News from the CEO

Chicago

2010-11-03T12:42:00.003+11:00

Chicago Public Library

The next stop on our tour was Chicago. This is a beautiful city that has undergone a renaissance over the last couple of decades. There is a wonderful waterfront onto Lake Michigan, and one of my favourite things is the new Gehry outdoor auditorium and the big silver jelly bean type sculptures with water parks in the same precinct. I have only been in Chicago in summer, and there was a real festive air in the city.

The Chicago Public Library is one of the major institutions in the city and with nearly 11 million volumes it is the largest library system in the Midwestern United States and one of the largest public library systems in the United States. The Chicago Public Libraries consist of 79 branches including the central library. In 1991, the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago's new central library, named for the late mayor, opened to the public. It was the world's largest municipal public library at the time of its opening. Since 1994 the Chicago Public Library has been led by Commissioner Mary A. Dempsey who launched an aggressive rebuilding project, replacing or rehabilitating the majority of Chicago's neighborhood library branches. It has been the largest and most successful urban library expansion in recent history.

We also went on a River Tour by the Architectural Society and we visited Oak Park to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio and went on a walking tour of the neighbourhood.

Seattle Library

2010-10-12T09:48:00.004+11:00

Seattle City Library

The second city we visited on our US tour was Seattle, and for many of us it was our favourite place. The City has a good feeling about it and is set beautifully into Puget Sound.

The Library is just amazing, it has won a number of architectural prizes and is a real iconic building for the City.

Seattle Library has 26 branches and 1 Central Library. In 1998 Seattle voters approved a USD$196M bond measure to fund the “Libraries for All” building program. The program was delivered from 1998-2008 under the leadership of the then City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs. It was one of the largest and most comprehensive library capital construction programs in the U.S. and included the renovation of 22 branches, the construction of 4 new branches plus the construction of the new Central Library.

The “Libraries for All” program is now complete and under the leadership of the new City Librarian Susan Hildreth, the Seattle Public Library is currently engaging the community to develop a new strategic direction.

The new library opened in 2004. It is double the size of the former Central Library built in the 1960’s on the same site.

Size: 412,000 sq ft; including 49,000 sq ft for parking.
Cost: USD$165M
Library bookstock: 1.4m items
Public Computers: 400

This bold and innovative building was designed by international award winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. It is a contemporary steel structure cut like a diamond and wrapped in glass. Occupying a full city block the library is one of the city’s icons.

This library is built over 11 levels and is a series of asymmetric platforms positioned so as to transform a rather ordinary outlook into spectacular internal and external views with multiple vantage points. The library was awarded a silver LEED rating for sustainable environmental design and construction.

US Libraries

2010-10-04T09:12:00.002+11:00

Back in June and July I was lucky to be able to tour some US libraries - some of the biggest and most beautiful in the country and indeed the world. Our group of 14 visited Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Columbus, Washington DC and New York.

Over the next few weeks I will share the highlights from each city we visited.

Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) system has over 6 million volumes and is one of the largest public library systems in the world. There are 72 branches and a beautiful Central Library that includes significant art works.

The library service was established in 1872 and had a vigorous growth during the 1920s. All branches have been refurbished over the past 15 years; these well managed programs (financed by 2 bonds) meant that there was budget for three extra branches to be built. Different architects have been used for all branches and all reflect their communities.

Los Angeles is going through what was described to us as the worst time financially the library has ever had. Prior to the current budgetary situation the usual opening hours for a Regional Library were 60 hours open week, and 40 hours per week for smaller branches. Over the past year opening hours have been reduced to 6 days per week (no Sundays) and following more budget cuts in the 2010/11 fiscal year will be reduced to 5 days; the average opening now is 40 hours per week. In order to minimise the impact of this, branches are being paired, with one branch open Monday –Friday; the other Tuesday –Saturday, with staff working between two branches.

Despite this, the library continues to provide much needed and valued services to an increasing number of people who use the library to improve their literacy, get assistance applying for jobs and providing a safe and secure place to spend time.

