Christmas Cheer - Joint Te Upoko/SLIS Christmas Dinner!

Mark your diaries now!

Come and join us for an early festive dinner at Keenan's Bar, 132 Lambton Quay, Wednesday 8 December from 5.30 onwards.
Map: http://bit.ly/aL3crk

*Bring along a Christmas decoration - feel free to unleash your creative energy!*

This year we're combining our festivities so please see below :
5.30: Drinks and nibbles in the main bar
6 - 6.30: SLIS AGM downstairs - SLIS members only
7pm: Dinner downstairs

Bar tab and nibbles provided

Investment : $20 for main course and dessert

Please RSVP to Merryn Hedley : merryn.hedley@xtra.co.nz by 24 November.
Please indicate what you plan to attend:
1. Drinks/nibbles,
2. SLIS AGM, and/or
3. Dinner.

Minutes of Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui regional AGM 2010

Kia ora koutou


With our second online AGM having been completed a week ago (I do apologise for the lateness in having the minutes and results out), I can say I think we're getting better at it.  I have noted that something we should really try explaining better is the legal jargon we use, for example, when to use the "abstain" response.  Anyhoooo, here they are:


~~~~~~~~~~


Minutes for the Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui regional AGM 2010:


Meeting opened online at 14:56pm Thursday 30th September.


Attendees: Claire Benson, Laurinda Thomas, Anne Anderson, Linda Hall, Tom Avery, Pauline La Rooy, Amanda Cossham, Kareen Carter, Julian Sutherland, Debbie Burgoyne, Charlotte Clements, Janet Upton, Kathleen Ann Reweti, Sylvia Kaa, Cherie Shum, John Hayden Stears, Carolyn Lyon, Jessie Moir, Jan McCarthy, Rachael Asi, Debbie Duncan, Janet McFadden, Gillian Ralph, Nola Millar Library, the American Reference Centre - US Embassy, the National Library, Scotts College, plus 4 others




Minutes of Previous AGM: - Do you accept the minutes of the previous year's AGM as a true and accurate record? Moved: Laurinda, Seconded: Hana = carried

• N/A Did not participate last year 68.6% (24/35)  
• Yes 31.4% (11//35) 
• No 0% (0)

Matters arising: No matters arising


Financial report for 2009/2010 activities: - Do you accept the Treasurers (financial) report for the previous year's activities? Moved: Charlotte, Seconded: Paddy = carried

• 100% accepted by attendees

Annual Report for 2009/2010 activities: - Do you accept the annual report for the previous year's activities?  Moved: Paddy, Seconded: Laurinda = carried

• 100% accepted by attendees

Election of committee members:
All nominees were successfully elected.

Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui regional LIANZA committee for 2010/2011:

Trish Beamsley (Te Rōpu Whakahau representative)

Gabrielle Hikaka (Te Rōpu Whakahau representative)

Laurinda Thomas - Regional Councillor

Hana Whaanga

Charlotte Clements

Tom Avery

Cherie Shum

Helen Naismith

Kathryn Oxborrow

Feedback from Question: "What events or speakers would you like to see, hear, or meet in the region?:

• Good question. Some more Hutt Valley events would be great. I'll need to think about this more
• Quiz night. Would be keen for another sesion on copyright and DRM
• events in the Hutt please.
  political discussion about real questions in the profession e.g. "value of being RLIANZA, versus qualifications". MIS vs teaching qual, teacher/librarianship. 
  a partnered event with SLANZA would be nice
• Maori
• Possible election themed meeting at the end of the year

Further comments:

• Really enjoyed LIANZA b'day at Film archive and Meet the Leaders keep it up
• Thank you very much to all the committee members for October 2009 - October 2010 for their work for us over the year. Much appreciated.
  

Sadly, we do farewell Paddy Plunket and Anne Thompson at this point in the minutes of the AGM.  We wish Paddy and Anne all the best and hope to continue to see them in the library and information management community.


