Downloadable library toolbars allow users to search library resources directly without having to go to the actual website. Would you use a library toolbar? What features would you like it to have? Fill out our Library Toolbar Survey and let us know!

If you have missed Campbell Live on Thursday the 21st and the report on WCL Living Library, check out the TV3 Campbell Live’s archive and watch the video here.

Short of ideas this month? Look no further than this month’s Design Recent Picks!

HKDA awards 07. Vol.2! Design, no junk food, wrap up your fresh stuff now showcases the winners of the 21st HKDA Awards - chosen out of 2,700 entries from all across Asia. If you’re needing inspiration this should be your first stop! Also this month… Design and the elastic mind presents the latest show at the Museum of Modern Art and asks whether the scientific advances of the last decade have opened the way to more innovative visual delights? Read and let us know what you think. The one show interactive. Volume 10. Advertising’s best interactive and new media celebrates the qualities that go into engineering a successful ad campaign or design. Piecebook : the secret drawings of graffiti writers features bold and beautiful works from graffiti history’s most important sources or seeds and presents a dizzying array of techniques. The big book of illustration & ideas 2 presents the best illustrators from all over the world, found together in one place along with all their contact information. And finally, When space meets art / when art meets space focuses on space design - essential to the overall experience of an event or exhibition. Read more about in this month’s Design Recent Picks and discover other design books new to the library!

(Book descriptions from Amazon)

Islam Awareness Week is a week of information and activities organised by local Muslims to increase New Zealanders’ awareness of their beliefs, values and practices, and to tackle misinformation about their religion in a positive way. You can find more information about Islam Awareness Week on the NZ Islam Awareness Week website.

Celebration of Islamic Fashion

As part of Islam Awareness Week, Kilbirnie Library and the Wellington Muslim Community present a Celebration of Islamic Fashion @ Kilbirnie Library.

Where? Kilbirnie Library

When? Thursday 7 August, 6.30pm

Details: This is a women’s only event. Refreshments will be provided.

For information about more IAW Events make sure to check out IAW’s Events page.

This month in our DVD Recent Picks we feature Tina Fey’s 30 Rock. A behind-the-scenes workplace comedy in the grand tradition of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, 30 Rock stars comedy geek goddess Tina Fey (head writer and a performer for long-running American comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live) as Liz Lemon, a character who juggles her hapless personal life with her chaotic career as the producer and head writer of a sketch comedy show (30 Rock is semi-autobiographical). Also in this month’s picks: Black Gold, a documentary about the second-most most actively traded commodity in the world after oil - coffee; Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart star in Conversation(s) with other women; Memento meets Inside Man in The Lookout; and, Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution. Plus much more…

“In this third electrifying title from Ursula Jones and Russell Ayto, the witch’s children’s friend, Gemma, is scared about her first day at school. So, the Little One turns her into an ogre to give her courage …but ogres don’t fit in at school. Never mind. The Little One has a solution - to turn the whole school into a storybook, which is a good place for an ogre. The trouble is, the witch’s children are very good at doing spells but not so good at undoing them…who can help?” — Amazon UK

In this month’s Picture Book Recent Picks you’ll find hungry crocodiles, Mrs Muffly’s monster, prickly porcupines and Fleabag the dog. Plus, the witch’s children go to school! Have a look.

We’re going Olympic for the July school holidays! Meet the Push Play team and have fun playing ‘olympic’ games and doing ‘olympic’ activities while learning about the Olympic Games. Our first session starts tomorrow at Cummings Park at 2pm… kids, come along for some fun!

‘We’re Going Olympic’ sessions will be on at all our Wellington library branches. Visit the Kids’ events page for dates and times and we’ll see you there!

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.