Beautiful Eltham

2010-09-30T13:57:00.003+10:00

After a $1.25 million makeover, Eltham library reopened last Monday with a week of celebrations. The official opening was conducted by the Mayor of Nillumbik, Cr Ken King, the Minister for Local Government, Richard Wynn and the Chair of the Library Board, Cr Lewis Brock and local member for Eltham, Steve Herbert.

The new features of this iconic Greg Burgess designed building are a new children's room with an outdoor reading and activities garden, more room for teens with new pcs and a wii, and a dedicated local history area. There is also a state of the art automated book return that sorts items into bins to assist with easier and quicker shelving. A special addition is the replacement of the old circulation area with a reading lounge complete with a gas open fire to create a cosy and comfortable ambience.

Eltham is also now open 7 days a week - the 3rd library in the region to have 7 day a week opening.

One of the highlights of the week was the visit by international best selling author Matthew Reilly, who delighted over 150 people with his talk on how and why he writes what he does.

New Libraries in the West

2010-04-28T09:54:00.002+10:00

Altona North Library

Last week I joined 60 or so other public library staff visiting 3 beautiful new libraries in the western suburbs. Point Cook and Altona North are brand new buildings, both real community hubs incorporating other council services; and St Albans has had a complete makeover and was packed to the rafters when we visited after school.

What these 3 libraries demonstrated was that in this age of digital information public libraries are still seen as vital community places and the 3 councils, Wyndham, Hobsons Bay and Brimbank are all investing heavily in providing these facilities to their communities.

What we saw were state of the art buildings, all incorporated self service and RFID, all had lots of screens and all were being very heavily used. It's a great time to be in public libraries!

Eltham Library redevelopment

2010-04-19T16:42:00.006+10:00

The Eltham Library redevelopment is moving ahead, and today a wall went up inside the library to enable the builder to start internal works. The extension is starting to take shape and the photo shows the wall of the new children's library. The new library will feature more spaces to sit and read, more space for training and technology and more space for children, both inside and outside. It is going to be wonderful!

New model for libraries?

2010-03-05T08:41:00.003+11:00

The future library on show in Abu Dhabi

A proto type library is on show at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair that heralds the likely future of public libraries in that country. The report explains

Abu Dhabi’s future libraries are likely to feature 24-hour, self-service facilities with vending machines stocked with books, CDs and DVDs, allowing people to take out and return them any time of the day or night... Books, CDs and DVDs will be available in vending machines using radio frequency identification technology.

This raises interesting questions about what people value in libraries. Is it just access to lending materials? Our industry research conducted in Victoria as part of the "Libraries Building Communities" showed that the value that libraries offer is much more than the collection. In any user survey it is always the "helpful friendly staff" that get the highest importance, and the wide range of programs and activities held in libraries that encourage learning and creativity are seen as just as important. The whole notion of libraries as third places (ie a place where you can be that is not work or home) is also embraced by many libraries.

Let's hope public library provision is never reduced to a few vending machines!

Are ebooks finally here?

2010-01-19T09:25:00.005+11:00

When you start seeing articles everyday in the daily newspapers about ebooks you have to think that maybe the tipping point is coming soon. Today there is the announcement that Apple has invited journalists to a special event in San Francisco on January 27 which is expected to be the unveiling of the long awaited tablet computer. The new Apple is expected to be a colour, touchscreen tablet that can browse the web, display video and also serve as an electronic book and newspaper reader.

Reports are that Kindle was one of the most popular Christmas presents this year, and the ability to download books and newspapers wherever you are really simplifies the whole business of getting your content. One of my friends got one, and showed it to me last week. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the screen, the weight and size and also interested that it is not back lit. I remember the early versions of ebook readers, back in 2000, the Rocket in particular which was rather bulky and the very difficult time we had sourcing content for it for Brisbane libraries.

We are pleased that Overdrive, our supplier of online content, is enhancing their offerings too, and Windows Mobile® users – OverDrive Media Console for Windows Mobile is here! For more on this new release of OverDrive Media Console, click here. This allows you to directly download to your device, rather than the previous 2 step process.

The notion of all these functions converging on one device is full of possibilities, though I can't but wonder how many people will want to skype on their tv. But certainly the functionality promised by the new Apple tablet may well revolutionise the way we access ebooks and online content, the way that iPods revolutionised music. I can't wait to see one!

