Category: General

New Service: Portable CD Players

MarkLeave a comment

Libraries are no longer just places to get books. We have a large collection of non-book items from music equipment, to power meters and C02 meters, to tablets and memory bags.

Once upon a time, most houses had a dedicated home electronic device that could play CDs through a home stereo set up or a television. However, the advent of music streaming services has replaced a majority of these physical devices and cars no longer come with CD players. While we still have a diverse collection of physical media, we realise that some of our patrons no longer have a way to appreciate our extensive music and audiobook collections, so we are excited to launch a new collection of portable CD players!

These lendable CD players enable you to listen to our music collection and enjoy audiobook stories with your whānau!

CD Player Kit, contents listed below

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Pet: Our April eBook Club pick!

NeilLeave a comment

 

eBook Club pick: Pet by Catherine Chidgey. 

Read the phenomenal new book from the bestselling author Catherine Chidgey.

For free and without any waiting. Download a copy here through Libby.

Welcome to the WCL eBook Club, where each month we highlight a popular eBook in our digital collection and give access to an unlimited number of downloads on Libby.

That means no waiting in long reserves queues – you’ll get instant access to our monthly popular pick!

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Katūīvei: Pasifika Poetry Event at Newtown Library!

TessLeave a comment

Join us at Te Puna Waiora Newtown Library on Friday 19 April, 6-7pm to launch the new book Katūīvei: Contemporary Pasifika Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand, published by Massey University Press. Enjoy a dynamic line-up of readings by local poets that celebrate Pacific peoples and cultures in Aotearoa today. This unmissable evening will be hosted by editor and former Poet Laureate, David Eggleton and will feature readings by Karlo Mila, Rhegan Tu’akoi, Josua Tuwere, Tamara Tulitua, Kristoffer Lavasi’i, Gem Wilder, Rob Hack, Losalini Tuwere, Mereana Latimer and Maringikura Mary Campbell.

Āhea | When 6pm–7pm, Friday 19 April 2024
Ki hea | Where Te Puna Waiora Newtown Library
Te utu | Cost Free
Facebook Event

Katūīvei: Contemporary Pasifika Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand
“To write poetry in New Zealand as a Pacific migrant is an act of wayfinding, a creative process of discovery and negotiation between cultural spaces. This collection of 137 poems by 89 Aotearoa-based Pacific poets explores that navigation. This significant collection ranges from long-established voices such as Albert Wendt, Selina Tusitala Marsh and David Eggleton and the powerful newer voices of poets such as Tusiata Avia, Courtney Sina Meredith, Karlo Mila and Grace Iwashita-Taylor to new and emerging voices. Deep and rich, like Moana Oceania itself, it shows Pasifika poetry to be in a constant state of ‘old and new’, of haharagi and lelea’ mafua, a lively and evolving continuum.” (Catalogue)

David Eggleton is a poet and writer of Rotuman, Tongan and Pākehā heritage. His collection The Conch Trumpet (Otago University Press, 2015) won the 2016 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. He also received the 2016 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry. David was the Aotearoa New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2021.

We anticipate this event will be popular and will be seated on a first-come first-served basis, please arrive early to avoid any disappointment.

Grassroot Beginnings: New Sustainability Books

AmyLeave a comment

Small sustainable ideas have the potential to grow into a global movement. This can all be started at a grassroot level, with the help of your family, neighbourhood or local community. Get inspired by others changing the world with our new sustainability books:

Just transformations : grassroots struggles for alternative futures
“The need for a radical societal transformation in the interests of social justice and ecological sustainability has never been greater. But where can we turn to find systemic alternatives? Just Transformations looks to local environmental struggles for the answers. Interrogating each case study for valuable lessons, the contributors develop a conceptualisation of a just transformation that focuses on the changes that communities themselves are trying to produce.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

How to create things for the world sustainably / K, Sarah
“A practical guide for anyone who designs or creates things for the world to achieve sustainable outcomes. Illustrated with the beautiful, photographic documentation from over a decade of Sarah K’s sustainable design initiative, supercyclers.” (Catalogue)

Ignition : lighting fires in a burning world / O’Connor, M. R.
“In a riveting investigation of the science and ecology of wildfires, journalist M.R. O’Connor ventures into some of the oldest, most beautiful, and remote forests in North America to explore the powerful and ancient relationship between trees, fires, and humans. At the heart of Ignition is a discussion about risk and how our relationship to it as a society will determine our potential to survive the onslaught of climate change.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

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Animals who help humans: Books from Te Pātaka

XinxinLeave a comment

Have you heard the interesting, true story about the cow that saved its owner during a flood in the Manawatū? If you’d like more stories along the same theme, below we have books on remarkable dogs, pigeons, and horses helping and saving their human friends during war and peace times – and vice versa.

Animal heroes / Long, David
“The first recipients of the Dickin Medal in December 1943 were three pigeons serving with the Royal Air Force, all of whom contributed to the recovery of aircrew from ditched aircraft. And Treo, a black Labrador, was awarded for his ‘heroic actions as an arms and explosives search dog in Afghanistan’. Olga the courageous police horse, who bolted from the path of a flying bomb in World War II only to return to duty. These true tales of heartrending devotion and duty are told from first-hand accounts.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

Alfie & me : what owls know, what humans believe / Safina, Carl
“A moving account of raising, then freeing, an orphaned screech owl, whose lasting friendship with the author illuminates humanity’s relationship with the world. When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl. Alfie’s feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a part of the family, joining a menagerie of dogs and chickens and also braided Carl and Patricia into her world.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

The diggers’ menagerie : mates, mascots and marvels : true stories of animals who went to war / Stone, Barry
“From the Boer War to the conflict in Vietnam, from the Somme to Afghanistan, from beasts of burden and bomb detectors, animals have played a vital role and provided companionship in Australian military history. Dogs, cats, pigeons, camels and horses are documented by Barry Stone, through letters, journals, photographs and first-hand accounts. The stories of the myriad creatures added a poignant layer to Australia’s military history.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

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Gardening around the globe: new books

TessLeave a comment

Discover the iconic English gardens of Pemberley and the secret gardens hidden in all corners of Cornwall.  For the literature-loving gardeners out there, check out the lush surrounds of iconic writers’ homes including Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott and Agatha Christie. Or be inspired by the natural and self sufficient gardens right here in Aotearoa New Zealand. You can take a gardening tour around the world with these recent green-fingered reads!

The natural garden : landscape ideas for New Zealand gardens / White, Xanthe
“The Natural Garden builds on Xanthe White’s signature landscape design with contemporary updates. Xanthe shares her design philosophy of nurturing a respectful and sustainable relationship with the natural world, and how her signature style can be applied to flower, native, rural, dry, inner city, productive, subtropical and coastal gardens.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

What makes a garden / Blom, Jinny
“This fascinating and insightful book looks at how a garden should please all five senses; how it is an alchemical mix of the inanimate and the living; and also how it has to accommodate both the effects of time and the influences of culture. This is not intended as a book of rules but rather a way of thinking about garden design and making sure it responds to the particularities of place, the culture and the demands of the client.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

The writer’s garden : how gardens inspired the world’s great authors / Bennett, Jackie
“Discover the flower gardens, vegetable plots, landscapes and writing hideaways of 30 great authors – from Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Orchard House’ where she wrote Little Women and Agatha Christie at Greenway, to Virginia Woolf at Monk’s House and the Massachusetts home of Edith Wharton. This book visits the homes and gardens that inspired novelists, poets and playwrights.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

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