libraries, as this is an area that we are currently looking at in my school. But I

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Suicide and other mental health issues in books for young adults TRACEY WINSLADE – NAYLAND COLLEGE

WE ALL WANT BOOKS TO BE INSPIRATIONAL – BUT NOT IN THAT WAY This article is a follow-up to a workshop that was co-ordinated for the 2015 SLANZA conference Suicide and other mental health issues in books for young adults, details of which can be found on the SLANZA website. It also includes a link to a Livebinder that compiles informative readings, guidelines and links to support websites aimed for teenagers in crisis or reaching out for help such as The Lowdown, Youthline and the Mental Health Foundation as well as the hand-out created by David Cairns. Also included in the Livebinder are Nayland College purchasing guidelines that you may find a great springboard for your own school.

I must confess to still feeling in slightly murky waters re book selection after listening to the speakers. David Cairns (Pegasus Health suicide prevention co-ordinator) and Moira Clunie (Mental Health Foundation), were clear in that it is an issue of safety and requiring very careful, considered thought. Mental health issues, (and by this it means areas such as self-harm, depression, eating disorders, anxiety) and the really big one of suicide, which is my focus here, are of huge relevance, especially to vulnerable youth (15-24) who are statistically in the highest at risk category. They act spontaneously, often don’t think things through and through virtue of their youth don’t have the necessary perspective on life experience to be able to judge some situations and make wise choices. Both speakers were abundantly clear on these points and research backs them up.

School Guidance Counsellors see, hear and talk with students dealing with these issues all the time and they try to surround them with good information and safe information yet through books available within their school libraries, students potentially have access to information such as methods of suicide, learn about finding suicide partners and other such material. I don’t believe we should be considering suicide as content in any different light than books

containing graphic violence/sex or large amounts of gratuitous obscenities. We would avoid buying those for our students and we should avoid buying books detailing suicide methods or glorification or memorialising of those who have taken their own lives.

And I have to ask the question of each school librarian. Have you read some of these books? Do you know what the content is? Have your school counsellors read them and if so, what did they think? Because having done this exercise myself, I came to see and understand their concerns.

Have a look at the document Preventing and responding to suicide resource kit: Section 2: pages 23 & 77 specifically (Ministry of Education, 2013) (on the Livebinder) and now apply that to your purchasing criteria. This is issued to all schools and you will see that teachers are advised that students do not use suicide as a topic. At Nayland, should a teacher want students, for example, to watch the film “Once Were Warriors”, they need to send home permission slips so parents can be involved in making that decision. Are you aware that after that film was released the statistics for the suicide method in the film showed a large spike in being the chosen method by young Maori women – they saw it and that it worked. Media influences of all types are hugely influential. Yet we have this information sitting on our library shelves, where, unfortunately, those most vulnerable are also magnetically attracted to.

Words to be aware of are trigger and normalisation.

Information, once imparted, becomes knowledge and like a powerful image once seen cannot be easily forgotten. Studies show that copycatting/contagion is very real and if someone commits suicide, then, statistically, their friends are very vulnerable themselves – especially within the first month afterwards or on the anniversary of the event. If a reader connects with the character this could

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become a trigger. If suicide becomes a common topic in books it runs the risk of normalising it as a response to adversity, desensitising readers and increasing social acceptability. According to Dr Nick Baker, Paediatrician/Chief Medical Officer NMDHB, it adds to a young person’s vocabulary and therefore their options. He also has this to say: “Suicide is typically an event that follows a long journey of accumulating adversity; however there are a number of young people who on impulse end their lives. So all young people are at risk. Risks exist for many young people who we have not labelled as at risk and they have not yet sought help.” (Personal communication, May 18, 2015). This is really important food for thought.

Certainly there should be books that are about the sad consequences and realities of suicide but somehow we need to filter back to the authors that there is information given in their books that may add nothing to the story, but crosses lines. There have been some very well written and great books that I have had to make the decision to not have in our library and I wish they could have been – but I am just too aware now that the informing material within them has the potential to be a trigger. We all want books to be inspirational – but not in that way.

Most of the books that fall into this category do end with hope and the message of the great grief suicide causes. If only the person had made a different choice, it really does get better – yet we all reference life via the lens of our own personal experiences and emotional reactions (Cairns, 2015). How we read a story is always an individual experience – which is what creates the potential tipping point perhaps for some; readers could connect with the characters and may draw flawed parallels with their own lives. The books we purchase need to demonstrate characters making good choices and the skills to develop those abilities.

We need to be talking about suicide. We need to know what to say, we need to know how to ask the right questions, how to tell the right people and how to get professional help for that person. A book is a one-way conversation – imparting information only.

I understand that this issue is a polarising one and so it is for each of us in the end to make our own decisions on what we do and how we continue to purchase. These are my suggestions. Please be mindful of the content of the books that you buy. We cannot ignore the statistic that at any given time, there are nearly 7% of students who will fall into this vulnerable category. Please work with your school counsellors and create a purchasing guideline document for your school that will cut out the books that cross lines.

I understand and applaud the library code of freedom of access to information however we really do need to show due care and accountability around this particular issue – like it or not. That 7% equates into real people and real lives and we just don’t know who they might be.

Cairns, D. (2015, September). Suicide and mental health issues in books for young adults.

Paper presented at SLANZA Conference 2015, Christchurch.

Ministry of Education. (2013). Preventing and responding to suicide: resource kit for schools Wellington, New Zealand: Author Tracey Winslade, Nayland College, Nelson

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Tertiary Prep Programme: Transitioning Students from Secondary to Tertiary Learning SENGA WHITE – SOUTHLAND BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL

“We are given a lot of content throughout our schooling yet we are not always given the tools to do something useful with it.” 1 Year 13 student, 2014 Libraries and learning is not just an illustration of alliteration. It is also an illustration of the core business of librarians, who are uniquely placed to be anchored in the foundational elements of teaching and learning. The role of school librarians in teaching and learning is evident throughout the New Zealand Curriculum, woven into the vision, principles and key competencies.

The New Zealand curriculum vision states what we want for our young people is for them to become life-long learners, critical and creative thinkers, active seekers, users and creators of knowledge and informed decision makers.2 The principles, which put students at the centre of teaching and learning, requires consistency within the curriculum for them to reflect on their own learning processes and how they learn how to learn.3 Finally, the key competencies identify both thinking and managing self as strategies to foster young people to become competent thinkers, problem solvers who ask questions and seek, use and create knowledge. They also need to identify and develop strategies to manage themselves and learn how to act independently.4 The Tertiary Prep Programme has evolved as part of a larger body of work carried out over almost a decade of creating a framework for embedding information literacy skills5 into the curriculum. One of the catalysts for this came from the findings of the Curriculum Alignment Project report released in 2006.6 Sessions were trialled following investigation and research into the information literacy expectations for first year university students. Initially the first tutorials were planned specifically to support Year 13 students who already had an understanding of some information literacy skills taught to them over the preceding four years. However the current

Tertiary Prep Programme assumes no prior knowledge or skills so can be adapted to suit the requirements of students based on need and is able to support all students intending to continue their learning beyond secondary level.

Increasingly, the need to introduce, highlight and explicitly teach these foundational skills is becoming apparent and more widely acknowledged. In current research published this year in NZCER SET magazine, Lisa Emerson and her co-researchers Ken Kilpin and Angela Feekery suggest “the gap between tertiary and secondary education in terms of literacy and the learning environment is bigger than anyone is acknowledging.” 7 They outline three issues observed during their research: the level of independent learning skills, the significant disconnect between the secondary and tertiary sectors in relation to written literacy in learning, and undeveloped information literacy skills. They also identified factors contributing to this: pressures on teachers around NCEA requirements, lack of communication between the sectors, and a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of literacy.