Did you get a Kindle for Christmas? We love you to tell us about it.

Top 10 things for the year

2009-12-22T09:12:00.004+11:00

NEAMI launch September at Watsonia

It is the time for lists - here are my top 10 things for Yarra Plenty over the past year:

1. The fantastic response by our staff and especially Jane and Carolyn to the Bushfire Relief effort and the Rebuilding your library collection project

2. Lalor opening 7 days a week, that library really rocks! It is packed with people everytime I go there - great work Felicity and the team

3. The Book Crossing project at Rosanna Station by Joyce and co - making commuters happy on their way to work

4. Storytimes at Epping Plaza, reaching out to kids who wouldn't otherwise have contact with the library

5. All the fantastic Local History events that have been organised by Liz and the branches - and the Local History Forum that brings together over 30 local history associations once a quarter

6. The NEAMI project at Watsonia that has delivered a beautiful underwater mosaic art work for the entrance to the library

7. The Job Exchange to Columbus Ohio by Felicity and Natasha - who learned lots and represented Yarra Plenty with great enthusiasm

8. The reading programs that are encouraging a love of reading in our community, especially the new Bedside Reads that was launched with author visits

9. Our technology gets more stable and better all the time - and now includes iMacs at all branches too - thanks to Les and the Online team

10. Being awarded 4 stars by our library peers in Being the Best We Can - a real tribute to all that the branches do and the direction we are taking the library

I hope that you enjoy the services and programs we offer and there are more exciting things happening in 2010, with the Eltham Library redevelopment and a new website.

Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year to all!

The Big Issues Seminar

2009-11-25T17:07:00.002+11:00

Storytime at Epping Plaza - outreach to all

The Big Issues Seminar was held at the State Library last Monday and featured 3 keynote speakers.

Tom Bentley, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister, has an interesting background in education policy in the UK. He has written a book called "Learning beyond the classroom" and he highlighted the role that libraries can play in lifelong learning. He spoke about the need to recluster education and learning in a broader community network and saw the potential of public libraries as third places for young people.

Patricia Faulkner is the Chair of the Social Inclusion Board. She described their focus so far as being on those with locational disadvantage, jobless families with children, children at greatest risk and measuring social inclusion. Patricia urged us to become involved in aggressive outreach to these people, they are unlikely to be library users and it is necessary for the library to go where they are.

Bill Thompson is a technology commentator for the BBC. He described this current period in human history as a time of profound change and transition, equivalent to the beginning of the agricultural revolution. He talked about the role of libraries in a pervasively networked world and the library's role in ensuring that people don't get left behind. It is not so much access to pcs they need now as the ability to be skilled in using online services and accessing online information.

The two common themes that emerged from the day were:

1. The library as hub or 3rd place to close the digital divide, for the learning agenda of Tom Bentley, the social inclusion of Patricia Faulkner, and the possibilities of easing across the transition for Bill Thompson. This is the connection point, the hub, where people can become empowered, the place where people can become literate in digital and print.

2. The ability to remain relevant to the over served as well as the under served. Every community needs a public knowledge space where all can contribute and have a common meeting ground. There is a need for libraries in affluent areas too as hubs for old and new literacies.

It was a very interesting day.

Books and reading

2009-11-11T08:45:00.004+11:00

Jung called it synchronicity - when things came together, and that happened to me over the last couple of days.

On the excellent Bookshow on Radio National on Monday, Ramona Koval interviewed self styled bibliophile Rick Gekoski who has written a book called Outside of a dog. The book's title is inspired by the Groucho Marx quote: 'Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.' Rick Gekoski is a former Warwick University literature professor who became a rare-books dealer.

In an amusing and clever interview he described how he had a house full of books - thousands of them. When his first marriage ended acrimoniously, his wife claimed the books as part of the contents of the house, which she was entitled to. He said he was shattered for a long time and wondered how he would cope without these books around him, but came to the realisation that it was reading that was precious, not the act of owning books. ( Aside: a good plug for public libraries!)