Thank you to all attendees and visitors of our AGM.  And congratulations and a big huge welcome and thank you to the new standing committee members, Tom, Cherie, Helen and Kathryn!




Kia ora.


Hana

2010 AGM

The AGM for Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui is again being held online this year.

*yaaaaaay* I hear you say!

A new page on this blog has been added where all the relevant documents will be available to view and a link to the voting machine (known as SurveyMonkey) will be. On this new page, 2010 AGM, you will be able to:

• Remind yourself who the committee members are
• Participate in the online AGM and vote in the committee members
• Read the chair's (Paddy Plunket's) annual report for 2009/2010 activites
• Read the minutes of the previous year's AGM
• View Anne's financial report
• Tell us your thoughts (by commenting on this post, raising an issue in the voting procedure, e-mailing us individually and/or messaging us on Twitter)

Voting and discussion open from:

Thursday 30 September 2010 -- Friday 15 October 2010

Skip to vote now





We invite all members to participate in voting and discussions on the best way for Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui to promote and support the development of information professionals, knowledge transfer and information services in the region.

We would like to encourage and invite all and sundry (LIANZA members mainly) across the region to participate in this year's AGM.

Thanks so much!
Hana Whaanga (for Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui LIANZA)

Committee member profile's for 2010

Kia ora koutou


Well, another AGM is looming in front of us, and it is with great regret that we farewell two long-standing committee members from Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui; Paddy Plunket, and Anne Thompson.  Paddy and Anne have both been involved with the committee for a number of years and their energy, efforts, advice, conversation, opinion, organising skills and leadership, will be sorely missed by those that remain.


The committee members for October 2009 - October 2010 were:

• Paddy Plunket (outgoing chair)
• Laurinda Thomas (Regional councillor, continuing)
• Anne Thompson (treasurer)
• Gabrielle Hikaka (Te Rōpu Whakahau representative)
• Trish Beamsley (Te Rōpu Whakahau representative)
• Charlotte Clements
• Timothy Greig
• Hana Whaanga

It is with great pleasure that I can introduce FOUR new committee sprockets that have put up their hands to be voted onto the committee for this year's AGM.  Please put your hands together for....

Cherie Shum  

I have been working in libraries for about 10 years, starting with a small school library and then a large public library.  I am currently the Collection Development Acquisitions team leader at the National Library.

I am a registered librarian, graduate of the Aurora Leadership Seminar, a LIANZA mentor and an Associate member of LIANZA.

Tom Avery
I've been engrossed in the world of libraries and LIANZA since 2001. While working in public and academic libraries and studying for library qualifications, I've got to attend lots of great LIANZA events including conference, but also regional events and talks by international speakers. I'm nearing the end of my course and would like to put more into the LIANZA and library communities and make our community buzz. My latest role is in library systems so I'm naturally interested in gadgets and technology, but really I'm interested in how libraries can add value to their customers with these tools. Catch up with me on my blog or on twitter @wifilibrarian.

Kathryn Oxborrow
Hi, I’m Kathryn and I’m from the South Coast of the UK.  I started my library journey as a Library Assistant at Reading University Library and then I did my MA Librarianship at Sheffield University.  For the past nine months I’ve been working at the UK Department of Health as an Assistant Librarian, with involvement mainly with cataloguing and customer services. I’m about to start work at the National Library of New Zealand working as a Collection Management Librarian in the Legal Deposit team.  I’m very excited to get       involved with NZ librarianship.

and
Helen Naismith
My name is Helen Naismith and I have been working in the library profession for 33 years. I started as a young shelver at the Wainuiomata Public Library at the age of 16 then worked my way through several job changes to become a Cluster Manager here at the War Memorial Library today.


My experience is vast and varied having spent many years as a children's and young persons librarian, then in a more senior management role. I completed the NZLA Certificate and was in the very last intake of students doing this course through the Teacher's College in Wellington.


I have almost completed the MLIS papers and have a Diploma in Business from the Open Polytechnic. My interests are reading, dancing, jewellery making, gardening and swimming. I love working in the customer service area and am passionate about libraries, literature and information management.