The Tertiary Prep Programme addresses these transitional gaps as well as preparing students for the rigor of academic study, and consists of flexible, tutorial-style sessions that will support independent learning as well as highlighting critical thinking and personal management strategies. There are currently five sessions, each of which has a particular focus: Managing Self is the first session and sets out the students’ understanding of the need to be accountable to themselves for their own learning. It outlines approaches to time management and personal organisation skills as well as introducing the concepts of learning styles and memory techniques. It also explains the differences between the secondary and tertiary learning structure.

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The second session is Managing Research. This highlights the process of academic research, crucial skills and strategies for successful navigation and selection of online information, and the importance of using resources contained within databases.

Session three, Managing Information, delves into note-taking techniques, how to revise using notes, and writing academic essays, while session four, Managing Resources, concentrates on how to evaluate information and the necessity for it, avoiding plagiarism, curating resources and using academic libraries. Finally, session five, Managing Study, focusses on planning for revision, study and preparing for exams.

To consider the benefit of The Tertiary Prep Programme in the context of your school, there are a number of questions to ask yourself:

onus to provide this type of support. During the six years since the inception of this work, the expectation around the skills for critical and independent learning has become even more necessary for our young people to succeed at the highest levels possible.

Senga White, Southland Boys’ High School, Invercargill REFERENCE LIST Emerson, L., Kilpin, K., & Feekery, A. (2014). Information Literacy and the Transition to Tertiary Literacy. English in Aotearoa, 13-19.

Emerson, L., Feekery, A., & Kilpin, K. (2014). Let’s talk about literacy: Preparing students for the transition to tertiary learning. Set: Research Information for Teachers Set, 1, 3-8. doi:10.18296/set.0002 Maw, P., & Cummins, N. (2013). Keep Calm and Communicate: Succeeding at University. English in Aotearoa, (80), 39-49.

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What is my school already doing to support students planning to continue their education beyond secondary level?

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What depth of information literacy and research skills do the students already possess or exhibit?

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What areas of expertise is there currently within the school?

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Who should I discuss this with on staff? Ideally your list will include your principal or a senior leader with responsibility for curriculum or learning, but should also include a teacher or head of department you already have developed a good working relationship with. Other staff to consider talking to would be your careers and guidance staff.

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Is there a local tertiary institution I could make contact with?

White, S. (2012, January 25). Creating Info Lit Opportunities in your School. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.slideshare. net/SengaW/creating-info-lit-opportunities-in-your-school

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How could The Tertiary Prep Programme framework fit into my school?

White, S. (2015, July 1). The Tertiary Prep Programme. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://tertiaryprep.nz/

The Tertiary Prep Programme has been designed as a framework able to be customised for any school, enabling students to manage the transition to tertiary learning as seamlessly as possible. With the growing body of evidence being collected, both published and anecdotal, it is clear that schools will only become more aware of the

The New Zealand curriculum. (2007). Wellington, N.Z.: Published for the Ministry of Education by Learning Media.

Shields, G., & Bennett, D. (2006). Fishing With the New Net: Transfer of Students’ Information-literacy Skills Between the Secondary and Tertiary Environments. Set, (2), 42-46.

White, S. (2011). Preparing for Tertiary Study. Collected, (4), 11-12.

White, S. (2015, October 13). The Tertiary Prep Programme Presentation. Retrieved November 18, 2015, from http://www. slideshare.net/SengaW/the-tertiary-prep-programme-presentation

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Reflections on SLANZA Conference September 2015 SHEILA LITTLE – BETHLEHEM COLLEGE

I thoroughly enjoyed the Conference held in Christchurch at the beginning of the October school holidays. It was the first time I had been to Christchurch and I felt a bit apprehensive about experiencing earthquakes, living in a school hostel and the possible cold weather!

My fears were groundless.

5. Books should be attractively displayed (face-out whenever practical) and easy to find by means of the web OPAC, clear labels and readily understood classification. Grouped displays should pop up in various locations around the library, to respond to topics of interest or promote different genres.

The organisers had done an outstanding job planning for the safe accommodation of all visitors to the city, as well as inviting dynamic, forward-focused speakers to stimulate our thinking about the future of libraries.

6. Digital literacy and cyber safety should be promoted via posters, video clips on the web OPAC and verbal reminders. Libraries are focused on collecting and disseminating information in a responsible way. Research techniques and disciplines should be taught and practised.

These are a few of the gems I collected out of the treasure chest that was on offer: 1. Students should have access to information, with little or no cost, via books, magazines and computers. Libraries should do more than provide information. Computers, tablets and smart phones should work seamlessly via Wi-Fi. Books of all types and readability should still be available; and any emerging vehicles of information should be made available; however, libraries are evolving to offer more than this.

2. Many of the jobs presently available will be automated in future, especially routine work that follows rules. Computers can be programmed to do jobs that do not require innovative service or creative problem solving. We are educating students to do income earning work that does not yet exist. Libraries should be places that stimulate cooperative problem solving and ownership of personal learning.

3. An advantage of the library space is that people of all ages and abilities can meet to work together as mentors or team players, with equal opportunities. Opportunities should be provided for safe interaction and learning.

4. Furniture and equipment should be available, to be used in flexible ways. Students should have access to resources that might otherwise be available only in specific departments, so that they can do research and experiment safely and creatively.

7. Transparent communication should provide clear information about titles or topics required to support the curriculum and encourage wide reading for staff and students. Resources should be effectively advertised and easily borrowed. Students should be challenged to learn more than the basic requirements to achieve assessment standards 8. Book clubs and special interest groups such as programming coders or robot makers should be encouraged to meet in the library. Multipurpose, educational games should also be available for students to build projects, involving independent and ‘hands on’ learning.

9. Furniture should be suitable and comfortable to facilitate social interaction and informative discussions. Students should be encouraged in problem solving using real life situations. These problems and puzzles should be advertised and solution finding encouraged.

10. Recreational reading and enjoyment of stories should be promoted actively, whether the format is printed, digital or audio.

Reviews should be available via the web OPAC, book trailers and QR codes that lead to appropriate web sites. Personal recommendations, hand-written, should be attached to books on display.

Sheila Little, Bethlehem College, Tauranga

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Around the edges... of the Christchurch Conference CORINNE HINTON – KING’S COLLEGE Stepping out of the airport at Christchurch the weather was crisp and cool compared to Auckland, but the drive to St Andrew’s College was full of the joys of spring; blue skies, and daffodils and cherry trees in full bloom. I was staying in one of the two halls of residence on site, conveniently placed for a short walk to the conference.

I registered and joined everyone in the lecture theatre where we were all welcomed by students of the college before heading straight into the first of many keynote and workshop sessions of the day.

The day ended with a glass of wine and the presentation of the SLANZA awards.

The next day I was up bright and early for Ben Brown’s wonderfully entertaining talk about how books entered his life, before being thrust into more inspiring sessions during the day.

Our Accommodation

Walking between the blocks I couldn’t help admiring the art in the sky although I missed taking a photo of the cow!

The SLANZA AGM was held in the afternoon of the second day and our tireless National Executive Committee were lined up on stage before us for well-deserved recognition and applause.

One of the aspects that I most enjoyed at conference was the time to explore a number of Christchurch school libraries.

On Tuesday evening I was part of the group who went along to the Leinster Road Bistro for the Tuesday night dinner. It was a lovely setting with good food, but not so good for vegetarians, who had to negotiate a menu and then fight for a fair price!

Wednesday was a busy last day, walking between venues… before a final farewell to the wonderful Christchurch committee and then it was up and away over the alps before landing back in Auckland.

Visiting School libraries

Cherry Blossoms

Corinne Hinton, King’s College, Auckland

The Conference Committee – Cathy Kennedy just out of shot.

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From the ground up VICKI CLARKE – WILLIAM COLENSO COLLEGE I was the lucky recipient of a ‘Book Protection Products’ grant to attend the conference. My workplace (William Colenso College) actively encourages PD and also funded my airfares WOOHOO!