Yesterday at the State Library we had a wrap up session on the Bushfire Relief Project - and especially the Rebuilding Book collection project. We were talking about how difficult it would be for book lovers, one lady showed a photo to one of our staff of her extensive collection that she lost in the Black Saturday fires. The program that has been offered to people, to replace particular items and also provide new books, has been very much appreciated by the 200 people who were part of the first program, and no doubt by the many people who will be able to choose their own books from the 28,000 items that will be shipped to affected communities - to libraries and relief centres. We have had some wonderful stories - one was a small boy who couldn't get to sleep because every night his dad had read the Hairy Maclary stories to him, and they had been destroyed. We were able to get a replacement set and sent them up to his school where they were presented to him.

Books are such an integral part of many people's lives, it is hard to imagine not having them around. How do you think you would cope if a vengeful wife or a natural disaster deprived you of your books?

Kindle readers

2009-10-15T09:27:00.003+11:00

Maybe this time the ebook reader will take off. A report in Time Magazine says:

Amazon, the online retailing giant, did more than any other company to turn the sale of digital books into a real business with the 2007 launch of the Kindle electronic reader. The company has sold an estimated 1.7 million units of the handheld device in the U.S., and it's getting ready to ship millions more. On Oct. 6, Amazon announced that it would soon begin selling Kindles — complete with a key feature that allows users to wirelessly download e-books from Amazon — in more than 100 countries.

This was followed up by a report in The Age last week saying:

Australian Kindle users will have to pay at least 20 per cent more than Americans for books on the Amazon e-book readers and the local publishing industry has expressed serious reservations about supporting the gizmo.

International users already have to pay $US20 ($22) more for the device itself, which begins shipping on October 19 for $US279.

I can remember the first lot of ebook readers - they were launched around 9 years ago, and we purchased 20 for a new branch that was opening in Brisbane. They certainly got us lots of publicity and they weren't too bad to read from, but the business model collapsed and getting content became harder and harder and then impossible. It's taken all this time for the industry to try again, and if anyone can do it, it will be Amazon. The most obvious application is for students, though the use of print text books is surely going the way of print reference books, as more and more information is available online and students have their own laptops. Some US libraries have lent them out - but there is no real library business model yet. We'll see!

Have you read a digital fiction book? Let us know what you think.

Philadelphia libraries closing

2009-09-17T08:24:00.008+10:00

Free Public Library of Philadelphia Central Library

This is the sort of news that no one expects to hear - as reported on the Free Library of Philadelphia's website

All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009
We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries,regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2,2009.

This is not some small rural library system, it is a major library with 54 branches and a collection of over 6 million items that has been established since 1892.

The Wikipedia article on the library says:

Among the Free Library's exemplary collections is the Print and Picture Collection. Spanning the graphic arts from 1493 to the present time, the Free Library's Fine Art Prints and Photographs collection includes thousands of images. Initially representing only Philadelphia artists, the collection has been extended to include early masters as well as renowned modern printmakers and photographers. You can view prints by such artists as Dürer, Rembrandt, Warhol and Dali. Some of the photographers include Ansel Adams, Bernice Abbott,Ray Metzker, Eadweard Muybridge and Aaron Siskind.

In May Siobhan Reardon, President and Director of the library addressed the City Council on the impact of budget cuts and said:

While some may think of the library as an institution that simply lends books, we are in fact a multi-disciplinary, cradle-to-grave institution that serves teens, entrepreneurs, older adults, new immigrants, job seekers, young children, and employers, among so many others. And, as the economy declines and unemployment rises, we are seeing increased demand for our services. Two areas – employment support and drop-out prevention – are of particular importance in these times.

Obviously, this testimony about the vital and highly valued services offered by the library did not have the required result. Having undergone already significant cuts in the past year, the Library Board and Director decided that there was no longer sufficient funding to keep their doors open. Let us hope that the various levels of government step in to stop this major library service closing.

The future of libraries

2009-09-07T16:22:00.003+10:00

Games corner, Lalor library

CNN has reported that "The stereotypical library is dying -- and its taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it."

Well, I don't think that Yarra Plenty was ever a stereotypical library by that definition, but even so, there is no doubt that our world is changing and as the world goes digital and libraries are undergoing complete transformations.

The article quotes Helene Blowers, from Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio (where two of our staff are heading on Wednesday for a job exchange.) She says that "The library building isn't a warehouse for books, it's a community gathering center."