I would consider it an honour to be part of the LIANZA committee and look forward to meeting everyone and working hard on the behalf of this fine committee.


regards Helen Naismith.

------------------

If you'd like to view the current committee's profiles, who are re-standing (Hana and Charlotte) or hold positions that don't need to be voted for (Laurinda - Regional Councillor, Trish and Gabrielle TRW Representatives), then you can view those here in last years profiles.  


They are last years, so just pretend that we're a little older and a little wiser now and have more strings to our respective bows.


UPDATE
Laurinda thought she'd update hers...


Kia Ora! I’ve been working in the library and information sector since 1998, starting off as a Library Assistant at Massey, then an Assistant Librarian at VUW, before tracking off an on OE to the UK, and working as Consultant for a Library Software company. Coming back to NZ in 2008, I took a role as a Knowledge Analyst, and am now Acting Director of Knowledge Management at the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (soon to be the Ministry of Science and Innovation).


I joined the Te Upoko regional committee in 2002, and served as secretary from 2003-4. I rejoined the committee in 2009, and the 2009/10 year was my first as the LIANZA Regional Councillor for Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui. I'm now into the second year, and it's proving to be a great experience (see my report for the last year here http://wellingtonregionlianza.blogspot.com/2010/09/councillors-report-200910.html)


In my spare time, I love to poke around in bookshops, and am a big fan of the F1.

Join the Te Upoko region on the LIANZA website and win!

Earlier this year, LIANZA launched it's new website. After a few early technical problems, we've sorted out the major glitches and are making progress on getting the site into great shape for our members (see WAG for more information on this).

We want to make the new site a great place to go with an active community. To do so, we'd like to encourage you all to sign up to the website, and join the Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui group on the Communities page. We've noticed that lots of people have listed the region on their personal profile, but not joined the Te Upoko community group. Our aim is to have all our regional communications going through the website, so we'd like to get as many of you signed up as possible!

As an added incentive, we have $30 book vouchers for two people who join up to the Te Upoko community group between now and Friday 1 October - that's just over 1 week away! We'll randomly draw names from all the new people that join up. It only takes a couple of minutes to do so (instructions below).

We will contact the lucky winners personally, and post the results on the LIANZA website.

Good luck!

To create a new account:

1. Go to http://www.lianza.org.nz
2. Click on 'sign up' in the top right
3. Fill in your details, including selecting 'Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui' as your region. Remember, if you make your profile 'private' we can't count you!
4. Go to your email, and click on the link to complete your registration.

Once you have your account, join the Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Group:

1. Click on the 'community' tab
2. Click on 'Find Groups'
3. Scroll down to 'Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui' and click on 'Request Membership'
4. Click 'join'. You should now see 'Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui' listed under "My groups" on the left-hand side.

Councillor's Report 2009/10

When I joined the LIANZA National Council last year, we set two strategic priorities - Communication and Advocacy. My first year as the Te Upoko o te Ika Councillor has been focussed on the first of these, particularly in getting out into the wider Wellington region to see library and information staff. As an Association, we haven't always done well at communicating all of the activities that we get up to, and yet we do so much. In going out to the region, I wanted to both let people know what we were doing and find out what members wanted us to do on a local level.

Over the first year, I visited the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Whitireia, Paraparaumu, Otaki and Waikanae libraries, as well as a couple of trips across to the Wairarapa to see librarians from across the district. In all my visits, I was heartened by the amount of goodwill that there was, and their interest in what LIANZA was doing.

While on these visits, I talked about having different areas of the region running their own events with LIANZA Te Upoko support. The philosophy of the current regional committee has very much been that we receive a capitation for all of our regional members, and we want them all to have the benefit of that money. There is a lot of knowledge waiting to be shared in the regional communities, and we want to enable that. Partly, this is pragmatic - we are not an association (or a profession) with scads of cash, so we must group together and learn from each other where that knowledge exists. Also, we are largely an association of volunteers, and as such we all have a limited amount of time and energy. In other words, in learning from each other, we make the most of the association that we're part of.

