As of 11:59pm Monday 12 September, New Zealand’s COVID-19 Protection Framework (traffic lights) ends.
Mask wearing You are not required to wear a mask in our libraries, however our library staff may still choose to, so please be kind and respectful.
Hygiene We’re keeping up with our regular cleaning and vigilant onsite hygiene.
Stay home if you’re unwell
If you are unwell, stay home and contact us. We will extend loans until you are well enough to return them, and we have plenty of eResources available for you to use while you recover. This includes eBooks, magazines, movies, and online courses.
For help with your library card, please call us on 04 801 4040 during office hours or email enquiries@wcl.govt.nz
For more information on the latest Covid-19 updates, please visit covid19.govt.nz
There’s nothing like a road trip to bring out the strangeness in a country: the oversized fruit; the abandoned houses; the mysterious side-roads that go who-knows-where. But if you choose carefully–or have help from your local librarian–then the same feeling can be created with books: the sense of being in between, or out of time, or unhooked from the everyday world.
That’s where this blog comes in! Join us as we travel across America, stopping at seven weird, wonderful, scary and strange sites, from New England to California and a few places in between. Along the way we’ll recommend a selection of titles that create a similarly peculiar feeling. Read on to begin!
Born in the midst of the anti-Vietnam War protests, the puppets of the Bread and Puppet Theater have loomed over crowds since the 1960s. Their giant faces and stilted legs have become one of the key symbols of American counterculture–but where do they go when they retire? To this barn, of course!
There are several theories about how a fire began in the tunnels beneath the coal mining town of Centralia, but when a 12-year-old boy almost fell into a fiery sinkhole in his backyard, one thing became certain: the town would have to be abandoned. Today Centralia has fewer than 5 residents, and is the inspiration behind the Silent Hill series.
Related Readings:
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer — Area X has been sealed up for over three decades, and has a strange influence on anyone who enters.
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson — The book that broke the romantic notion of life in small town America (and the traditional structure of the novel).
The Denniston Rose by Jenny Pattrick — 2000 feet above sea level lies Denniston, a tough, West Coast coal mining town for those with something to escape.
Have you ever wondered what goes into making a roller coaster? In the case of the Fury 325, the designers took inspiration from the hornet–not just the insect, but also Charlotte’s reputation as a “hornet’s nest of rebellion” during the American Revolution. (For the record, the Fury 325 is the fifth tallest roller coaster in the world, with a top speed of 153 km/h!)
Related Readings:
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal — There are just 50 years before Earth becomes uninhabitable, but for pilot Elma York, the first challenge will be convincing people that women should be allowed to fly.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe — Did you know that when NASA was preparing the first manned space flight, they wanted to use trapeze artists? (But settled on test pilots instead.)
It’s not often that a museum opens to protests, but that’s exactly what happened at the Creation Museum in 2007. With a focus on young Earth creationism, the Creation Museum has displays showing the co-existence of humans and dinosaurs, and drew 800,000 people in 2017. (By comparison, in 2015/16 Te Papa had 1.7 million visitors.)
Related Readings:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson — A dying reverend writes a letter to his six-year-old son about the strange wonders of the world and his place in it.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman — The book (and TV series) that asks the question, “What happens to gods when people stop believing in them?”
With its carnival rides, butter sculpting and delicious deep fried foods (cookie dough in a waffle on a stick, anyone?), the Iowa State Fair is a Midwest institution. And every four years it’s also the place you get to see presidential hopefuls vie for votes while trying to eat deep fried oreos–never easy.
When you think about visiting Las Vegas, stopping at a museum isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. But the Neon Museum–or Neon Boneyard, as it’s often called–isn’t an ordinary museum! Scattered across the campus are signs from some of Vegas’ most well-known historic casinos and motels, including the Sahara, the La Concha and more.
If you were designing a house for ghosts, and you had an unlimited budget, you’d probably end up constructing something like the Winchester Mystery House. Built between 1884 and 1922, the house was designed to appease (or escape) the ghosts of all those who had been killed by Winchester rifles. Pop in and have a look around…
With libraries reopened in the capital now, the library boffins have been crunching the numbers during the Covid-19 Alert Levels, and found online services broke every record in the book.
As the lockdown started in March, Wellington City Libraries welcomed over 1,110 new members, a 300% increase compared to 2019.
The number of people using eResources remained high throughout, averaging 10,000 eBooks issued and 5,000 reserves per week. Audiobooks averaged over 5,000 issues and 2,000 reserves per week.
Compared to early March 2019 the average number of ebooks issued was around 6,000, with 1,800 reserves. Audiobooks for the same time last year sat around 3,000 issues and 1,000 reserves.
“With Miramar Library opening 27 May, and Island Bay and He Matapihi opening 2 June, all 13 branches will have reopened – but with Level 2 restrictions there is still a lot of online activity going on,” says Laurinda Thomas, Wellington City Council’s Libraries and Community Spaces Manager.