Another person quoted is Rolf Hapel from Aarhus Library in Denmark who says "The library has never been just about books." In Aarhus they are have an exciting array of digital objects and discovery areas that illustrate how people can and will access information.

At Yarra Plenty we have introduced a number of initiatives to broaden the appeal of libraries as well as future proofing ourselves. Most branches now have video game consoles available and there has been a general decrease in the collection as the need for more technology means we need to make decisions about how we use our precious space. The Eltham Library redevelopment will take this a step further with its learning lounge, reading lounge and new children's library that will be more about space for programs and activities and reading space than about books. And the implementation of our RFID system and self service has freed up staff to deliver more programs and activities - we saw a 20% increase in attendance last year. We are just completing our Annual Report and the range and depth of the programs that are run shows what a modern library can do to promote informal learning and encourage a love of reading.

What we are doing is redefining the role of public libraries and ensuring that the traditional values that have ensured the importance of libraries are not lost in a digital age.

Parallel imporation of books

2009-08-31T08:39:00.002+10:00

This week I'd like to talk about a controversial subject currently before the Australian parliament - the parallel importation of books into this country. The Productivity Commission has recommended that the restrictions on overseas book imports should be lifted. A special Labor Party working group will this week recommend the restrictions be kept, to protect local authors, publishers and printing works.

Federal cabinet is split on the issue, and so am I. On the one hand as a librarian I applaud any moves that will reduce the price of books, both for our purchasing for the library but also the greater good of the community. People buying more books has got to be a better thing from lots of points of view, leading to increases in literacy and knowledge and creativity.

However I am also aware of the grave fears that authors and publishers have; that removing the current arrangements will have a detrimental effect on their industry and on Australian writing. They argue that the current restrictions enable a fairer system for authors and that publishers cross subsidise their emerging authors with well established and profitable ones. And that would not be a good thing.

One example that is often quoted is that when the restrictions on CDs were lifted some years ago, similar dire predictions were made about the local music scene and that in fact the local industry has not suffered and is flourishing. Whether it is a fair thing to compare these two creative industries or not is a moot point.

I'd like to know what you think - as The Australian says, it is an emotional debate and both sides are cranking up their lobbying efforts.

Lalor opens on Mondays

2009-08-10T10:47:00.004+10:00

Cr Sam Alessi with children from Lalor Park Primary School Choir

Last Monday there were great celebrations at Lalor Library to mark the 7 day opening of this branch. Lalor is the first library in the Yarra Plenty system to be open 7 days and it is a tribute to the staff at Lalor who have rearranged their rosters and taken advantage of the additional time that has been made available by the introduction of self service into our branches last year.

Chairperson of the Library Board, Cr Sam Alessi, spoke about the changes in libraries and how Lalor library reflects these changes, with its wide range of different media, the game stations and pcs and the attractive layout that makes the library so welcoming and a real community place. He noted that when Lalor first opened over 30 years ago the library lent just one book on its first day, now it regularly lends over 1,000 a day.

On the first Monday open, there were 830 visitors to the library - and many complimentary comments from people who are very pleased with the extended hours. Lalor library is a real star!

Yarra Plenty is a 4 star library!

2009-08-05T13:04:00.009+10:00

Melanie McCarten, Michael Scholtes, Christine Mackenzie, Karyn Siegmann, Euan Lockie

Our Library service recently completed a Quality Audit as part of a Statewide project called "Being the Best We Can" which is being managed by the State Library of Victoria, the Victorian Public Library Network and consultants from Australian Continuous Improvement Group.

The process is based on a Scottish model developed by the Scottish Library Association and involved self rating on 5 Key Result Areas:
1. Providing gateways to information
2. Building individual skills, capability and well being
3. Developing social capital
4. Demonstrating leadership and values
5. Designing, managing and improving systems and processes.

We identified our key strengths as

Attractive well designd welcoming libraries staffed by friendly knowledgeable staff
Effective and efficient procurement of library collections
Use of technology to improve processes and free up staff (eg RFID)
Integrating Web 2.0 technologies into service offerings
5 year strategic frameworks developed in consultation with key stakeholders and community

Part of the process is identifying opportunities for improvement and we will be working on promoting the library to non users, improving circulation and promotion of collections, increasing community engagement in planning processes and improved availability of new items for loan.