The Wairarapa group has been proactive in making this happen. They approached the regional committee about forming a 'sub-group' based on geography, in recognition of that need to get together as a group and develop professionally. They're now planning a weekend school for the region next year, and looking forward to the opportunity to both bring great speakers into their area, and showcasing all the best things about the Wairarapa to others.

Over the past year, I've seen the Association involved in a huge amount of "business as usual" including Professional Registration, Conference, Library Week, the LIANZA Children's Book Awards, Press Releases, calls for awards and committees (and facilitating those committees), and CPD as well as submissions on copyright, the Super City and National Archives. Then there are the one-off aspects such as the Centenary publication and events, MOUs with affiliated organisations, and the new Website.

Perhaps the biggest lesson for me as part of the National Council, is how much LIANZA manages to do with so little money, but with so much goodwill from those people who put in their time. During the early part of this year, I initiated a proposal to introduce a volunteer award, which I hope will be introduced next year. My hope is that we can recognise this work, and highlight to people that being a volunteer is rewarding personally and professionally.

In the coming year I hope to continue to visit libraries, particularly to talk about LIANZA's new strategic plan. In our more fiscally constrained times, it's essential that we identify what the most important things are for the profession and concentrate on achieving them, rather than spreading our resources too thinly over a large number of areas. I do think it represents a change for the association, but a positive one and a big step forward that I hope we can all embrace.

Best wishes,
Laurinda

Laurinda Thomas ALIANZA, RLIANZA
Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Regional Councillor

Annual report 2010

LIANZA
The committee directions for this year were workshopped at the beginning of the year by the committee and activities for 2010 were organised around the focus of career planning and development, retirement planning and fun. 
These included:
*Professor Rowena Cullen's inaugural lecture: 'Why IT Matters: Your health and the public health'
*Guest appearances and sponsorship of a VUW Library studies orientation event
*Using Twitter for Librarians workshop
*A great Xmas dinner at Flying Burrito Brothers attended by 22 members
*8 weeks to Associateship
*BOK seminar
*Centenary Gala Event president present speeches, photos, cake and a showing of Aunt Daisy and the Dancing Cossacks at the NZ Film Archive.
*Meet the Leaders - a speed dating / knowledge workshop format
*Heidi Julien seminar on information literacy research and practice

A coaching/mentoring workshop is planned for October.

We are particularly happy to have supported the formation of a regional group in the Wairarapa with Sandy Green initiating the group. Laurinda visited and Sandy has brought groups over to regional events held in Wellington.

The Committee sadly farewells two pivotal members; Anne Thompson, who has been treasurer for five years or more, and Paddy Plunket who was the regional councillor and has spent the past year in the role of chair.
Laurinda, Charlotte and Hana are returning and Tom Avery is standing for election for the first time.
New committee members are always welcome and thanks to TRW reps Gab and Trish for their ongoing involvement in all events and committee work.

Gig review: Information Literacy with Heidi Julien

It's very very fortunate that we were able to arrange an evening seminar and discussion on Information Literacy with Heidi Julien on Wednesday evening.  Much appreciation and thanks must go to Philip Calvert, Dan Dorner, Timothy and anyone and everyone else in the SIM faculty and community who organised for Heidi to talk with us.

To my recollection, I've never attended a discussion on information literacy with a scholar before, and not to my surprise I found Heidi's discussion quite accessible.

Questions raised afterwards when discussion was opened, were very realistic questions, from the practitioners themselves, such as this bit of reality from a librarian at Victoria University,

"Can we call it something else?" [to lure them in] 

(verifying this for accuracy when Twitter is back up)


A great time was had by all, I'm sure.  And I managed to snaffle a colleague at my workplace away from apathy to make the venture into town with me!  Also, I finally met Tom Avery face to face, whom I've been communicating with on the Twitterverse, which was cool.  And of course, lots of networking was had by all.

I must mention that Tom raised a good question in his tweet:

"Is information literacy a social construct?"

(verifying this for accuracy when Twitter is back up)


A valid point that was seconded by others listening in.