Upon arriving I was greeted at the lobby by Sandi (Taradale Primary), shown where to register and given my tote full of info!

We were guided to our accommodation (which was awesome), met my ‘roomie’ – Chris Taylor (Carmel College) and after ‘unpacking’ we wandered back to the Senior School for the ‘Meet & Greet’.

Being surrounded by so many like-minded individuals was a bit

overwhelming. I decided that I would try and meet as many people as I could and hear about where they were based!

Every time I had a break or workshop I would sit in a different spot to meet more of the TEAM. Boy, were we a lively bunch! I forgot this was about work (I am very lucky in that I absolutely LOVE my job) and had an absolute blast!

My workshops were very informative, fun and lively. The noise level we managed when able to converse with our neighbours would have driven a librarian into a frenzy of shh shh shh’s – LOL

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The catering within the conference was great with plenty of food and drink to feed us for a week! Special mention to Annie from Burnside High for the plate of sausage rolls and eclairs we enjoyed while watching the men up the trees….. (the mind boggles yes?)

Debbie Roxburgh (National Library) was an absolute gem and gifted me her Conference Dinner Ticket (I made the most of this Deb!)

I attended both author breakfasts – these were an absolute delight.

To hear the passion in their personal stories was a treat. I could only imagine myself during a ‘mental block’ if I had become a writer. Ben Brown has a fantastic way of describing everything! I could listen to him talk for hours. Perhaps he could do talking books about his stories! (It helped that he had a great voice!)

The venue for this was fab – just a bit sad that so many missed out but we were at full capacity!

Natalie King had a very humorous story about her beginnings as a published author! I’m not so sure I could write a whole romance novel (or anything ‘saucy’ – ever!) whilst trying to cope with new born twins.

The organisation of such a huge event led me to thinking “omg what if my school had to host this event”….. I shuddered at the sheer scale of such an enormous exercise and regularly ‘tipped my hat’ during conference to the organisers.

The Conference raced by so quickly and at times my head felt extremely full but all in all this was a lot of fun, well organised and St Andrew’s was a fab venue!

Thank you SLANZA for an informative, fun and very busy conference!

Our entertainment was an absolute blast and took ‘cheesy’ to a whole new level. “Oooh Gary”…..(faints) A great act that gave many of us the opportunity to get our hands on his package ;-)

HUGE Thank You to Book Protection Products for the chance to attend.

Vicki Clarke, William Colenso College, Napier

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sponsorship to the SLANZA Conference 2015 SUE JAMIESON – TE PUKE HIGH SCHOOL As a first-timer at a SLANZA Conference, my attendance sponsored

by Waikato/Bay of Plenty, I have to say that not only did I think the Conference was very well done, but the venue, on-site accommodation and catering rated highly too. Well done to the organising Committee and to St Andrew’s College and a big ‘thank you’ to SLANZA for sponsoring me.

Although I have been involved with libraries much of my working life, it is a while since I have been in the school library sector, and schools have changed radically since then. I was particularly keen to attend Conference, and appreciated the opportunity to network with other school librarians – primary and secondary – from across New Zealand. I now have some new ideas and projects to present to my Senior Leadership Team, of what I can hopefully achieve in the coming year.

Kay Oddone’s session ‘Beyond the buzzword – creating a makerspace in your library’ was enlightening. Makerspaces were a very new concept for me; I certainly had a better understanding following her presentation. It’s an idea I would like to explore further. I do wonder how the logistics of supporting this in our library would be though. I would have to negotiate cost and staffing, as these could be barriers for me, as I am sole charge in our library, with a school role of 980 students.

The two main ‘takeaways’ for me were ‘genrefication’ and ‘makerspaces’.

Another session I attended was Tracey Winslade’s ‘Suicide and mental health issues in books for Young Adults’ re the censorship of sensitive material. I attended this out of personal interest, and we spent some time discussing this topic at our local SLANZA Committee meeting (where I presented my Conference Report). It is a point of pride for most librarians to not censor, but to be sensitive to their students’ needs. We have decided to explore this topic further, possibly in discussion with guidance counsellors at one of our workshops next year.

I enjoyed both of the ‘genrefication’ workshops: Jeannie Skinner’s presentation ‘And then there’s books – rethinking books in MLLE’s’, and Lynley Earnshaw’s ‘Genrefication’, in which Lynley talked of their school’s journey in this – positives, negatives and pitfalls, what not to do and what to try.

Another workshop I appreciated was ‘Library Advocacy’, presented by Christine Busby, from our own Western Bay of Plenty Libraries, Te Puke. Christine’s recommendation was to build relationships – use who you can – BOT, politicians, social media, to lobby for your library and the needs of its community. Get yourself noticed!

Although I believe browsing can open up doors to reading other genres, there is something to be said for subject stickers to help students identify books. Genre stickers will help the ‘dead-set-onthis-type-of-book’ find their material more efficiently, and also give them the opportunity to be exposed to something different.

Thank you again to SLANZA for supporting me in becoming part of the school library community in Aotearoa.

Sue Jamieson, Te Puke High School, Te Puke

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From the Ground Up – Conference Photos

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Problems of a Conference Attendee STEPH ELLIS – NAPIER BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL 1. Being too excited to sleep...for the entire conference.

2. Not being able to sleep for fear that your snoring will wake your roommate.

3. Being an introvert but wanting to be around your friends and library heroes.

4. Having no time to curl up in a corner and read.

5. Getting sore cheeks from laughing too much.

6. Running out of battery life – literally.

7. Running out of battery life – figuratively.

8. Wanting to attend *all* of the workshops in a session.

9. Autocorrect while tweeting.

10. Getting too many good ideas to take back to your school.

11. Wanting to implement all of your good ideas immediately.

12. Seeing people who look familiar but not remembering their names.

13. Seeing names that look familiar but not remembering if you’ve met them before.

14. Not knowing the official conference #hashtag.

15. Losing your anonymity – people can now put your face to your name.

16. Not being able to get a Conference Dinner ticket.

17. Getting a Conference Dinner ticket but then being pulled up on stage by the entertainment.

18. Collecting too much free stuff that you can’t get home.

19. Conference finishing before you are ready for it to.

20. Having to wait two years for the next conference – wah!

Steph Ellis, Librarian, Napier Boys’ High School

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SLANZA Conference 2015 –-– a new librarian’s experience ROCHELLE EALAM – ELLESMERE COLLEGE Due to the generosity of the Aoraki SLANZA committee, and a quiet word from Jan Boustead from the National Library, I was lucky enough to receive sponsorship to attend this years “From the Ground Up” SLANZA conference in Christchurch. As a new librarian managing the Ellesmere College library (Years 7-13, role 543), this was an invaluable experience for me.

The guest speakers highlighted the future skills our students will require and challenged me to consider how the library can feed into these. In particular Kay Oddone, who spoke about Makerspaces in the library and Helen Stower and Kathryn Schravemade, whose presentation about moving from a traditional library to a contemporary I-Centre inspired me to think beyond the library we presently have, and to embrace technology and use it to our advantage in the library in the future.

differences between the four attribution categories with Elizabeth Heritage from Creative Commons and signed up to Twitter with Michelle Simms, although I’m still a lurker at present!

As a new and inexperienced librarian this kind of networking and exposure to other librarians and teaching staff is invaluable. To have the opportunity to discuss common problems and solutions reminds me that the issues I may be struggling with are ones I have in common with other school libraries, and I am always amazed at the collaborative and innovative community that I am now a part of.

I strongly recommend making an effort to get to the next conference.

Thank you to the Aoraki branch of SLANZA and the conference committee for such an enjoyable three days.

