Author: wclstaff

“Bestseller Collection” being retired

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Illustration of a book with a bestseller sticker and a sad smileon itFor many years, Wellington City Libraries has provided a collection of popular titles called the Bestseller Collection. Titles could be borrowed by library members for a small fee, allowing readers to access titles that they would otherwise have to wait in a reserve queue for. The Bestsellers are being retired this weekend, to make way for a new collection, due to be rolled out in early 2023.

The new collection will contain popular titles that are free to borrow on a first come, first served basis. We look forward to telling you more as plans firm up!

If you currently hold a Bestsellers concession card, this can be used to borrow from the DVD collection in our libraries, or the CD and Vinyl collections found at Te Awe Brandon Library.

If you have any questions about this change, please talk to staff at your local library, or email enquiries@wcl.govt.nz, and we’ll be happy to help.

 

You can’t beat Wellington on a Fines Free day

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Wellington City Libraries is fines free from 1 July! Councillors decided to go fines free after strong support in the community consultation on the Annual Plan in April. Most respondents supported this proposal.

This decision means :

  • no overdue fines will be charged from 1 July 2022 onwards
  • we will wipe any unpaid overdue fines on peoples’ library cards as at 30 June 2022.  We’ve waived your library fines goodbye.

We’re looking forward to never having to say “Do you know you have some overdue fines on your card?” ever again!

Here are some answers to questions you might have about these changes:

Continue reading “You can’t beat Wellington on a Fines Free day” →

Exciting New Online Resources

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July is the time of year when Wellington City Libraries welcomes new products into our range of online resources.

We’re very happy to announce that soon, you will see some brand new resources over a wide range of subjects and covering many years of great content.

For lovers of science and nature, we are adding the Smithsonian Collection, as well as the latest magazines and archived editions of National Geographic and National Geographic Kids.

Family historians will enjoy an expanded archive of British Historical Newspapers, including more titles and time periods.

And the business world is represented with new access to The Economist Historical Archive 1843-2020.

However, July will also see the end of access to some of our existing products.  With some regret, we are saying good-bye to Lingogo and the Vogue Archive.  Tumblebooks will end, but we hope our young readers will continue to enjoying using Storybox.  Oddizzi is also not being renewed, but we hope that National Geographic Kids will be a great source of education and wonder.

You can learn more about all the online resources available through Wellington City libraries on our website.  All you need is your library card!

Update on email notifications

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hand showing update sign

Unfortunately, over the past week there was an outage of our email notifications, which meant they failed to send. While this issue is now resolved, this means that if you have reserves available, or items coming due (or overdue) you won’t have been alerted by email.hand showing update sign

If you have active loans or reserves, please check your library card via the online catalogue or via our WCL Mini app, to see their current status.

We apologise if you were affected by this issue. If you would like to contact library staff about your account, please visit your local branch library, or email us at enquiries@wcl.govt.nz 

Charity auction of twelve seats from Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui (Wellington Central Library)

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Wellington City Libraries is auctioning twelve seats designed by renowned studio furnituremaker, sculptor and design educator, Carin Wilson for a charity fundraiser (less Dunbar Sloane’s commission).

With the re-strengthening and re-design of Te Matapihi starting in late 2022, we have stored a number of fittings and furniture, including examples of the unique seating Carin Wilson designed for Te Matapihi when it opened in the 1990s. After working with a heritage advisor and Athfield Architects, we will reuse over half of the designer seats in Te Matapihi. We identified four Kura Kowhatu chairs and eight of the plywood chairs which will be put forward for auction with Dunbar Sloane. The first one was in early December 2021 and the second one will open on 22 March. The proceeds (less the auction house’s commission) will be donated to a charity that will be confirmed in late April 2022.

People can bid for their own part of Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui (Central Library) at the Dunbar Sloane website.