One overriding and pertinent question Heidi posed to the group (of 35+) regarded the difference between scholarship in informaiton literacy and what practitioners are wanting out of the research.  Is the information researched usable?  Or is the gap between scholars and practitioners too big?

What are your thoughts?  Tell us what you think

Gig review: Meet the Leaders

Kia ora koutou!

Dude! I should've posted this a while ago, but here 'tis:

A big thank you to all involved - invited and attendees at the Meet the Leaders event on Friday evening.  It was awesome and with thanks to Ross Becker we have some fantastic photos of the event.

Chris Szekely, Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library

Sue Sutherland Deputy Chief Executive, National Library and Acting Director, National Digital Library

Mark Crookston, Senior Advisor, Appraisal, Archives New Zealand and Secretary, Wellington Branch Archives and Records Association of New Zealand

Anahera Mōrehu  Kaiwhakahaere Māori me Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa (Manager Māori and Pasifika Services), University of Auckland and Incoming Tumuaki, Te Ropu Whakahau

Gabrielle and I took part too...

while Laurinda was the bell-ringer looking on...

A great night was had by all.  Thank you to Gabrielle Hikaka and TPK for the venue and fellow committee members principally responsible for putting this together and holding it together on the night - Laurinda :)

Here's to a roadshow of this around the regions!

Peace out

Meet the Leaders

Kia ora koutou!


We have an exciting opportunity coming up for you to "meet the leaders" in the Wellington library and information management field.  Ever wondered how Chris Szekely got the top job of Chief Librarian of the Turnbull?  Or what Jane Hill is going to attack first in her role as incoming LIANZA president?

This is your chance to meet and ask questions of some of the leading names in the sector, all in one convenient location.

How does it work?

In order to meet all our leaders, the evening will run to a "speed-dating" format in small groups. Each leader will chat with 3-4 people at a time. When the bell goes (every 6-8 minutes), you move along! Have questions for our leaders? Bring them along. Feeling tongue-tied? Not to worry, we'll supply some starter questions for you. And be prepared for the leaders to ask you questions as well!

When is it?

Friday 2 July, 5.30pm for a 6pm start.

Where is it?

Te Puni Kokiri, 143 Lambton Quay, Wellington

Who are the leaders?

• Jane Hill, Manager, Wellington City Libraries, and incoming LIANZA President Elect
• Sue Roberts, University Librarian, Victoria University of Wellington
• Sue Sutherland, Deputy Chief Executive, National Library and Acting Director, National Digital Library
• Anahera Morehu, Kaiwhakahaere Māori me Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa (Manager Māori and Pasifika Services), University of Auckland and Incoming Tumuaki, Te Ropu Whakahau
• Chris Szekely, Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library
• Mark Crookston, Senior Advisor, Appraisal, Archives New Zealand and Secretary, Wellington Branch Archives and Records Association of New Zealand
• Susanna La Rue, Wellington Medical Librarian, University of Otago
• Moira Fraser, Group Manager, Information and Knowledge, Parliamentary Service

Please RSVP to laurinda.thomas@morst.govt.nz by Tuesday 29th June... aww hell you can e-mail her any time you like, just take up this opportunity!  Where else but possibly at a LIANZA conference would you get these people in the same room??


And all for you!


Those details again....:


"Meet the Leaders"
5.30pm - 7.30pm Friday 2nd of July
Te Puni Kōkiri - 143 Lambton Quay


See you there!

PUBLIC EVENT: Bob McKee on "Why Public Libraries Must Be Free"

Hey guys

Yes, there's been a bit of planning and discussion on this one, but Mike from the LIANZA office, Helen from APLM (Association of Public Library Managers) and Myself have managed to pull it together and finally, properly advertise this event!!

Who: Bob McKee the Chief Executive of CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) of the UK.  Pretty noteworthy person I'd say!  Here's a link to some info about him.