Rochelle Ealam, Ellesmere College, Leeston

Equally inspiring were the workshops I attended; in particular Using social media in the library with Lorna Smith and Julia de Ruiter, Life beyond Google at Ashburton College with Delia Achten and How to get a library website up and running with Tracy Westall. I learnt the

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Conference reflections SUZANNE MUIR – SOUTHLAND BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL

Conference: what an experience! This is always a highlight every two years. So much professional learning in such a short time. Conference for me is all about opportunities: the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones; to gather new ideas from the brave workshop presenters; and to expand our thinking with the challenges that the keynote speakers place before us. But most importantly of all: to catch up with both established and new suppliers.

Christchurch post-quake is a different world. Finding that my favourite landmarks are now either broken or missing is very disconcerting. The tour to other libraries gave us a small indication of the challenges that are faced every day by Cantabrians. I saw a very large water filled hole that took up almost an entire section. Only two people were standing looking at it as though this was a new but not unusual challenge. What must it be like to live there? The weather was sunny, spring flowers were out, and the blossom trees were blooming lovely. Having conference a little later in the year certainly paid off with the warmer weather.

The venue: where to begin? St. Andrews College was amazing. I managed to get lost at least once every day. This however had as much to do with wanting to see what was around the next corner: a new or old building; a cow made from metal; tumbling shapes; wire sculpture, an interesting library, so much to see. Also a huge congratulations to the catering staff as the meals, including the authors’ breakfasts, were delicious.

The conference itself was a wonderful learning experience, and not just because of the presenters. At every conference I find that it is also the opportunity to connect with the exhibitors, who present us with all sorts of new goodies to tempt us as we try and develop modern learning environments for our schools. Here we have the chance to finally meet and discuss what they can do for us, and they always exceed my expectations with wonderful new ideas and products.

The hardware of a library is well catered for by Hydestor, Lundia, Furnware and Distinction Furniture. The shelving and seating

solutions are very interesting and it is great to see how these items function by being able to touch and try out some of the futuristic designs.

While chatting to Bonnie at the AccessIt stand I noticed that she took some shortcuts that were new to me and she very obligingly bought me up to speed on them. One thing often leads to another. Accessing students’ records from the borrowers screen is one of the timesaving hints I picked up, resulting once again in some very useful professional development happening in the lunch break.

Further to that, speaking to the team from National Library who provide access to the EPIC databases was also a worthwhile learning experience. Although I help our students, there are always new hints and tips to be gleaned from Brigitte at Gale, Cengage Learning. I also had a very interesting chat with Jonathan on the Infobase Learning Australia stand, although this database is independent from EPIC. But wait there’s more: the book suppliers – Wheelers; Heroes for Sale; Oxford University Press and The Original Children’s Book Shop provide a serious trap for a grandmother seeking holiday treats.

And then catching up with Joanne at Book Protection Products, all those goodies still need to be processed.

Although it is great being able to source items online or by catalogue, being able to put a face and a voice to a name is priceless. Having a chance to reflect on their product is, for me, one of the most useful aspects of conference.

I left conference with dreams of sugar plums dancing in my head.

All I need now is an unlimited budget and then we could have that fabulous revamped modern learning environment to cater for our students!

Suzanne Muir, Southland Boys’ High School, Invercargill

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Conference reflections KERRY BAX – MCAULEY HIGH SCHOOL

I was fortunate to receive a free registration to conference from SLANZA Auckland. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and got so much out of it. I am a sole-charge librarian so for me the opportunity to network was as important as the speakers and workshops.

plans to make a special Māori resource area. The new space will be developed by downsizing the reference area (except for dictionaries, atlases and general encyclopaedias) and putting the reference books into their subject areas (a tip from discussion with others.)

The workshops I attended have inspired me in so many ways and have given me many ideas on how to improve my school library. After attending the workshop on organising a library week, I have put plans in place to have a library week at my school in 2016 – something that has never been done at the school before. I found the SCIS workshop very valuable as I learned about great websites that SCIS have vetted – some of these have already been downloaded. The eBook workshop using AccessIt was also informative and I have since downloaded my first free eBook. I enjoyed visiting two secondary schools, particularly Cashmere High School, where I made note of their idea of having library expectations by the door. I have joined Twitter as a professional tool and followed the post-conference discussion.

The other important concept that I got out of conference was to promote the library as much as possible to staff and students. Getting my student librarians involved with library promotion and taking books to the staffroom for staff holiday reading are just a couple of the ideas I am already putting into practice.

Kerry Bax, McAuley High School, Auckland

Prior to attending conference I had created a special Pasifika area in the library but after hearing keynote speaker, Janelle Riki, on making the library a welcoming place for our Māori students, I now have

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Business Members

Inspiring In-School educational productions Are you looking for new ways to educate and inspire your students? Our multi-disciplinary educational musicals are the ideal creative and interactive format to engage and inform children across primary and secondary year levels. Live in your school!

Perform! Educational Musicals is a multi award winning producer of educational theatre for primary and secondary schools. Touring to both the North and South Islands of New Zealand since 2005, our specialty educational musicals have been performed to over two million students across New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Across New Zealand we work with our partners to promote the best in New Zealand children’s literature with Storylines Festival and the Storylines Notable Book Awards shortlist.

Our in-school musicals provide the ideal creative format to engage, inspire and educate children. Each production is highly interactive, giving students the unique opportunity to learn through direct engagement with professional performers.

Reinforcing vital educational themes and key learning areas across the topics of literacy, reading, bullying and cyber safety, our high energy-productions bring the magic of live music theatre and engaging performance direct to your school and students.

Our teams of writers, directors, actors and educators combine their talents to ensure a detailed focus on the content and outcomes of each production in order to inspire, educate and entertain our school audiences.

“Shine a Light” celebrating Storylines Notable Booklist

www.performmusicals.com Current productions touring into schools for 2016: Book Week in Schools (Years 0-8) ‘SHINE A LIGHT!’ Celebrating Storylines Festival and featuring a selection of books from the 2016 NZ Storylines Notable Booklist, Shine A Light presents both a gateway into accessing the best in children’s literature and a tale that explores the themes of self-esteem and positive psychology.

Cyber Safety in Schools (Years 6-9) ‘MYFRIENDS DOT COM!’

Making books come to life

Explores the world of cyber-bullying and the importance of cyber-safety in a story that resonates throughout schools and households everywhere. An exciting and engaging production that uses an energetic, fast paced narrative and contemporary music, MyFriends Dot Com brings into focus these vital issues to alert young people of the dangers and consequences of not taking the cyber world seriously.

Teacher Testimonials: Book Week in Schools “Awesome!! Best show I’ve seen at school! Thank you so much!”

– Waitakere Primary School “A brilliant performance. The level of engagement with the children was excellent. ” – South Hornby School “You really captured the children. Very clever the way you linked the books together.”

– Stanley Bay Primary School

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Business Members “Great energy and enthusiasm from the actors. Great storyline – very relevant to the curriculum and very entertaining thank you!”

– Fendalton Open Air School “Wow! Every child in the room was completely entranced by the story and how it all related to their own lives. Perform lived up to my expectations again!”

– Rutherford Primary School “The children responded well to all elements of the show... Showed the children that books can come alive in your imagination. Very inspiring and motivating.”

– Maungawhau School “Enthusiastic & skilled performers! Interactive, great use of props, picture books and songs!”

– Golden Sands School Teacher Testimonials: Cyber Safety in Schools “Awesome show that was really engaging and helpful to our students. They saw all their lives being portrayed on the stage very closely!! Very relevant.”

– Murrays Bay Intermediate “It’s an awesome idea to show young people the safe way to use technology and also giving them the options to solve problems.”

– Glenfield Intermediate School “Fantastic show. Excellent message and very relevant to today’s times.”

– Matata Public School “Excellent – all schools would benefit from having your show (Year 5 and up)” – Everglade Primary School “They were captivated throughout both by strength of performance and intensity of key messages. A high energy, thought provoking performance.

Examines issues very relevant to year 7/8 age group. POWERFUL!! BRILLIANT!!

