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Library

Library, Library Serf
Lending changes
29.06.12 | Permalink | Comment?

You guys! From Sunday July 1 you might notice some differences when you issue, renew or return items at Wellington City Libraries.

The issue period for books is changing to three weeks – and you will soon be able to renew (for free!!) each item once for another three weeks, if no one else has placed a reserve.

If you’re renewing a YA or Children’s DVD you’ll just need to pay another 80c rental fee to keep it for another week, very handy for some of those longer box sets!

You will have two more days after items become due, before we start charging overdue fees.

Renewing items is easy – you can either renew them online by checking your library card at wcl.govt.nz/card or ask a staff member at your local library.

If you have any questions about these changes and how they’ll affect the items you take out of the library most regularly, please email us at enquiries@wcl.govt.nz or ask at your local library.
Library, Library Serf
Updated Book Lists!
12.04.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Are you running out of ideas for things to read? We’ve got lots of suggestions in the form of book lists. These are organised by genre/theme, from romantic fiction through thrillers and mysteries to fantasy. There are also some lists that may be useful for school reading (classic novels, Māori writers of fiction, for example).

To find the book lists in future (when you can’t find this post) have a look under “Inside” (like on the right here).

Note that these lists are selections and suggestions: if you don’t find your favourite book in them you can tell us about it (email teenblog@wcl.govt.nz - you could also write us a review).
Library, Library Serf
Harry Potter on your E-book Reader
10.04.12 | Permalink | Comment?

If you’re a Harry Potter fan and you’ve got an e-book reader, then you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve recently added the entire series to the library e-book collection! Here are the links:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Library, Library Serf, eLibrary
More New e-Books
23.02.12 | Permalink | Comment?

A couple of trilogies added this week:

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. Read it on your e-book reader before the movie comes out! Also, there’s Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Like print books, library e-books are reservable – you will be notified by email when they’re ready for you to collect (you have a couple of days to do so).

Shiver, Linger and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, which form the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, about a pack of wolves who are in reality humans infected with a virus.

If you want to find out more about library e-books, there’s more information in this post right here.
Library, Library Serf, New
Hot New e-Books
13.02.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Huzzah. Here’s a selection of e-book additions to the library collection:

Drink, Slay, Love, Sarah Beth Durst

Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey

Crossed, Ally Condie

Clockwork Prince, Cassandra Clare

The Red Shoe, Ursula Dubosarsky

Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson

Note that the library e-books are available to borrow for two weeks, and you don’t have to worry about overdues (or losing them, obvs.). If you’re unsure what you need to do to start using the library’s e-book collection, then have a look at this step-by-step help guide (it should have all the answers).

Additionally, we have some new downloadable audiobooks, for example:

The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater

Twisted, Laurie Halse Anderson

Dead End in Norvelt, Jack Gantos

Beads, Boys and Bangles, Sophia Bennett

I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend, Cora Harrison

If you’re not sure you want to commit to an audiobook, you can test-drive it by listening to a sample, and if the title you want is not available, you can reserve it – you’ll get a notification by email when it’s ready to collect (note that you only have a couple of days to pick up your reserves).
Internet, Library, Library Serf
What people are looking for
10.02.12 | Permalink | Comment?
Here’s a Top 10 list of the most popular searches on the library’s Easyfind catalogue in January 2012, followed by some examples of “when good searches go wrong” (don’t try those at home).

Top 10 Easyfind Searches
1. the hunger games
2. hunger games
3. harry potter
4. tintin
5. cherub
6. downton abbey
7. diary of a wimpy kid
8. game of thrones
9. geronimo stilton
10. road code
Other interesting popular searches include: Eragon, Glee, Robert Muchamore, Cassandra Clare, Naruto, and building android apps.

Strays, Orphans and Waifs
1. downtown abbey
2. dairy of a wimpy kid
3. the book theif
4. kattyperry
5. confessions of gerogia nicholson
6. business inteligence
7. blood promsie
8. roald dahi
9. fittle princesses fittle princsses fittl princsses
10. the weeknd
<3 typos
Library, Library Serf
Newish to the e-book Library
29.11.11 | Permalink | Comment?
Here’s a sampling of what’s new to the library’s e-book collection:

Fantasy and Supernatural Fiction
- City of Bones, Cassandra Clare
- City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare
- City of Glass, Cassandra Clare
- City of Fallen Angels, Cassandra Clare
- Need, Carrie Jones
- Entice, Carrie Jones
- Beautiful Chaos, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
General Fiction
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson, John Green and David Levithan
- An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
- Just Listen, Sarah Dessen
- August, Bernard Beckett (New Zealand)
- The Beginner’s Guide to Living, Lia Hills (New Zealand)
- The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han
- It’s Not Summer Without You, Jenny Han
Fiction With a Certain Amount of Action
- Auslander, Paul Dowsell
- Blink & Caution, Tim Wynne-Jones
- Beauty Queens, Libba Bray
There’s heaps more. Have a look at the e-book collection here.

Classic Novels

Not only are these available free, but they’re also effectively yours to keep! Read more here. Browse through the collection here.
Library, Library Serf
Maxed out your reserves on your library card?
21.11.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Do you often find yourself juggling your ten reserves? If ten’s not enough to keep track of the things you want to read then My Discoveries on the Easyfind catalogue may be the way to go.

Once you’ve got a My Discoveries login (have a look at this tutorial to find out how to create one), you can create lists (”To Read”, or “For School” for example), and add things to those lists, referring back to them when you’re out of things to read. A list looks a little something like this:

Selecting an item from the list takes you to the catalogue record, and from there you can reserve it. Pretty easy!

To find out more, have a look a the Wish Lists tutorial here.
Library, Library Serf
Cool Library Tools
19.09.11 | Permalink | 1 Comment
If you’re not happy unless you have your technology all fully customised, and tools are your best friend, then you’ll be interested in this page here, which tells you all the Wellington City Libraries Web 2.0 gadgets you can use. The page features such gems as:
1. a browser search add-on (you can search the library catalogue from the comfort of the search bar in the top right corner of your browser)
2. the library lookup link (which allows you to check to see if the library’s got a copy of the book you’re looking at on amazon, or wherever)
3. a GoodReads custom booklink (again, you can check easily to see if the book on your To Read shelf is available at the library)
4. and much more.
I sometimes think libraries are like the human brain: we only take advantage of about 5% of their capacity. Here’s your opportunity to put the library through its paces.
Grimm, Library, New
Read a New eBook on Your Device
08.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?
What’s new in the WCL young adult eBook collection? Well, quite a lot actually, and here’s a sample:

Fantasy
- Mister Monday, Garth Nix
- Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
- The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Dystopian
- Candor, Pam Bachorz
- Matched, Ally Condie
- The Declaration, The Resistance and The Legacy, Gemma Malley
Supernatural
- Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
- Captivate, Carrie Jones
- Zombies Vs Unicorns (short stories)
Classics
- Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
- Emma, Jane Austen
- The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling
Other generally cool titles of interest
- Dirty Little Secrets, C J Omololu
- The Golden Day, Ursula Dubosarsky
- Ebony Hill, Anna McKenzie
Plus: The Girl Who Was On Fire (non-fiction)

Browse the eBook fiction catalogue for more.

eBooks are free to borrow for two weeks (no overdues even!): all you need is a Wellington City Libraries card, an internet-connected computer or smartphone (or other e-reading device – but not a Kindle, sadly), and some free software you can download.

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