When: Tues 25th May 2010 5:30pm for a 6pm start with a 7pm finish

Where: Lecture Theatre 1, Old Government Buildings, Victoria University Law School, Entrance off Stout Street

Why? We felt that the Wellington Public needed to be informed of WHY PUBLIC LIBRARIES MUST BE FREE!

Be there, or be square.  Man.


Oh, and here's a reference list in case you wanted some pre-requisite reading on the subject (this list may be added to closer to the event):

• Closing the books on Libraries : Werewolf (division of Scoop?), written by Gordon Campbell
• Diligent Room post : Blissfully Ignorant : Library Charges, by Michael Parry @dannevirklib

UPDATE

The audio-visual of Bob's talk (starting with Laurinda's introduction!) is available here: http://bit.ly/aWkHRu

(cheers Mike - @lianzaoffice)

LIANZA's new website : a successful rebirth

After much discussion, consultation, debate and time, the refreshed LIANZA website is now live.  The launch was just five days ago, on Thursday the 15th of April with a public notice to the community being sent out on nz-libs the following afternoon.  A nice and exciting way to round out the working week I thought.

Michael Parry, aka Dannevirkelibrarian, was the first to put up a forum post, utilising the new website's functionality, which I thought was brilliant.  So brilliant in fact that I manage to comment three times.  See, it has been noted that there are a few kinks, and things lacking that are quite vivid in the new website.  And we're all a bit sad about it of course, us techno dudes and dudettes or whatever the cool term is these days.  Well the three people that have contributed to the site in the five days that it's been live, are a wee bit sad anyway.

I have to say that I think we, (ok, maybe some of us) had/have unrealistically high expectations for the relaunch.  I was too-ing and fro-ing between putting high hopes or high expectations there, but I went with the latter purely because it really is my expectations.  Hope's makes it a bit more emotive and lets just say here that I can't really get tooo emotive about a professional organisation, however long it's been around.  Anyway, the LIANZA office has approximately 6 staff, possibly 4 full-timers.  It's amazing that this redevelopment happened, and it's totally fantastic that it did.  I'm happy.

I'm quite stoked to say right now, that in this short post, I've managed to link to the new website and the information it contains (including social discussion between industry professionals) a total of four times!
That's quite cool, and it's already proving it's relevance.  I know I could've done that with the previous site's content, possibly even more so.... (rebirth kinks etc), but the fact that conversation and discussion is happening on the site already, is awesome.

Speaking of conversation and discussion and sharing, we now have a totally cool Twitter account.  Yes kids, that's right. Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui LIANZA is on Twitter!  Can I link to it again?  OK, sure, here goes :)

And here's the profile without doing an a href - http://twitter.com/teup0ko

If you're wondering what Twitter is all about, wow, have I got some news for you....!  Why don't we start with their about page on their website, that's always a good start.  Yes, that is slanted, ok, so how bout we look at this review I wrote of a twitter workshop Magalie of Wellington City Libraries and Twitter fame held last month?

Oh, and if you're with SLIS - they have a twitter account too - http://twitter.com/SLIS_NZ.

So come on and join us in the conversation!  We won't bite, I promise :-)

Eight Weeks to Associateship - Week 8

Week 8: Making the final touches

This week we'll be rounding up the last pieces of information and sending off your Associateship application. Some of you (me included!) might find this a high-anxiety week - have I done enough to answer the questions that the Credentials Committee wants answers to? Have I missed anything out? A final review, and the collation of all your materials should help you put your mind to rest.

Having put your personal statement away for a few days, take it out and give it another read over. Make any tweaks that help it to flow, or to highlight your achievements better.

Now, get yourself a big envelope, and assemble the following:
1. Your personal statement
2. The LIANZA Associateship application form
3. A cheque for $50
4. A passport-sized photograph
5. 4 copies of your evidence of written work (and a bibliography, if you have enough)

These needs to arrive at the LIANZA office by 31 MARCH 2010, so get down to your NZ Post shop asap!

Also, email your referees to remind them about the deadline for the referee's report - 14 APRIL 2010

Just in case you thought this was the last post - fear not! Now that you application is away, in a month or so we'll be looking at the presentation to the credentials committee.