– Horsham Downs School “Texting and the important lessons about friendships which were just as much a focus in the production as cyber bullying. Very enjoyable.

It was fast paced and up to date.”

– Ashburton Borough School

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Business Members

Gale & Google – – the partnership With more than 50 million Google Apps for Education users worldwide and an average of over 40,000 Google search engine queries per second.

Google is indisputably the place where people get their answers. As the library seeks to boost their relevancy in communities, schools, and institutions, bringing trustworthy library digital content into the natural path of the student or patron has never been more important. To make it easier for people to find and use this relevant, authoritative information, Gale partnered with Google for Education in two ways: providing intuitive integration to popular workflow tools through Google Apps for Education and indexing content in Google Scholar.

This new relationship exemplifies Gale’s effort to be a leading provider of educational technology, instructional tools, and content to help our users be successful in school, work, and life.

GALE & GOOGLE APPS FOR EDUCATION As a Google for Education partner, Gale uses the most current and popular Google tools within its digital content to support students as they develop key study and organisational skills. By integrating Google Apps for Education, which encompasses Gmail, Classroom, Drive, Docs, and more, Gale helps educators improve student engagement, encourage collaboration, and foster critical thinking—from anywhere and on any device.

For select content sets, Gale digital content integrates with Google in three exciting ways: • Single sign-on: Users can now seamlessly login using Google Account credentials through the following products:

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General OneFile

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Literature Resource Center

• LitFinder

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Opposing Viewpoints in Context

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Science in Context

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Student Resources In Context

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Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL – Gale’s eBook platform)

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World History in Context

All secondary schools in New Zealand currently have access to these databases through EPIC and the Ministry of Education.

Once logged in, users can easily save, share, and download articles—including their highlights and notes—using Google Apps for Education tools like Gmail, Drive, and Docs. · Improved access: Schools and libraries can provide students with access to their In Context resources (Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Science in Context, Student Resources In Context and World History in Context) via apps available for free download through the Chrome Web Store and Google Apps for Education. Moreover, free apps for General OneFile, GVRL eBooks and PowerSearch will be available early next year.

These product apps will provide an additional access point to Gale content and make it even easier for students to access resources from their tablets and mobile devices. · Google Classroom integration: Teachers and students can seamlessly assign or turn in content from third-party websites to Google Classroom via Google’s new Classroom share button for Science in Context, Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Student Resources in Context, and World History in Context. Google Classroom integration for General OneFile, PowerSearch, and GVRL will be available early next year. Gale is the first library content and technology provider to implement this feature.

For more information on these resources and the latest upgrades please contact the Gale team: anz.gale@cengage.com.

If your school does not currently have access to EPIC, sign up now at www.epic.org.nz. www.cengage.com.au/gale

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SLANZA 2015 – SCHOOL LIBRARY ASSOCATION OF NEW ZEALAND Well, another SLANZA conference event completed to the satisfaction of all who attended.

Those involved in making this event a success should be proud of their achievements.

While it was sometimes a little difficult to actually get enough time with the delegates to discuss their shelving needs or wishes, we managed to answer some specific questions as well as making some crucial contacts.

Hydestor Manufacturing has been a proud supporter of this event, and others in the library sector, for many years. We also are proud of our continuing success throughout the library shelving industry. “Who are Hydestor Manufacturing?” and “what do they do?” – well those are very good questions and I will keep the answers as simple as possible. Hydestor (pronounced “hide store”) are one of the only New Zealand owned and made steel shelving manufacturers in New Zealand.

We pride ourselves on the fact that we not only manufacture an excellent product, we also deliver great service from the initial site visit, to quote, through to installation and after sales service. We think that one of the keys to our success within this sector is to ensure that we discuss their needs with the people who are actually going to be using the shelving system.

This ensures that we design a system which works, not just one that looks fancy but doesn’t fit the purpose.

One of the ways that we can maintain this is to produce a product that is relevant, up to date and is fully interchangeable across the library range. We also manufacture specially designed shelving for situations where the “standard’ product doesn’t quite fit, or needs to be a different profile. By being able to adapt to specific client requirements we can provide our customers with a product that works.

For all of your library shelving needs look no further, Hydestor can help you achieve your shelving goals. Hydestor love to make the shelving systems that hold your books and resources, so that you can entice your young readers to discover a world full of colour, content and excitement.

Hydestor also provide shelving systems for resource rooms, office, sports stores, science blocks to name but a few.

Check us out at www.hydestor.co.nz 100% NZ OWNED & PROUD OF IT.

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Business Members

Linked Up, Loud and Literate LAURENCE ZWIMPFER MNZM – 2020 COMMUNICATIONS TRUST “Linked Up, Loud and Literate: Libraries Enabling Digital Citizenship” was the theme for a recent one-day seminar organised by National and State Libraries Australasia and held at the National Library in Wellington. The seminar attracted top-level support from the Hon Peter Dunne, Colin McDonald as Government CIO, Bill Macnaught as National Librarian, and library leaders from the country’s largest local authorities.

What quickly became clear is that our library leaders do not need any persuading about the vitally important roles that libraries have to play in our digital world. Colin McDonald summarised his understanding of digital citizenship as “it is ultimately about trust”.

Trust is one of the four cornerstones of digital inclusion – the other three being access, skills and motivation. Elaine Ng, Chief Executive of the National Library Board in Singapore, pointed to her country’s whole-of-nation journey to put in place “the infrastructure, policies, ecosystems and capabilities to enable a Smart Nation”. In New Zealand, the government’s investment in ultrafast broadband addresses the “linked up” infrastructure dimension, especially for schools with unlimited bandwidth and internet. But as a country we still have some distance to go to adequately address the other areas, especially our digital literacy ‘capability’. Minister Dunne suggested at the seminar that this is where libraries can not only step up to the mark and provide digital literacy training but also be ‘loud’ in taking a lead in their communities. The question about “who pays?” is under discussion with Local Government NZ, said Colin McDonald.

Some public libraries are already offering the 2020 Trust’s Stepping UP and ICDL digital literacy modules; others are providing computer coding workshops for students during school holidays. But are libraries ‘loud’ enough in reaching their whole communities? For example, in 2014/15 nearly 2000 people participated in Stepping UP classes in libraries; 78% were aged over 50, with 48% being 65 or older.

Business leaders and tertiary education providers are calling for school-leavers to be digitally literate and while some are suggesting this be added to the school curriculum, we do not support this. Teachers already have enough to do with a crowded curriculum. Students do not need a full year of courses to achieve a basic level of digital literacy competency; many can achieve this in just a few hours. The 2020 Trust has been testing this idea by offering the ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence) programme (assessed at NCEA level 2 on the NZQA framework) to school leavers at some Hutt City schools. At one school 132 students sat a 45 minute diagnostic (trial) test. 113 students completed the test in the allocated time; 65 (57%) gained 80% or higher. 25 proceeded to sit the Certificate Test in the school library and 22 achieved the pass mark of 75%. The challenge now is to support the other 110 (83%) and encourage them to continue their digital literacy journey to secure the ICDL qualification. We welcome inquiries from schools seeking top-up Level 2 credits for their school-leavers (contact Karin on 0800 NZICDL or email: karin.elliott@2020.org.nz) School librarians and library support staff, we encourage you to respond to this challenge, to be ‘loud’ and help plug this gap by collaborating with careers’ advisers and help your students achieve a digital literacy qualification!

SPECIAL OFFER FOR SCHOOL LIBRARY STAFF & CAREERS’ ADVISERS We invite you to check out your own digital literacy skills using one of our ICDL diagnostic tests. Register online at http://icdl.nz/register/ and we will send you log-in details. You will need access to an online computer running Windows and MS Office.

All school library staff and careers’ advisers completing an online test by 31 January 2016 will go into a draw to win an iPad mini tablet.

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Business Members

From the Ground up – – inspiring school library evolution Softlink was excited to sponsor the SLANZA From the Ground up Conference, 2015.

