Issue 13

Most schools are now relaxing on holidays at the end of a busy first term, whilst those on a four year term are hard at it again and preparing for internal senior exams.

A number of school libraries have recently purchased Index New Zealand CD-ROM which came onto the market at the end of 1994. Produced by the National Library of New Zealand, INNZ as it is known, provides an index to many New Zealand journals and includes some articles with New Zealand content published. in major overseas journals. Originally available on microfiche and then on-line, INNZ is heavily used by secondary school students (Years 8 to 12) for research in a variety of curriculum areas. The CD-ROM version is so easy to use and the students are experiencing greater success in finding material than in the past.

This means that school library journal collections are getting more use, and there are more requests being made to local networks by fax and to the National Library.

School Library Network, a voluntary organisation which corresponds with just over 300 secondary school librarians, is surveying the current use of technology in New Zealand school libraries. We are expecting to find growth in the number of schools with automated systems, as well as an increasing number of CD-ROM data-drives and modems. Another initiative this year has been to establish a Listserv so that school library staff can post messages via e-mail to everyone who subscribes. We anticipate that this will be another way of overcoming the isolation of school library staff and provide a quick communication link between newsletters.

We are all wearing our red socks in support of "Black Magic"!