But for now, you can take a breather and give yourself a pat on the back. This is a process of detailed and thoughtful self-examination, and it doesn't come easily to most of us. Many people will choose to never apply for an Associateship because of this. So, good on you! I hope to see you all at conference receiving your awards!

Best of luck,
Laurinda

Paul Reynolds - Valedictory Lecture

Reposted from NZ-Libs...

Valedictory Lecture by Paul Reynolds, Monday 22 March

Paul Reynolds is marking the end of his role as Adjunct Director of the National Digital Library at the National Library of New Zealand with a valedictory lecture on Monday 22 March, 5.15pm at Soundings Theatre, Te Papa. Entry is free.

Come along and hear Paul as he presents his thoughts on the emerging trends of the digital landscape, and how, in his view, institutions like the National Library and other GLAMs (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) partners can contribute to emerging learning and cultural commons.

Paul Reynolds is an Auckland based commentator and thinker on the topics of information access and cultural/techno change. He is a co-founder and joint managing director of McGovern Online, and has been or is currently a member of several advisory bodies and boards, including the National Digital Forum and Auckland Museum.

Eight Weeks to Associateship - Week 7

Week 7: Polishing and Professionalism

By now I hope you're all feeling like your application is beginning to take shape. We'll be completing the last piece and sprucing things up this week. So, let's get into it!

Part C looks at professional development and professional contribution. The requirements are:

(i) Self-development of professional perspectives and objectives through professional reading, Internet discussion groups

(ii) Continuing education through such activities as attendance at seminars and workshops

(iii) An awareness of professional issues

(iv) Knowledge of and/or participation in the work and activities of the Association, and other relevant organisations

You should have a good list of your activities from week 4. You might want to tie aspects together, for example, how has your self-development informed your awareness of the issues? Has this changed anything you've done or how you approach things? What are the professional issues that are most concerning to you, or that you're most involved with? What are your regular LIS must-reads or must-attends? How do you keep up-to-date? What about professional networks, either personal or association-based?

There are a range of thing that could be included under continuing education, so you may choose some highlights, or showcase a range of courses, workshops or seminars you’ve attended (some of these might fall outside of LIS, but be part of the sector you're in).

Once you've done that, take your whole application and give it a good thrice over!

1. Read it through for flow. Does it read well? Have you repeated anything?
2. Look at your formatting. Is there anything you could do to improve the presentation on the page, or make it easier for the credentials committee to identify how you fit the criteria, such as headings or new paragraphs to separate key points? Don't be afraid to use white space on the page and have an appropriate font size. Steer away from serif fonts or anything too flashy - they are more difficult on the eyes. Stick to a nice sans-serif!
3. Give it a good spell check and identify any sloppy punctuation. This can be very distracting to the reader.

Now is a good time to go over the checklist of things that you need to supply to the committee so that we can put everything together next week. Well done - you're nearly there!

Revalidating? Help is at hand!

Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Region invites librarians and information professionals to a presentation on professional re-validation.

Presented by Janet Upton, Manager, Knowledge Leadership at Land Information New Zealand
5.30pm Wednesday 14 April
Nau Mai Room
Ground Floor
Te Puni Kokiri
143 Lambton Quay
Wellington

There is no charge for this event.

For catering purposes, please RSVP by Wednesday 7 April to: anne.thompson@natlib.govt.nz

Eight Weeks to Associateship - Week 6

Week 6: Showing off your skills

Management and planning responsibilities are the name of the game this week. Take out your notes from week 3, and remember as you're going through to think of management in a broad sense, since our job descriptions don't always use that word. This week's section is quite a chunky one, so get yourself a cuppa and a biscuit before you get going.

We're working through part B in much the same way as we did with part A. The tricky thing here I think, is to get down all the main points succinctly. Resist the temptation to exhaustively list every little thing you've done, but rather try to hit the high points. There are a couple of ways you could tackle this. You may want to start with a job where you demonstrated several of these skills and write briefly what your role and responsibilities were in the different areas. Or, you might choose one area and talk pick out a couple of significant examples from your working life. Or, if many of the examples are from the same project for example, you may want to talk about the project you worked on and describe the responsibilties you had within it.