The keynote presentations really emphasized the evolution of the school library and encouraged a shared passion for modern learning environments and innovative library spaces.

It is clear that the contemporary school library is becoming more than just a storage facility for books, it acts as a central hub for innovative learning practices, as a shared community space and as an interactive gallery.

The evolution of the school library to a central learning hub has been a clear message presented through the Annual Softlink School Library Survey over the past five years.

Libraries have been reinventing and rebranding themselves to meet with contemporary user needs and to further advocate for their important position within the school.

The growth of digital technologies has enabled a dynamic transformation in the way that school libraries deliver services. With the digital resources shift, libraries are now able to provide easy access to online resources such as eBooks, publication databases and video resources, extending lending and borrowing capabilities beyond the physical space in the library.

By utilising these technologies, schools are finding the physical limitations of the library lifting, with school library resources being accessed and used across the school, in classrooms and at home.

This has further facilitated the evolution of the physical space within the library, as it challenges the idea of the library as simply a storage repository for books.

As part of the 2014 Softlink Australian School Library Survey, respondents were asked to comment on ‘What exciting trends are emerging that could impact the library in the near future’. Makerspace and use of the library as a creative space featured highly in the responses.

Kay Oddone’s presentation, Beyond the Buzzword – Creating a Makerspace in Your Library provided some great examples of how school libraries can engage with these opportunities.

The growth of digital devices has further facilitated the evolution of the Library, and 24/7 access to the library catalogue.

In their presentation, ‘Moving from a traditional library to a contemporary iCentre’, Kathryn Schravemade and Helen Stower described the process of rebranding libraries to meet contemporary user needs including managing “infowhelm”.

Continual developments in technology are assisting school libraries in their rebrand from library to iCentre and to manage and curate access to growing digital content.

Softlink’s Oliver v5 allows students and staff to access the library anywhere and includes advanced functionality to help library staff manage, curate and streamline access to content.

Oliver v5 also facilitates the evolution of the library as a learning space by improving and streamlining administrative processes, providing teacher librarians and library staff with more time to focus on students, learning and curriculum integration.

To find out more, or speak to a Softlink representative email info@softlinkint.com or phone 09 415 7790 or toll free 0800 476 385.

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SLANZA Study Grant DEBORAH WING – MACLEANS COLLEGE At the end of 2014 I was awarded a SLANZA study grant.

Over the last three years I had been steadily working my way through a Level 5 Diploma in Library and Information Studies with the Open Polytechnic. The $600 grant was much needed and appreciated.

As a result of this grant I was able to complete my Diploma and now I am waiting for my final results and the official documentation showing my library qualification.

I sincerely recommend applying for any future SLANZA study grants to either begin a qualification or to simply complete a professional qualification.

Deborah Wing, Library Assistant, Macleans College

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Contains Graphic Content DELILAH DIRK AND THE TURKISH LIEUTENANT – TONY CLIFF PUBLISHER: FIRST SECOND; SECOND PRINTING EDITION (AUGUST 27, 2013) // ISBN-13: 978-1596438132 With a “Mills and Boon” title like that, I was initially reluctant to read this, but one glimpse of Tony Cliff’s spectacular art and I was sold.

punished, but Delilah Dirk on her rampage through the castle frees him, because as she later states, “you make the finest tea in all of Europe.”

The story turns any connotations the title might have on its head. A fabulous adventure story with plucky protagonists, a delightful sense of humour and a gentle style of story-telling all combine to make this a great read.

Fleeing in her airship, they go on to encounter various foes and adventures.

Although all the while Selim seems to regret teaming up with Delilah, he eventually realises after they part that he really enjoyed the life and her friendship, and sets off to Europe to find her.

The story starts out in Constantinople in 1807. Lieutenant Selim is a janissary (a soldier of the Ottoman Empire) in the Constantinople court. Poorly paid, and not a natural soldier, he yearns for the quiet life, drinking delicious tea and thinking over the world’s great problems. This quiet life is about to end, because of a prisoner in the dungeons – Delilah Dirk.

Dirk is a lone female adventurer, who has travelled the world from an early age supported by her indulgent parents. She travels the world by balloon. She has learnt the fighting arts, studied the great works of literature and history, gone on scientific adventures and has visited and been welcomed at all the courts of Europe.

Selim is sent to interrogate her, and she tells him of her past over tea and biscuits. Not the most typical, or rigorous interrogation!

He is surprised and not a little intrigued by this particular adventurer. She tells him of the battles she has had and the obstacles she has overcome. She is “the master of forty seven different sword fighting techniques which she has used on different occasions, to defeat twenty-nine Sikh warriors, thirty two – conquistadores, fifty – one aboriginal Australian warriors, a small pride of lions, and one very large Mongolian man with a large sword, a small brain, and a bad temper”.

To make matters worse for Selim, the idea of a woman warrior and especially one who can fly is lost on his superiors. And to make things worse still she has the audacity to escape. For his lenient treatment, he is to be

a fun, effervescent journey with two fascinating characters by a talented comics creator. I’m pleased to report that the next volume will be published in 2016. The beginning of the second story is currently being serialised on line at http://www.delilahdirk.com/ Recommended for readers from age 12 – 90, who love adventure and humour.

Both Selim and Delilah are both fully realised characters, shown by his introspection, and her outgoing and assertive manner and her joy in the adventurer’s life. An adventurer’s life is hard and she has made enemies all over the world. A brief spell in disguise is ruined by an old enemy (“I think I may have sworded his brother”). Selim and Delilah are often pursued but Delilah is brave and upbeat and Selim is often called on to help her.

He grows as a character, showing his own courage and intelligence in his journeys with her, and on his lone journey to find her.

He makes Delilah realise the consequences of her actions and she brings out the adventurer within him.

As the story closes they set out as travelling companions to see the world.

Cliff has a great sense of humour and his portrayals of both Delilah and Selim are both funny and engaging. Their semisquabbling relationship, Delilah’s heedless actions and Selim’s dry observations all make the characters extremely well drawn.

Artistically the book is a delight. The style is rich and cartoony, with some nicely realised character drawing but the style also manages to be realistic enough to convey all the violent action that an adventurer like Delilah excels at. The colouring is soft and rich with subdued tones, and this complements the story.

I have to say that this is one of the best graphic novels I have read this year. It’s

Collected Magazine // www.slanza.org.nz

Delilah and Selim escape

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GREEN LANTERN VOL 4 – BY ROBERT VENDITTI, BILLY TAN DC COMICS // ISBN-13: 978-1401249427 The drawback of many modern mainstream comics is that you have to ”drink the koolaid” – not just buy into the whole superhero idea, but also the convoluted continuity that has built up around these characters. Even with regular reboots and new reader friendly initiatives, characters still carry a lot of continuity baggage.

What’s a Green Lantern you say? He’s a superhero given a weapon of great power by the Guardians of the Universe. The guardians are blue, big headed alien guys who look after the more vulnerable races on their way to cosmic consciousness. The weapon is a ring, which he charges from a lantern that exists to power it, which can be used to do almost anything, hence the name. He uses this to protect and aid others.

Not really a new concept. It is probably derived from E E Doc Smith’s “Lensman” series of novels from the 1940s.

The feature has been around since 1940 but was revamped in 1959. Many science fiction writers, such as Alfred Bester, Leigh Brackett and John Broome cut their writing teeth on early comic books. Green Lantern has been handled by a huge variety of writers and artists.

The story picks up after a long series of cosmic events. There are now nine different colours of the lanterns drawing their strength from the emotional colour spectrum. i.e green – consciousness of fear, purple – consciousness of love, orange for greed etc. However, a creature from a previous version of our reality believed using the power of this spectrum destroyed his reality, and works against the Lanterns to destroy their power to prevent the death of this reality.

This leads to the Lanterns wanting to stop him and they band together to resist his power, eventually defeating him, but not without cost. The now decimated Lanterns

must rethink their role in the cosmos.