“We are not running any face-to-face group activities under Alert Level 2, and our hours are a bit different from normal, so check our website before you visit. In the meantime, we are streaming our popular programmes such as Storytimes and Baby Rock & Rhyme, live on Facebook from Mondays to Saturdays, and the recorded Storytimes are available on the Kids pages of our website.
“We are currently planning for Alert Level 1, and we’re hoping that will see the return of many of our much loved programmes like Baby Rock & Rhyme to our libraries.”
Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ was one of the most popular adult eBook and Audiobook over the past two months, and the Harry Potter series remained the most popular Audiobook for children, including the foreign language editions – although Horrid Henry was taking over from Harry in the eBooks stakes.
Such high levels of engagement with our library services during lockdown is reassuring for Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, Portfolio Leader for Libraries.
There has been a library in Wellington for over a hundred years and the record use by residents during the lockdown shows the huge value and trust Wellingtonians place in library services today. We are so lucky to have such committed staff running our city’s libraries.
“The libraries of 2020 are not just about books – it’s audio, visual, historic, futuristic, online, offline, and for public events. Now that our branches are reopening, they’re also demonstrating what an important public space they are for residents as well.”
To meet the required social distancing for staff and customers Wellington City Libraries have introduced a number of systems to adhere to the Alert Level 2 guidelines, says Mayor Andy Foster.
“We know everyone loves our libraries, but we ask visitors to limit their time to 30 minutes to let everyone have a chance to pop in while we’re still operating under Level 2 guidelines.
The Rippl app is in place too, so make sure you register through that or manually while we continue to use contact tracing systems for the health and safety of our staff and customers.”
Top 10 from Kanopy (April)
1 Ex Libris
2 The Dressmaker
3 The Phone Call
4 Carol
5 Kedi
6 Stash Short Film Festival: Comedy
7 Bobbie the Bear
8 The Trip to Spain
9 Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century
10 I Am Not Your Negro
Top 5 from Beamafilm (April)
1 Catherine The Great
2 Un Village Francais
3 Book Club
4 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
5 The Name of The Rose
Top 10 Adult and Children ebooks and audio (April)
ADULT EBOOKS
ADULT AUDIO BOOKS
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Blue Moon: Jack Reacher Series, Book 24 by Lee Child
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward Burger
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Miss Marple’s Final Cases by Agatha Christie
The Testaments: The Handmaid’s Tale Series, Book 2 by Margaret Atwood
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
CHILDREN EBOOKS
CHILDREN AUDIO BOOKS
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Harry Potter Series, Book 1
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Harry Potter Series, Book 1
Horrid Henry Robs the Bank
Harry Potter à L’école des Sorciers: Harry Potter Series, Book 1 (French)
Little Women: Little Women Series, Book 1
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Harry Potter Series, Book 2
Horrid Henry’s Underpants
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Harry Potter Series, Book 3
Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School Series, Book 1
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Harry Potter Series, Book 6
Guts: Smile Series, Book 3
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Harry Potter Series, Book 4
The Cupcake Club Series, Book 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Harry Potter Series, Book 7
Boy-Crazy Stacey: Baby-Sitters Club Graphix Series, Book 7
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Harry Potter Series, Book 5
Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy
Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal: Harry Potter Serie, Libro 1 (Spanish)
The Dirt Diary Series, Book 1
Big Nate in the Zone: Big Nate Series, Book 6 by Lincoln Pierce
The Beyond the Page literary festival for tamariki and their whanau – a project with Hutt City, Upper Hutt City, Wellington, Kāpiti and Porirua Libraries – is running events online this weekend.
Children can sign up to take part in a Zoom drawing class with talented comic book artist and wrestler, Michael Mulipola or join the Family Quiz on Sunday – learn more here.
“Wellington City Libraries will reopen three more branches as we get back to our new normal under Alert Level 2,” says Laurinda Thomas, Libraries and Community Spaces Manager. “We reopened seven branches from Thursday 14 May, and now our Brooklyn, Khandallah and Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) libraries will reopen from Monday 25 May.”
“All open branches will continue to follow slightly reduced hours, so we can manage the additional health and safety measures required under Alert Level 2. Our teams continue to work hard on making our new normal as smooth as possible for everyone, and we appreciate how patience and kind everyone has been.”
“Magazine fans will be super excited as we had a massive amount waiting for us when we returned. They were part of the 11 bags of mail that greeted our teams, which included hundreds of newspapers from around the country!”
“We also saw a huge jump in people entertaining their bubbles using the thousands of eBooks, audiobooks and movie streaming services people can access for free through their library card. Compared to last year, we issued 32% more eBooks and 27% more audiobooks and reserves went up around 50% for both – and the issues aren’t slowing down yet.”
“What we are most excited about is we welcomed over 1,110 new members in March, which was a 300% increase compared to 2019. We relaxed the rules for lockdown so people could apply to become a member online and we could issue them a library number to login. It’s proved so popular we not changing the process back.”