A 4 Star library means
Major strengths
High standard of provision
Any weaknesses do not impact on users’ experience.

We are very proud to be assessed as a 4 star library and we will be working hard to become a 5 star one - and that means a library that is international best practice!

And don't forget the Librarians tonight on ABC tv - our Mobile library is one of the stars!!

Everybody's doing it now

2009-06-29T09:02:00.001+10:00

In last week's Fairfax community newspapers there was a feature article on technology use amongst older people. One of our colleagues at Bayside library was on the cover and was interviewed for the article. Karyn pointed out that librarians are sometimes seen as a bit old fashioned but as far as take up of new web 2.0 technologies they are right out there, and are also helping lots of people get online to widen their social networks and keep in touch with family and friends.

At Yarra Plenty we run lots of classes for people who want to learn more about online services, from the online program called Taste of Web which you can work your way through yourself (its on our homepage); to one off classes on particular topics such as planning your next holiday or shopping online; to the regular Techno playgroup run at Ivanhoe library; to an indepth 2 day program held at Mill Park library that was fully subscribed to in a couple of days. All these programs can be found on our events calendar.

And I have to tell you about my 82 year old mother who has just got on the internet and is now connecting with her daughters and granddaughters on Facebook - good on you mum! I think that this really demonstrates the great opportunities that the new technologies offer and enable people to keep in touch in different ways.

How have you found the social networking sites changing the way you keep in touch? I'd love to hear!

Bedside reads program

2009-06-23T09:42:00.008+10:00

We are launching a new bookclub concept called Bedside Reads next month with the inaugural Bedside Reads Booklovers Festival that will be held from Monday 27 July - Thursday 30 July.

Bedside Reads is an "un" book club. It gives you the opportunity to share your ideas about what you are currently reading, and is not structured around a particular program of books. For more details check out our events calendar.

The Bedside Reads Booklovers Festival invites all readers to partake in a week of interesting author talks, bookchats and offers the opportunity to meet other booklovers. Authors include Jacinta Halloran, Greg De Moore, Bette Sheils, Kate Holden, Arnold Zable and James Phelan.

What have you got on your bedside table at the moment? I've just finished a delightful book called the The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer that tells the story of a group of people on Guernsey Island following the German occupation during World War 2. It is presented as a series of letters and I can really recommend it as a bedside read.

LibraryLink Victoria

2009-06-17T12:01:00.003+10:00

Did you know you can access the collections of nearly all the public libraries in Victoria easily through one portal giving access to more than nine million books and resources?

LibraryLink Victoria connects to the State’s entire catalogue, including books, CDs, DVDs and other items available for loan. It saves you from going through individual catalogues or driving from one library to another in search of a chosen item.

Library Link can instantly tell you where an item can be found and have it sent to your local library for collection. Simply go to the LibraryLink page and start searching!

As well as searching for physical items you can also search all the online databases at once. To do that you need to SIGN IN (just use your library card number and PIN) and go to Advanced Search, and then choose "Databases" in the Profile section. We will be working on making this easier to find and use over the next few weeks.

Happy searching!

Library does away with Dewey

2009-06-09T12:05:00.003+10:00

The Library Journal (US) reports that

"The six-branch (plus bookmobile) Rangeview Library District, Adams County, Colorado, will be the first library system in the country to fully drop the Dewey Decimal Classification in favor of a system adapted from that used in the book industry. While Dewey has been dropped in some smaller branches, Rangeview’s biggest building will have 85,000 items." They are using a retail system that bookshops use to categorise their collection and this is being mapped to their library management system.

This is a very interesting development and is probably the start of a popular movement. There are branch libraries in Melbourne (eg Hampton, part of Bayside Library Service) that have done away with the Dewey system and shelved their non fiction by subject. It makes it much easier for patrons to find all the items when they are grouped like this, as the Dewey system can separate titles that would make sense to be together.

When I was in Brisbane they tried this in some of the small libraries, but interestingly the patrons didn't like it and we moved back to the straight Dewey system. One of our branches, Thomastown, is going to experiment with shelving items by subject rather than Dewey, we will see how that goes.

