News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Below is a presentation on how you can find and reserve books, on our website, with the new version of our online catalogue:

Presentation Transcript

• To search our Classic Catalogue, type your query in the ORANGE box or click on ‘ Catalogue Search’ (top left) to access our EasyFind catalogue or KidsCat.
• Click on the radio button of your choice to select the type of search you’re interested in. Type in your query and click on GO.

*Title : drop any the, a, an at the start of title.
* Author : surname, first name order

• Once you’ve spotted a title you’re interested in, click on the title highlighted in blue.
• If you want to place a reserve on a book, click on “ Place a Reserve”. When you scroll down a bit, you can see the “Holdings Information” : which of our libraries has the book, and whether it is available for borrowing or not ( on loan ).
• Type in your library card number in the first box.  Type in your last/ family name in the second box. Click “Enter”.
• Click on the library of your choice to highlight where you want to pick up your book. Click “Holiday reserve” if you want your reserve available only until after a particular date. Click on “Place a Reserve” when your choice is made.
• Click on “View my account” to check the status of your reserve.
• Click on “Reserves” to check on you reserve and/ or delete it.
• Click the box next to the highlighted title of the book you want to delete.
• Click on “Cancel checked reserves” to delete your reserve.

Below is a presentation on how you can find and reserve magazines, on our website, with the new version of our online catalogue:

Presentation Transcript

• Would you like to search and reserve magazines? Click on “Catalogue Search”.
• Click on “Search Catalogue”.
• You can search for magazines just like books – try a Title browse, Keyword or Title keyword search.
• You can restrict a Keyword search to magazines using the format term ‘qmagazine’, e.g. ‘gardening qmagazine’. It will bring up all of our gardening magazines and none of the books.
• To find a particular magazine, select the type of search you’re interested in in the drop-down menu. Type in the title/ keyword. Click on “Search” .
• Click on the title of the magazine you were looking for (highlighted in blue)
• Click on the +/- icon to expand or collapse the lists and check availability. If you want to reserve a magazine, click on the “Place a reserve” next to the issue you’re interested in.
• Type in your library card number in the first box. Type in your last/ family name in the second box. Click “Enter” .
• Click on the library of your choice to highlight where you want to pick up your magazine. Check the “Holiday reserve” box and select a date if you don’t want your reserve active immediately. Click on “Place a Reserve” when your choice is made.
• Click on “View my account” to check on you reserve and/ or delete it.
• Click on “Reserves” to check on your reserves.
• “ Cancel checked reserves” is currently unavailable for magazines. Please talk to a librarian or email us at: enquiries [at] wcl.govt.nz to get your reserve cancelled should you wish to .

Below is a presentation on how you can check your library card, on our website, with the new version of our online catalogue:

• To check your library card and renew an item from our website ’s homepage, or check when an item is due back, select “Check my card” from the drop-down menu under the heading “How do I?” Click on “Go”.
• Type your library card number. Type your last/ family name. Click on “Enter”.
• Click on any headings highlighted in blue to check the status of your card. Loaned : items you have out currently. Overdue items : items that are overdue. Reserves : items that you have requested for borrowing. Charges, fees and lost material : money owed to the library.
• Click on the arrow by the title highlighted in blue and the expanded view shows the book cover when available. You can check the branch where you borrowed the item from by looking at the column “Loaned at”. That’s where the item needs to be returned.
• Click on a box by the title (highlighted in blue) of an item you want to renew and click on “Renew* checked items($1 each + any rental fee)”.

* Renew before OR on the day the item is due

* Renewal available only for items that are not reserved by another customer

Our Bestsellers collection is the ‘no-wait way to borrow’ latest popular books.

Simply check out the distinctive red shelves on the ground floor of the Central Library and at selected branch libraries. Bestsellers books cannot be reserved and are $5 for a one week loan (overdue charge is $1/day).

These titles will be available for free in the main collection. However, there may be a reserve queue.

Non Fiction:

Stephen Fry- Fry Chronicles

Russell Brand- My Booky Wook 2 : this time its personal

Judi Dench- And  Furthermore

Nigella Lawson- Kitchen

Justine Picardie- Coco Chanel: the life and the legend

 Fiction:

Monica McInerney- At home with the Templetons

Lynda la Plante- Cold shoulder

Posie Graeme- Evans -Dressmaker

Fay Weldon- Kehua

Michael Connelly- Reversal

Maeve Binchy- Minding Frankie

Here’s a list of books we think are a real challenge to get all the way through in one piece, especially with an audience. We dare you to read them out loud. Bonus points if you read them to a child all the way through without getting the puzzled “what’s up with the adult?” stare.