Whew!

These are basically six issues of the continuing Green Lantern comic book series. The story starts without providing back story and has one climax or cliff hanger per 20 page episode and a resolution that sets the ground for the next story line. The comic companies enjoy the idea of six to eight issue story arcs, as that conveniently provides enough material for book publication.

As a new reader, I would probably find it hard to figure out what’s going on, however, the publishers rub their hands when new readers come aboard. They can catch up by buying volumes 1 – 3 as trade paperbacks or as downloadable eBooks As a casual reader I might able to pick up the broad gist of the story and enjoy the heroic flawed characters of the heroes, the misguided villain and the big explosive space action.

And that’s the point, it is action and adventure in its most basic form and has all the strengths and weaknesses that implies.

Thin unrealised heroic characters, big nebulous ideas as plot, cliff hangers, action and wish fulfilment all contribute to the appeal of these stories.

The art by Billy Tan is suitably heroic, and stylised action is the norm. He deals with the cosmic action and the outer space setting well. He creates imaginative visual landscapes, planets and aliens, and this all adds to the comic visual appeal.

A reasonably entertaining story binds it all together. Recommended for adventure fans aged 10 – 16.

Reviewed by Greig Daniels, Tokomairiro High School

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Book Reviews THE BOLD SHIP PHENOMENAL – BY SARAH JOHNSON AND DEBORAH HINDE (ILLUSTRATOR) Reviewed by Bridget Schaumann, King’s High School, Dunedin A rollicking adventure for middle school and junior secondary readers, this great big bold book is one that any fan of action stories would relate to. Malachi is bored and fed up with his life. Dad is always putting off the exciting plans they make because he is too busy and still upset at the death of Malachi’s mum from cancer. Malachi misses his mum too, but longs for a bit of excitement in his life. As for school, his enthusiastic teacher is obsessed with science and can’t understand why Malachi isn’t. Friends are few and he is picked on by the gang of tough kids. When he comes across a ship in a bottle on the beach everything changes. There seems to be something mysterious happening inside the bottle, things seem to change when he takes his eyes off it. The ship even seems to move by itself! Malachi comes to realise that the

pirate ship inside the bottle is alive and that real life drama is happening inside which includes smugglers, really bad enemy pirates and action aplenty!

Along with the story which is unfolding inside the bottle, Malachi is also caught up in a quest for excitement which will see him hitch a ride in the back of a truck and head right into danger and ultimately face the forces of the law!

This is a really good read and would be a great book for a teacher to read to a class and an excellent addition to all libraries.

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Region News TE TAI TOKERAU

have common understanding of the key stages, languages used and skills required for successful research as they transition from primary to intermediate to secondary school.

Events for 2015.

Paula Green, NZ Poet, Wednesday and Thursday, 22-23 July, 4-5pm.

Week 1. Paula was visiting Northland schools through the NZ Book Council. Paula took two after-school sessions for SLANZA, one event at Manaia View School in Whangarei, the other at Oromahoe School, Mid North. Both were very well attended, 20+ people, predominantly teachers. Great sessions.

Kerikeri Storylines Family Day, Saturday 29 September, 10am-2pm.

Week 6. This wasn’t strictly a SLANZA event but five out of the seven Storylines committee members were also SLANZA committee members. This huge literacy event was run by Jeannie Skinner. After months of planning, we had between 1,500-2,000 attend – very successful day.

Our Term Three event was our AGM where we were lucky to have Elaine Smith of Tawa College step onto the committee and we bid farewell to Robbie Wathne. We thanked her for her great service over the years. Then we had a wonderful book talk presented to us

by John and Ruth McIntyre of the Wellington Children’s Bookshop.

There are so many fantastic books out there.

Our last event this year will be our farewell to Sue Esterman of Scots’ College, and Life Membership presentation to Barbara Murison.

Followed by our Xmas quiz with prizes.

Happy Holidays.

Karen Clarke. Wellington Representative to the SLANZA National Executive

Week 9. Book Talks and Digital Tools for Content Curation, Thursday 17 September, 3:45-5:15pm. Kamo High School, Whangarei. Sadly, this event was cancelled due to lack of registrations.

Julia Smith, Te Tai Tokerau Representative to the SLANZA National Executive

WELLINGTON It has been a busy year for the Wellington Region. We started the year with the National Library meetings regarding the changes to Services to Schools. We managed to hold meetings around the region. Our next PD event was at Wellington Girls College in June, where the Wellington region gathered for their annual Professional Development Day. The first session was presented by Tim Parkin, a Massey University lecturer of Design. Tim talked about the work that has emerged from their senior design student’s exploration regarding the topic ‘Exploring the library of the future”. The insights we learnt suggest the library has immense relevance in the 21st century and an exciting future beyond its role as a repository.

The second session was presented by Karen Clarke – Library Manager St. Patrick’s College and Clare Forrest – Library Manager at Raroa Intermediate. They presented on using Google apps in your library.

The full range of apps was explored and shown to the attendees.

The final session of the day was presented by Colleen Shipley, Library Manager of Marlborough Girls College. Colleen talked about the Marlborough Inquiry that she put together between two high schools, an intermediate and a primary school in Blenheim. The aim was to collaboratively develop a research/inquiry process so that students

Wellington SLANZA members happy at our PD events

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CENTRAL

OTAGO

Tēnā koutou

Our current membership is 33

Central Region’s numbers have grown to fifty six this year – up five from the end of 2014. We are also very pleased to welcome two new members to our committee in Term 3, bringing our number to eight – Maree Paterson of Reignier School, Napier and Steph Gibbons of New Plymouth Boy’s High School. Miriam Tuohy stepped into the SLANZA Presidential role in July and there was an official hand-over from Past President Bridget Schaumann during our SLANZA 2015 Conference in the lovely city of Christchurch.

OTAGO COMMITTEE OFFICE HOLDERS:

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OFFICE HOLDERS:

We had seven members attend conference. The Otago region added to our sponsorship from Book Protection Products to provide a conference grant to Lynn Vare and a second grant that was shared between Jan Simpson and Carole Gardiner. Also attending were Greig Daniels, Bridget Schaumann, Sue Ikin and Tina Watson.

SLANZA President: Miriam Tuohy, Palmerston North Girl’s High Chairperson: Sandi Faulconbridge, Taradale Primary School Secretary: Karen Carswell, Woodford House Treasurer: Sasha Eastwood-Bennitt, Manchester Street School National Executive Representative: Sandi Faulconbridge, Taradale Primary School Steph Ellis, Napier Boy’s High School Judine Knowles, Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School Maree Paterson, Reignier School Steph Gibbons, New Plymouth Boy’s High School Being a large region, one of our aims is to provide Professional Development in various areas across the region to better provide for our membership base. PD was usually held in Palmerston North as this is the most central area of the region. Last year we held workshops in Napier and Whanganui.

During Term One this year we had a “Creative Commons and Referencing Workshop” in Napier which was well attended by both library staff and teachers. Term Two’s event was the ever popular publishers evening hosted by Paper Plus, Palmerston North. This was a great chance for networking and attendees went home with a number of free books. Term Three was our AGM event held in Palmerston North. We had a “ Stocktaking Tips” presentation followed by a lively discussion and also held a hands-on Reporting workshop using Easel.ly. Our AGM quorum of 10% was reached.

Chair: Jan Simpson Secretary: Carole Gardiner Treasurer: Jane Smallfield National Executive Representative: Greig Daniels Committee: Pam Garry, Jayne Downes, Bridget Schaumann, Lynn Vare

Our formal meeting for Term Four was on the 12th of November and conference attendees reported back on the workshops that they had attended. There was some really interesting feedback and discussion.

We also presented Krystene Todd with her SLANZA Award for the Promotion of Literacy and Enjoyment of Reading.

