News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Come along and hear how you can make your current home (or the one you are building) warmer, healthier and environmentally friendlier.

Date: Thursday 29th May
Time: 12 noon – 1pm
Place: 2nd (top) floor, Central Library, 65 Victoria Street, Wellington
Speaker: Nigel Isaacs, BRANZ Principal Scientist and VUW School of Architecture, Research fellow.

Our science fiction recent picks for May showcase all manner of martians, mages, and magical creatures. Jim Butcher is back, with his latest Harry Dresden story, and Mercedes Lackey features as well. Also included this month: much in the way of fantastical worlds, political plots and rebellion, and a struggling detective agency in a New York that is home to vampires and trolls as well as humans.

There are plenty of events happening in our libraries this week, check out this lineup:

Kilbirnie Library:
Wednesday 21 May, 11am – St Catherine’s Barbershop Chorus
Thursday 22 May, 11am – Alistair Fraser, demonstration of taonga pūoro (Māori instruments)

Miramar Library:
Friday 23 May, 11am – Miramar Central Middle Syndicate vocal group
Monday 26 May, 11am – Miramar Central Senior Syndicate vocal group

Tawa Library:
Saturday 24 May, 11am – Ska bank – Leadpipe Larry and the Dangermen – a
mixture of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz & rhythm ‘n blues.

Of course, there’s still time to have a go at the New Zealand Music quiz – complete it successfully and you can enter your details for the chance of winning an iPod.

Every year thousands of avid readers and music lovers gather at Wellington Central Library for the autumn book sale. And judging by its past popularity, this sale should be no different. Past buyers have used the sale to find the best book deals, to complete their personal collections or just to rummage and find a gem. And the sale helps us by making room for our ever increasing collections.

The sale includes books, CDs, cassettes, magazines and journals on most topics imaginable. Stock is replenished at regular intervals during the sale ensuring there are always fresh bargains to be found. And they really are bargains – prices start from 50 cents for magazines, with most other items between $1 and $6 and some marked prices. If you love a bargain and love music or literature, you won’t want to miss it.

The book sale is on now at Wellington Central Library, 65 Victoria Street.

MyLibrary is a free service which allows you to set up your own portal page to bring together lists of new books, CDs and DVDs in our libraries, plus links to databases and other useful websites in the subject areas you are interested in.

Our librarians compile monthly lists of new items across the different subject areas in the library’s collection, e.g. Religion & Beliefs, New Zealand material, Picture Books, DVDs, new fiction books (organised by genre), Cooking, Home & Garden, and many more. You can customise your own personal portal to include any of these lists, add your own favourite website links, and more.

For many subjects, these monthly lists are available going back a number of years.

This month our DVD recent picks are full of sumptuous stories and award-winning performances. The screen version of Ian McEwan’s Atonement (the novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize) doesn’t disappoint. Keira Knightley and James McAvoy star in Director Joe Wright’s treatment of the much lauded novel. The end product is described as “one of the defining films of the epic romantic drama”. Also featured this month: winner of the World Audience Award at Sundance, Once; The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster – “a provocative drama about the nature of justice”; Venus, a film in which Peter O’Toole plays Maurice, a frail but defiantly horny London actor in his sunset – “a marvelous portrait of mortality … [that] hits just the right notes of clumsiness, grace, and regret”. Plus much more. Have a look – DVD Recent Picks, May 2008.

Wellington City Libraries subscribe to a number of different online databases that provide news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics. This month, our featured database is the Times Digital Archive (you’ll need your library card number and surname details to log in and explore via the link above).

The Times Digital Archive allows you to search and view every page published by The Times [London] from 1785-1985. Content includes news articles, obituaries, advertising, book reviews and even the crossword puzzles! You can also browse by issue date, story headline, subject etc. Results are displayed at the article level and you may view the article – or the full page upon which it appeared. This is a valuable primary resource for students, genealogists, researchers and anyone interested in history.

To show you the depth and breadth of content available, here’s a teaser on an eclectic selection of subjects:

(The article links below will take you right into the articles if you’ve logged into the library’s databases in the last month, otherwise, you’ll be prompted to use your library card number and surname details to log in and view the articles.)

• A Japanese Opera, The Times. London: March 16, 1885; p. 4.
• A review of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, after it opened on March 14 1885 at London’s Savoy Theatre
• Everest Conquered : Hillary And Tensing Reach The Summit, The Times. London: Jun 02, 1953; p. 6.
• The Colonies, The Times. London: Dec 04, 1893; p. 7.
  An account of the results of the New Zealand general election of 28 November 1893 – the first in which women were entitled to vote: “The result of the first Parliamentary elections that have been held upon a female franchise in the British Empire has not been such as to inspire either great alarm or surprise.”
• The remains of the late Lord NELSON have at length reached this country, The Times. London: Dec 06, 1805; p. 2.
  A very short account of the arrival of the Victory in Portsmouth with Lord Admiral Nelson’s remains aboard month’s after he was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar (Nelson’s body was placed in a cask of brandy and carried home for burial in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London).
• Negroes Sit Where They Choose In Montgomery Buses, The Times. London: Dec 22, 1956; p. 6.
  Victory for the civil rights movement in America after the US Supreme Court upheld a federal district court ruling that Alabama’s racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began after Rosa Parks was arrested for violating racial segregation laws and officially ended December 20, 1956.

Now you can view and listen to stories from New Zealand and around the world on your computer in the comfort of your own home! Snake and Lizard, by Joy Cowley and illustrated by Gavin Bishop – a finalist in the Junior Fiction category of the 2008 NZ Post Book Awards – is the latest addition to our Kids’ Downloads page. Head over to our Kids’ Downloads page to listen to selected chapters from Snake and Lizard, read by Thomas La Hood.

…which means there’s music to be heard in our libraries! Tonight at 7pm we have Richard Prowse, jazz bassist at Newtown Library; tomorrow pop along at 11am and listen to Imogen Holmstead-Scott (singer/songwriter) at Kilbirnie Library.

Full details of events are on the Popular Music page.

It’s almost all about jewellery in this month’s Craft Recent Picks. Whether it’s creating your own beads using metalwork techniques – or making jewellery using crystals, pearls or other treasures – there are plenty of projects to keep you busy these cold autumn days.
If jewellery’s not your thing – we have new knitting, crochet and quilting books to round out the selection.

As part of the Ngaio Community Arts Festival (2-11 May), Cummings Park Library is proud to host Meet the Ngaio Writers.

Six local writers will read extracts from their books and answer questions.

This event is at the library on Monday 5th May, 6.30 – 8pm.

For more information about what’s on at Cummings Park Library, have a look at our Cummings Park What’s on page.