Nillumbik Number One in Victoria!

Entrance to Eltham library

Nillumbik has just been announced as Victoria's number one local government area for livability and number three in Australia.

From The Age this morning:

The recipe for happy little Elthamites
WITH its tree-lined streets, rolling hills and water views, Eltham is known for offering the best of country living a short distance from the city. Now the suburb and its local government area (LGA), Nillumbik, have been declared Melbourne's most liveable area in a report by BankWest.
BankWest's Quality of Life Index ranked 590 LGAs across Australia for employment levels, crime, internet access, health, education, earnings, home ownership and community involvement. Nillumbik is one of 21 Victorian LGAs in the top 60. Tristin Dawes of Eltham North values the suburb's welcoming nature. "I moved here because of all the trees and the real community feel," she said. The shire features 22 primary schools, five secondary schools and one TAFE. "We're close to the city but far enough to have some privacy," Ms Dawes said.

The article doesn't mention the two wonderful libraries we have in Nillumbik - the award winning Eltham library and Diamond Valley library. Both libraries are full of great collections, have a wide program of events and activities and terrific staff. They are a real asset to the community, and a couple of years ago Elthamites voted their library as the heart of the community. We are looking forward to taking the library into the future with its planned expansion next year.

Well done Nillumbik!

Visitor from Stockholm

Asplund Library and Delphinium

Inga Lunden, the Director of the Stockholm Public Library is visiting Melbourne on her way to the Australian Library and Information Association's conference in Alice Springs. She is speaking at the State Library tomorrow and to Yarra Plenty staff on Wednesday morning.

Scandinavian libraries have always been considered leaders in public library provision and they enjoy strong community and political support in these countries. Stockholm has just undertaken a major architectural competition to select a design for a new central library that will complement the beautiful and famous Asplund building. The German architect Heike Hanada's proposal Delphinium won the architectural competition for the grand expansion of the library. The plan includes a glass building, which connects to Asplund's library by a low, podium-like structure enclosing a circular garden. A final political decision on the expansion of the renowned library has yet to be taken by the Stockholm City council.

We are looking forward to hearing what is happening in Swedish libraries and learning from Inga.

Taste of Web 2.0 is underway!

Cr Sam Alessi working on his blog

The online program that shows you how to use some of the very useful web 2.0 tools is now underway, and we already have nearly 200 people signed up! Participants will learn how to blog, set up an RSS feed, load their photos to share with family and friends on Flickr, set up a page on Facebook and ring their friends for free on Skype. All these technologies make it easier to stay in touch and share information.

Cr Sam Alessi, the deputy Chairperson of the Library Board, was the first person to sign up and is blogging at samalessi.blogspot.com. You might have seen his picture in the paper.

The program will remain available for some time yet, but to be in the draw for 1 of 9 iPods, you need to have finished all the modules and completed the feedback form by Friday September 5th - so you've got a month to get going!! It's up to you if you want to pace yourself or do it all in one concentrated hit. Branches are running programs to help people, so if you get stuck, just email connect@yprl.vic.gov.au or visit your local branch.

Good luck with the program - it's great fun to learn new things, and this program is available whenever you want to do it, wherever you want to do it. Get blogging!! And I'd love to hear what you think of it.