(helpfully supplied by some central library storytime readers and other picture book enthusiasts)

1. The Big Ugly Monster and The Little Stone Rabbit, Chris Wormell - a story of feeling lonely, the need for friendship, and death (in general, rather than “the need for”). The monster is so ugly that nothing can stand him; ponds evaporate, and the stone statues he creates to keep him company shatter… except for the little stone rabbit.
2. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein – the tree gives, well, basically everything. Incidentally, don’t be put off by the author photo (he looks like Mr T).
3. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, Michael Rosen with illustrations by Quentin Blake – yes it is very sad. The product description says: “What makes Michael Rosen most sad is thinking about his son, Eddie, who died.”
4. Always and Forever, Alan Durant – on the subject of grief, Fox dies very early in the piece, leaving his friends bereft until they rally and find ways to honour his memory.
5. Badger’s Parting Gifts, Susan Varley – similar to Always and Forever. “So cute it makes your teeth ache” says one library staff member.
6. Duck, Death and The Tulip, Wulf Erlbruch – first published in German. Duck befriends Death, but is this a good idea really? Vielleicht nicht.
7. Love You Forever, Robert Munsch – as time passes family roles are reversed.
8. Goodbye Mog, Judith Kerr – sad perhaps because people have invested a lot of time in the Mog stories. It’s like losing a pet. The forgetfulness is maybe a forewarning.
9. The Selfish Giant, Oscar Wilde (in Fairy tales of Oscar Wilde) – as far as children’s stories go, Oscar Wilde knew how to make em wistful. Here the titular giant learns a lesson the Giving Tree could have taught him – selflessness is what makes the flowers grow.
10. The Happy Prince, Oscar Wilde (here illustrated by Jane Ray) – one of the biggest tearjerkers like ever. The Giving Tree’s big brother, this one might well be.

If you are interested by historical events, our selection will please you this month. Shattered glory relates the 1915 Gallipoli campaign when New-Zealanders experienced the harsh realities of warfare and how it affected them. Curfewed night is the story of the conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir through the eyes of a local reporter. Two Men of Mana and other stories takes the reader back to the early days of the Wairarapa when it was first settled by Europeans. The history of this region is shared through everyday life events and special occasions. There are more books in our selection and if you’d like to find out more, check this month’s History Recent Picks.

Good Bank Bad Bank? What the Banking Ombudsman can do for you  is the theme of this week’s Law for Lunch mini-seminar with Deborah Battell, New Zealand Banking Ombudsman.

Deborah Battell was appointed New Zealand Banking Ombudsman in July 2009. Her previous positions have included the Director of Competition, and Director of Fair Trading, both with the New Zealand Commerce Commission, and Senior Consultant with KPMG.

The presentation will include the following points: 

• How can the Banking Ombudsman help me?
• Problems with your Account? An ATM? Your EFTPOS or Credit Card?
• A Cheque? Fraud? Insurance? Internet banking? Lending?
• Superannuation? The list goes on…

This mini-seminar will take place on the groundfloor of the Central Library, from noon till 1pm, on Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson has won this year’s Mann Booker Prize. It is a novel that links comedy and tragedy, the story male friendship and what it means to be Jewish. It is Howard Jacobson’s eleventh published novel, his first was in 1983 titled Coming from Behind. In 1999 his novel The Mighty Walzer won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing and in 2006 his novel Kalooki Nights was long listed for the Mann Booker Prize of that year. Nearly all his fiction is humorous. Born in Manchester, England in 1942, Howard Jacobson has also published four works of non-fiction. He writes a weekly column for The Independent newspaper and also works as a broadcaster.

Sources: Wikipedia; Guardian.co.uk

All Wellington City Libraries blogs will be mostly quiet for the next two weeks owing to our online catalogue upgrade (culminating with our Labour Weekend closure).

You will still be able to get our library news and updates via our Twitter account @wcl_library.

We’re looking forward to Tuesday the 26th of October when we will resume regular posting on our blogs.

Cycling is a fun way to improve fitness without adding to global warming. Written for recreational riders Bicycle: love your bike: the complete guide to everyday cycling gives practical information for all levels. Questions are answered by Helen Pidd about what bicycle to buy, how to stop getting knocked off, how to stop a bicycle thief, even whether you can be arrested when cycling drunk – read and find out.

In 1531 Thomas Elyot described football as “nothing but beastlie furie and extreme violence”. How has it changed over the centuries? Beastly fury: the strange birth of British football written by Richard Sanders looks at the modern version of the most popular game in the world and answers some interesting questions. Who invented heading and who dreamed up the off-side law?

Think like a caddie, play like a pro: golf’s top caddies reveal their winning strategies by James Bartlett will benefit players and caddies alike. Inside tips and advice along with 50 colour photos produces an enjoyable book show-casing some of the world’s best golf courses.

Enjoy this mixture of sports and other titles about dungeons & dragons, pool, darts, chess and fishing in this month’s Sport Recent Picks.