What do you think? Should libraries stick with Dewey or explore other ways of shelving their books?

BookCrossing at Rosanna Railway Station

2009-06-02T13:14:00.003+10:00

Rosanna Railway Station

Andrea, the Branch Manager at Rosanna sent me this email on Friday:

"We have just finished a very successful Library Week activity at Rosanna railway station.

We set up a table at the station for four mornings this week between 8am and 10am. Joyce handed out library publicity and offered commuters a free withdrawn book - adult fiction or paperback - each one with a BookCrossing tag and a registration number.

The idea is that readers register their title on the BookCrossing website then read it and pass it on to a friend or leave it somewhere to be picked up by the next reader, who also registers on the website. The website tracks the book's progress around Melbourne or Australia or even overseas and we can also check out the readers' comments about the books (and the "friendly librarian at Rosanna station").

The feedback from both commuters and Connex staff has been extremely positive - Connex have asked if we can do this again during the next school holidays but some commuters have already asked if we could do this once a week.

Commuters were happy - not just to get something for free but they were intrigued by the BookCrossing idea and pleasantly surprised to see friendly library staff out and about early on a cold morning at the station. Perhaps having a book to read on the train and switch off was also a more inviting prospect than reading the daily news. We have been checking the website and it appears that many commuters have logged on to BookCrossing as soon as they got to work and registered."

If you were one of the people who got a book at Rosanna Station last week, we'd love to hear from you!

Australian Library and Information Week

2009-05-25T10:54:00.005+10:00

Today is the start of Australian Library and Information Week - a week that celebrates libraries and the role that they play in discovering new things. This year's theme is Libraries...Your Passport to Discovery.

I can remember when people worked hard to have this week recognised. I used to work at Dandenong Valley Regional Library, and the Regional Librarian, Colin Watson, was a staunch advocate for library promotion. Back in the 80s he was a member of the Australian Library Promotion Committee; and one of the main aims was to have a week that celebrated libraries. He and his fellow committee members fought long and hard for the profession to recognise that this was an important way to advocate for libraries. Once they were convinced, the word could spread to the rest of the world!

ALIA took up the cause and has promoted this week for many years now and librarians around the country celebrate their profession in various ways. We are celebrating at Yarra Plenty:

Monday, 25 May
Start your LIW celebrations with Bedside Reads at Ivanhoe; Early Bird opening hours at Rosanna all week - the library opens at 8am; Coffee for a cause and new book morning tea at Watsonia; Blind Date with a library book at Mill Park and New books at morning tea at Thomastown.

Tuesday, 26 May
It's National Library Technicians Day today - and also a Just4Kids treasure hunt at Ivanhoe; and new books and morning tea at Lalor as well as Bedside Reads.

Wednesday, 27 May
National Simultaneous Storytime - join approximately 850 locations around Australia at 11:00am for the simultaneous read of Pete the Sheep written by Jackie French . Rosanna, Mill Park, Diamond Valley and Eltham are all part of this great event.

Thursday, 28 May
The LIW Biggest Morning Tea @ Eltham Library will be done in real style as Barista Mark Stewart will show you how to make a good coffee on a home machine - to support the Cancer Council.

For all events during LIW check out our Events Calendar

Cloud tagging our website

2009-05-19T15:00:00.004+10:00

Here is a bit of fun for this week's blog! I ran a cloud tag creator over our webpage, and this is the result - making the invisible visible...

Contact us
Telephone interpreting service
Now you can pay your overdue fees online!
Teenagers
Eltham
Terms of Use
Register your email address
englische
YPRL Facebook
A Taste of Web 2.0 : online program
Search Catalogue
Book Groups
My Space Youth Forum
Kids
Positions Vacant
Renew your materials
Community languages
List of databases available
Search the Internet
Ivanhoe
May/June Brochure
WikiNorthia
Information Resources for Staff
& Genealogy
Mobile Library
Article: Finding the right words
Search all databases
YPRL brochures
Events Calendar
Local History
WiFi Access available
Home Library Service
Overdrive(downloadable media)
Thomastown
Local History Blog
Join the library online
Lalor
Chat online to a tutor