The following branches that have reopened: Arapaki Manners Library and Service Centre, Cummings Park (Ngaio), Johnsonville (Waitohi), Karori, Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie), Newtown, and Wadestown. Brooklyn, Khandallah, and Mervyn Kemp Library (Tawa) will join them from Monday 25 May.
See our Frequently Asked Questions for the full details about the branches opening hours and steps we have in place.
Each year during May it is always New Zealand Music Month, but 2020 is an unusual one due to the COVID-19. It is forcing artists to find new ways of working and connecting with audiences, and there are a surprising number of things still happening. Check out the NZ Music Month official website as well as our Wellington Music blog and facebook. To celebrate and support New Zealand music and artists, we have selected some fantastic films available on Beamfilm and Kanopy. They include the documentary about Martin Phillipps (The Chills) and two iconic New Zealand movies (An Angel at my Table and Dean Spanley) for which Don McGlashan (Blam Blam Blam, The Mutton Birds) did the soundtracks. Be calm, kind and enjoy the movies!
The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy of Martin Phillipps
Year: 2019
Length: 95 minutes
Directors: Julia Parnell and Rob Curry
Martin Phillipps came tantalizingly close to conquering the international musical world with his band The Chills, but instead fell into decades of debt and addiction in his hometown of Dunedin, New Zealand. At 54, he’s been given a dire medical prognosis, forcing him to face his demons and realise his musical ambitions before it’s too late.
A contemporary story with a strong message, PA BOYS, follows a Wellington reggae band as they embark on a tour ‘down north’, from Wellington to Cape Reinga. Staring Fran Kora (from the band KORA) and Matariki Whatarau (Go Girls, The Almighty Johnsons), PA BOYS is a story about life, death and music. As the band tours, their travels expose Danny (Kora) and Tau (Whatarau) to a spiritual history that cannot be avoided and when unresolved events from their past must be confronted it’s Danny who holds the key.
The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls” is the first time that the irrepressible Kiwi entertainment double act, Jools and Lynda Topp’s extraordinary personal story has been told. The film offers a revealing look into the lives of the World’s only comedic, country singing, dancing, and yodeling lesbian twin sisters. As well as rarely seen archive footage and home movies, the film features a series of special interviews with some of the Topp’s infamous comedy alter-egos including candid chats with the two Kens, Camp Mother and Camp Leader.
Born To Dance
Year: 2015
Length: 96 minutes
Director: Tammy Davis
Champion hip hop dancer, Tu Kaea, has the chance to audition for K-Crew, the best hip hop crew in the country, but he has to go behind the backs of his home crew and his best friend Benjy. Things get even more complicated when he starts falling for Sasha, the girlfriend of K-Crew’s leader. When Tu’s old crew and new crew clash, he has to make a decision that will change his life forever.
An Angel At My Table
Year: 1990
Length: 158 minutes
Directors: Jane Campion
Jane Campion brings to the screen the harrowing true-life story of Janet Frame, New Zealand’s most distinguished author. The film follows Frame along her inspiring journey, from a poverty-stricken childhood to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia and electroshock therapy to, finally, international literary fame. Beautifully capturing the colour and power of the New Zealand landscape, the film earned Campion a sweep of her country’s film awards and the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Dean Spanley
Year: 2008
Length: 97 minutes
Directors: Toa Fraser
A dog may be man’s best friend but in Dean Spanley it is also the key to reconnecting Henslow Fisk and his ailing father, Horatio. After attending a lecture given by a visiting Swami on ‘The Transmigration of Souls’, the Fisks run into eccentric Dean Spanley. Soon, Henslow discovers the Dean may be more connected to the Fisks than they could ever have imagined!
Wellington City Libraries have been busy over past weeks preparing to welcome people back to half of their branches – but things will be a little different.
“We’ve been busy right through the lockdown moving many of our popular programmes online and creating events and activities to help keep everyone entertained in their bubbles,” says Laurinda Thomas, Libraries and Community Spaces Manager. “Over the past weeks we’ve been preparing to make our spaces for our customers and staff to return to. Meeting the government hygiene guidelines includes additional cleaning of the spaces and equipment, temporarily remove some toys and activities, working out how our teams can work and serve customers while meeting the physical distancing rules.”
“Now we have the systems set up we will begin reopening five branches from Thursday 14 May, with another two libraries opening from Monday 18 May. We are reducing our opening hours slightly to fit in the additional health and safety requirements. In order to make sure everyone can maintain physical distancing, we will be managing numbers onsite, so it is likely to be a little busier when you visit.”
“To help everyone enjoy their visits safely please keep your visits shorter, and be kind when keeping your 2m distance, especially when waiting to sign in or check out items. It’ll take a little while as we all settle into around our new ways of working and getting around, so thank you for your patience.”
The Cummings Park (Ngaio), Waitohi (Johnsonville), Karori, Kilbirnie and Newtown branches will reopen on Thursday 14 May 2020. Arapaki Manners Library and Service Centre and Wadestown branch will reopen from 10am, Monday 18 May 2020. See our Frequently Asked Questions for full details.