Top 10 most borrowed titles for 2023


The lists you’ve been waiting for. Here are Wellington City Libraries’ top 10 most borrowed titles for 2023.

Top 10 adult fiction

 

Top 10 children fiction

 

Top 10 non-fiction

 

 

 

 

We are going cashless

Wellington City Libraries (with the exception of Newtown) will be cashless from the start of 2024. We continue to offer a range of ways to pay for fees and charges.

We have made this decision because the cost of cash collection is often higher than the sum received, particularly now that more services are free (removal of overdue fines, free basic printing, free CD borrowing, free internet access), and there are security risks to staff with cash collection. Additionally, since the Covid pandemic more people are sensitive about the health and safety concerns of dealing with cash as well.

How can I pay?

  • with eftpos using the self-issue machine (or ask a staff member)
  • with your debit or credit card online at wcl.govt.nz/payments
  • with cash at Newtown Library or at Arapaki Service Centre on Manners Street, Monday-Friday before 5pm

Do I have to make a payment every time I incur a fee or charge?

  • No, you can accrue small amounts of fees and group them to pay later e.g. monthly
  • You can also pay in advance by purchasing a concession card for dvds and magazine rentals.

New Programme: Cuentacuentos – Storytimes in Spanish

Buenas noticias! We are happy to announce a new programme called Cuentacuentos! These storytimes are delivered entirely in Spanish!

This is a perfect opportunity to practice your Spanish, so get ready for engaging storytelling and exciting activities that will entertain the whole whānau.

Starting from 2nd September, join us at Te Māhanga, Karori Library on the first Saturday of the month at 11am. Mark your calendar!

Continue reading “New Programme: Cuentacuentos – Storytimes in Spanish”

Household battery recycling

On Monday 14 February 2022 Wellington City Council is launching a recycling programme to divert used household batteries from the landfill.

How it works

You can drop off your used batteries for free at:

  • Island Bay Community Centre
  • Karori Library
  • Kilbirnie Library
  • Newlands Community Centre
  • Tawa Community Centre
  • Te Awe Library (CBD)
  • Tip Shop at the Southern Landfill

What you need to do

1. Check your batteries are accepted.

Accepted batteries:

  • Lithium ion (eg. rechargeable batteries)
  • Nickel cadmium and alkaline batteries: AA, AAA, 9V, C, D, N
  • Zinc air (eg. camera batteries)
  • Silver zinc (eg. laptop and hearing aid batteries)
  • Other household batteries
  • Mobile phone batteries

Not accepted*

  • Leaking or damaged batteries
  • Car or truck batteries
  • Electrical appliances and mobile phones

*Items in the Not accepted category can be disposed of at the Southern Landfill.

2. Tape lithium battery terminals with the tape provided.

3. Drop your batteries – you’re good to go!

After your batteries are picked up, the components will be separated and sent for re-use, recovery and re-processing.

Why recycle?

Batteries contain harmful chemicals, which can leach into soil and waterways if they go in the landfill. Fires can also occur when they are disposed of directly to landfill.

Recycling batteries saves valuable resources. They contain lots of useful elements, such as metals, plastic and some of the chemicals, which can be re-used.

Under our Solid Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw (2020), disposing of batteries (including household batteries) in kerbside waste is no longer permitted.

5 minutes with Austin Milne

While we wait for a new date for ComicFest 2021, meet Austin Milne in this “5 minutes with” interview.

ComicFest 2021 website

Austin Milne has wanted to be a cartoonist since deciding being a dragonologist wasn’t realistic. When he was 12 he tried writing a comic strip about his life but decided to stop because he was too close to the subject matter, instead he made comics about an anthropomorphic emu. Now aged 23, he has had a few comics and is working on a graphic novel about 12-year olds.

Website: austinmilne.wordpress.com
Facebook: @austincomics
Instagram: @austinjmilne

Q: What first got you interested in comics?

From age 8 I would go to my friend’s house and read all his dad’s Peanuts books. He and his sister made their own comics, and so did I. They soon stopped but I had found something I enjoyed. I remember thinking while working on a Tintin rip off: ‘this is like reading but better cause I can make anything happen that I want’.

Q: What is your average day like?

I’m still working out the perfect way to run a day. I’m most productive drawing early in the morning, when I go for at least 2 walks a day and eat lots of vegetables.
I write best at cafes or on trains, and draw best somewhere warm and quiet.

Q: Can you tell us about a current or recent project you’ve worked on?

I’ve been working on a graphic novel for middle readers for the last 2 years to be published by Annual Ink.

EPSON MFP image

Q: Do you have any traditions or rituals that help you when you get to work?

I write a schedule for the day in my diary and some notes of what I did yesterday, if I don’t feel like writing, I collage train tickets, drawings, and printed ephemera I chance upon.

Q: Who/what is your biggest influence or inspiration?

Richard Thompson’s Cul De Sac and John Allison’s Bad Machinery are my biggest influences. Lately I’ve been loving the work of Tillie Walden, Noah Van Sciver, George Herriman and Simon Hanselmann. Historically, I was most influenced by Charles Schulz, Lincoln Peirce of Big Nate and a whole host of American newspaper comic strips.

Q: What or who are your favourite NZ comics or creators?

There’s so many! I really love discovering new creators and especially meeting them in person. These are just the tip of the iceberg.
Alex Cara, Sarah Laing, Dylan Horrocks, Gissele Clarkson, Toby Morris Gavin Mouldey, Sharon Murdoch, Sam Orchard, Ross Murray, David Tulloch, Lil MQ, Ursine mundanity https://ursinemundanity.com

Q: What is your dream comic project?

It would be to draw a daily newspaper comic strip, like a really big one in a broadsheet newspaper. And while I’m dreaming I would like it to be full page and in colour, and l would like to be editor of an 8 page comics section in the newspaper and commision and pay New Zealand cartoonists to make strips for it. and it would be paid for by big business sponsoring it, but as part of the deal the businesses would have to ditch identical corporate branding and have each of their stores designed by a cartoonist complete with strange cartoon mascots. And then the newspaper would just become all comics, and it would save newspapers and it would save New Zealand towns from looking boring and it would save comic strips and then it would take off all over the world and become more popular than music.

Q: If you were to enter our cosplay contest, who/what would you dress up as?

I will do my best to cosplay as Gissele Clarkson’s drawing of me.

Austin’s portrait by Giselle Clarkson