Remember, they're looking for the following:
(i) Staff management
(ii) Financial management
(iii) Resource management
(iv) Implementing and managing of appropriate and/or innovative library and information services
(v) Initiating or contributing to projects or changes/improvements in existing services
(vi) Marketing services
(vii) Evaluating and implementing appropriate technologies
(viii) Planning own work and that of others, setting priorities and aligning with organisational goals and objectives

Don't worry if you don’t have experience of all of these, the application does state, "Some of the categories below may not be applicable to the applicant. This will depend upon the applicant's work."

While the emphasis is on seeing that you've had responsibility in some of these areas, if you can, pick out achievements you've had or show the impact that you've made as well. These show that you have moved into mastery of the area, rather than just competence.

Best of luck this week with your write-up. Next week we'll be looking at professional development and contribution - one of my favourite topics!

Finally - an apology for the lateness of this column. Despite my best intentions to get this out by Wednesday, events overtook me! I hope y'all have ploughed on ahead anyway!

Associateship Event - Cancelled

Unfortunately, due to a lack of RSVPs, we're decided to cancel our Associateship event this evening (4th March). We're hopeful that we'll run the session again, but perhaps towards the end of the year instead.

But never fear! We'll continue to bring you the Eight Weeks to Associateship series to support you on your application journey, so stay tuned in!

Eight Weeks to Associateship - Week 5

Week 5: Telling your story


Congratulations - if you've made it this far you're well on your way to completing your associateship application! A lot of the hard work and thinking has been done, and now it's time to tell your story in the application process.


Take out your notes from week 2. We're going to start shaping them into your application. Although 1000 words can seem daunting, many of you will find that once you start writing it's an easy target to reach, so you will want to be fairly concise.


We'll focus on part A this week, which looks at "Practical knowledge and skills in providing library/information services", in particular "Competence and achievement in some particular aspect(s) of library and information services" and "a well–demonstrated understanding of the information needs of clients, and the delivery of services to meet those needs".


Firstly, you'll want to choose which aspect of library and information services you want to focus on for this part of your application. From your notes there might be a one very clear frontrunner (reference services, circulation or systems for example), or you may choose two or three where you can measurably demonstrate both competence and achievement.


For each area, briefly discuss your roles you've had, including levels of responsibility, and what higher level tasks were undertaken. From your list of achievements pick one or two, summarising the aim, implementation and outcome of each. You may want to select achievements or projects which tie into the second part, demonstrating a knowledge and delivery of service to, client needs. Also outline what additional work you do in this area to keep up-to-date or to spread your knowledge to others.


If you haven't addressed it in the first area (or maybe even if you have), you'll now want to demonstrate that you understand client needs, and can deliver services to meet those needs. Again, examples are the most informative, discussing the needs of your client base, how you keep abreast of their needs, what you've done to address these, and the outcome.


Don't worry too much at this stage if you find you've written quite a lot. We'll have a chance to revise and pare things down a little later. As you're writing up the next sections, you may find that many areas overlap, and that one example provides examples that fit several different criteria.


As you write things up, remember to take a little time to enjoy your achievements. Best of luck, and see you next week!

Thinking of applying for an Associateship? Let our panel show you how!

LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui (Wellington) Regional Committee has organised an opportunity for you to hear more! We've brought together some inspiring Wellington librarians– Sue Sutherland who has served on the Credentials Committee and Moira Fraser, Rachel Esson and Kareen Carter who were the Wellington 2009 Associates – to tell you all about their experiences and why you too should apply to be a LIANZA Associate.

Where: The Moot Room, Level 3 Old Government Buildings, Bunny Street Entrance
When: Thursday 4 March, 5.30pm-6.30pm, nibbles & networking from 5pm.
RSVP: gabrielle.hikaka@tpk.govt.nz by Wednesday 3 March 2010