Linda Sizemore also showed us how to make books into Christmas trees. These will be terrific display items for our libraries.

We had the best attendance for a meeting this year with 20 people coming along, including two new prospective members. Lynn Vare hosted in her marvellous library at Otago Boy’s High School. She was a great hostess and thanks to her and the committee for the organisation.

Our last events for the year will be Christmas functions. We will be visiting Tina Watson’s new library at Taieri College on December 1.

There will also be an end of the year dinner at Etrusco’s on December 16.

Happy holidays Greig Daniels, Otago Representative to the SLANZA National Executive

Term Four PD was a fantastic Archives workshop organised and hosted by Steph Gibbons in New Plymouth.

SLANZA 2015 Conference ‘From the Ground Up’ was a fantastic event with lots of amazing workshops, keynote presenters and opportunities to network. We had about thirteen of our Central Region members attend which was awesome given that conference was in Christchurch. Our Conference grant recipient was Vicki Clarke of William Colenso College and we are pleased that we were able to assist her in attending this event. We look forward to hearing about Vicki’s conference experience and the feedback from others who also attended.

Your Central Region committee would like to wish all members a safe and Merry Christmas and hope that your Term Four has not been too crazy.

Noho ora mai. Ka kite ano.

Sandi Faulconbridge, Central Region Representative to the SLANZA National Executive

Otago Conference attendees: (left to right) Tina Watson, Carole Gardiner, Greig Daniels, Jan Simpson, Bridget Schaumann, Lynn Vare. Absent Sue Ikin

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AUCKLAND

SOUTHLAND

Over 40 Auckland school librarians gathered together at Kelston Boys High School on Saturday 31 October to hear 5 speakers who presented at the 2015 SLANZA Conference repeat their workshops.

With the 2015 Christchurch SLANZA Conference fresh in our minds, the Southland SLANZA members met to share resources, ideas and inspirations.

Before they began Kerry Bax and Christine Hurst, who were both sponsored by SLANZA Auckland to attend the conference, eagerly reported back on the highlights of their first conference (see Christine’s report in this issue of Collected). These included digital technology, library promotion, eBooks, sharing ideas and making new contacts.

Jay Shaw from Central Southland College was the deserved recipient of Southland’s Conference grant for this year. Jay presented on the workshops and keynotes she had attended. Lisa and Suzanne and I were also able to add our ‘takeaways’ from Conference. This was a valuable session for everyone whether they went to conference or not.

Jeannie Skinner (National Library Advisor for Te Tai Tokerau), communicating her ideas on Modern Library Learning Environments, led the first session. She discussed the focus of seeing the current school library through different eyes, to identify the users, their experience in using the library and their requirements. Users need to make a connection with the collection, which can be achieved through genrefication, making resources easy to find for students.

Other easy steps to take include branding to make series or authors stand out to students, using bright and distinct labeling, shelving by genre to make book selection and shelving easier, as well as intershelving resources of different formats. Jeannie stressed this concept of modernizing library learning environments is NOT about ditching Dewey, but making collections of categories more easily accessible to students by grouping them together in one area of the library. It requires a lot of planning and work but is worthwhile if students find this a simpler method to find and use library resources.

Attendees were then given the choice of four different workshop sessions. These were: Alison Hewett (Kristin School) recounting her school’s journey to blend digital content into the school library collection, the platforms she used and the process she followed for a successful outcome.

Megan Davidson’s (Westlake Girls High) talk on Engaging Book Talks gave us an insight into how to begin book talks, some of the nuts and bolts of making it happen and the value of book talks to the library. Pam Lilley said “I haven’t ever attempted book talks but after listening to Megan Davidson, and her colleague Paula Walters, from Westlake Girls I am going to give it a go. The ability to get twenty books in front of a class and then have the students compete to take them out – awesome.” See this YouTube video https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=IrT99inq3A4 Trish Webster (Rangitoto College) showed how easy it is to make promotional and informative library videos, using http://www. powtoon.com Trish gave many tips on making a quick video, used ideas from her own library, and demonstrated excellent examples of her own students’ videos.

Tracy Westall (Diocesan School for Girls) showed us how to create a library website. Tracy talked about her journey to create the website (which had to be a Google site) and showed us the finished product.

An amazing amount of work went into the website and there must have been an incredible learning curve. The end product was worth all the effort. Tracy has linked her students to so much information and has been able to create a website to enhance her students learning with links to resources and the research process, as well as a Teachers page, and a page for booking library sessions.

It is exciting to see our plans coming together for the Summer Reading collaboration with the region’s public libraries. There are currently 2000 bags in our storeroom waiting to be filled with books for students to take home and read over the holidays. We are having a Summer Reading launch party in a couple of weeks where we can stuff our bags with goodies for the students. We are also making candy cane reindeer to give away.

Happy and safe holidays everyone!

Kirsty Adam, Southland Representative to the SLANZA National Executive

WAIKATO / BAY OF PLENTY It is the last term of the year and it is a busy term. The SLANZA 2015 Conference kicked things off in the first week of the school holidays.

It was a great conference and several members from Waikato / Bay of Plenty presented workshops. Well done Michelle, Gerri and Sue. Sue Jamieson, who was the sponsorship recipient, presented her report at the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Region Committee Meeting which was held on the 8th of November.

End of year Auckland Library Tours. Thanks to Vicki, Glenys and Michelle for all the effort and organisation of such an ambitious undertaking. Thank you to all the librarians and schools for hosting us. Both were popular and well worth attending. ideas, philosophies and strategies were provided. Connections were made and relationships strengthened. There was a lot of positive feedback.

Michelle Simms is resigning from the committee as from the end of this year. Thank you Michelle for all your dedication, hard work and commitment. I am sure we will see you at future SLANZA events.

There will be a pot-luck BBQ on December 5th. All SLANZA members are invited. This is also a good opportunity for people to report back on the tours to Auckland and the conference.

Presentation of SLANZA Awards were made to Vicki Signal for SLANZA Award of Merit for Promotion and to Ann Murphy for Promotion of Literacy and Enjoyment of Reading. Vicki was also acknowledged at her school with a morning tea and at the end of year assembly.

Membership: 89 members Nick Vincent, Waikato/Bay of Plenty Representative to the SLANZA National Executive

All sessions were engaging, informative and well attended, capturing our attention and providing us with thoughtful ideas to take away.

Jan Kean, Auckland Region

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WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN SLANZA The benefits of membership include: Connection and networking with other school library staff locally Discounted conference and professional development registrations SLANZA is committed to providing quality professional development opportunities to its members, and we are very grateful for the ongoing sponsorship of professional development provided by Book Protection Products. This sponsorship is invaluable and greatly appreciated by the National Executive as it significantly broadens options for regional committees. The funding provided by Warick Ashton and his team goes to the regional committees so they can organise professional development sessions that will fulfill your personal learning needs. Please continue to support Book Protection Products as they are SLANZA’s major sponsor, and if you have an idea or topic for professional development in your area, let your committee know!

BUSINESS MEMBERSHIP

Support for school libraries at a national level Opportunities to gain skills and professional development from people who do what you do Opportunity to apply for the SLANZA awards Opportunity to apply for study grant assistance with library–related studies Permission to use the cover images of publications of major publishing houses Access to the LIANZA professional registration scheme

NEWS + CONTACT

Business members support the work of SLANZA. Current members are:

If you’re not sure who does what or who can help you, check out our Contact page on our website. It links to all region representatives.

Premier Professional Development sponsor – Book Protection Products

Follow our blog for up to date information

Top Shelf Members – Hydestor Manufacturing Ltd, Kowhai Media (NZ Geographic and Mana), 2020 Communications Trust, Softlink Pacific, Syba Signs

Like our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter

Circulator Members – Library Plus Echelon Productions Reserved Member – Cengage Periodical Members – Antac Open Source Solutions E–Learning for Business and Education

Collected Magazine // www.slanza.org.nz