Yarra Plenty Reads
Feedback
Yarra Plenty Library's Web 2.0 Resource Site
News from the CEO
Diamond Valley
Rosanna
Bushfire Affected Communities Wiki
My language portal
Homework help
Suggest a purchase
Librarylink Victoria(Inter-library loans)
Seniors
Privacy Statement
May/June Events Brochure
Mill Park
Local History Groups
Education
YPRL Genealogy Blog
Watsonia

Annual Library Budget

2009-04-28T13:02:00.008+10:00

At the Board meeting last week our budget for 09/10 was approved to be advertised. A copy is available at all branches if you would like to look at it as well as an online copy. There are 28 days for the public to comment on it.

The main new initiatives for the coming year are a new position to work with young people in our region, a Youth Services Co ordinator. We are doing some wonderful things with young people, in particular the Finding MY Place program (based on the Western Australian program) with 6 secondary schools and a Living and Learning Centre. The program involves a series of 8 - 10 workshops aimed at Year 9 - 11 secondary students at risk of disengaging from secondary school. We have successfully run this program in partnership with Hume/Whittlesea Local learning and Employment Network for the last 2 years. We also run Youth Week programs, and I talked about the very lively program a couple of blogs ago. We are putting wiis into our branches and Lalor library is doing great things with video games. The new position will work with branch staff to engage young people and encourage them to use the library as well as build partnerships with community organisations to offer activities and programs.

The purpose of the role is:

to form high level partnerships with the Youth Departments of member Councils, community organisations and agencies, government departments and local schools;
train and support library staff in relating to and working with young people;
facilitate and identify programs eg literacy, zines, reading, intergenerational computer skills, that will be run in branches;
advocate for young people in the library service;
encourage young people to use the library, ensuring we identify and meet their needs.

The other main initiative is to update our website, which has not been done for a long time and is well needed. We are exploring some very exciting options for that - stay tuned!

Please let us know if you have any comments on the budget document.

The death of newspapers?

2009-04-23T14:07:00.011+10:00

I was listening to a very interesting program this morning on Radio National, Future Tense, about the future of newspapers. Already in the US there are many cities that no longer have a daily newspaper and even such august publications as the New York Times are said to be under threat. We are lucky in Melbourne where we still have 2 metropolitan dailies and a national paper.

The commentator on the radio was saying that the production of newspapers is a very odd thing to do in the 21st century. First, you find your tree - then it gets pulped. The pulp is sent off to make paper (probably over the sea) and then the paper is shipped to the printers where millions of pages are produced and then the finished item is delivered all over the country, to small businesses and individuals. They are seen as very disposable too, and long gone are the days when they ended their life wrapped around fish and chips or even meat (yes, I'm that old!!)

I admit to being a very dedicated newspaper reader. I get quite anxious if my paper is not on the driveway by 6.30am. During the day I will check the online papers, but nothing to my mind beats reading the paper over breakfast and sitting down in the evening finishing off what I missed in the morning.

Online papers are obviously much greener and less wasteful of resources, but the question is what will happen to the journalists if the papers no longer exist. People are unlikely to pay for online content, so revenue has to be raised by advertising. So how do we still get the investigative journalism and the expert opinion on matters of importance to the community? Will we no longer have professional journalists, but see the rise of the citizen journalist?

The library subscribes to many newspapers, and there is always a queue in the morning to be the first in to claim today's edition. What do you think? Do newspapers have a future? We'd love to know what you think.

Games valuable learning tool

2009-04-15T17:21:00.003+10:00

Queuing for the wii at Lalor library

Computer games can be a valuable learning tool according to education experts quoted in an article in The Age on Thursday 9 April. The article quotes Patricia and Don Edgar, authorities on children's media, education and social trends, who wrote a paper for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in which they argue that there is growing evidence that games are effective and valuable learning tools.

Lalor library was highlighted in the article and Felicity Macchion, the Branch Manager, has spoken at a symposium on computer games held at the State Library of Victoria recently. Lalor library is doing a great job encouraging young people into the library who may not otherwise come. The monthly games night featuring wii games and computer games is further enhanced by the provision of pizza and coke and is proving very popular. The library service is introducing wiis into more branches and the latest is Watsonia.

Youth Week

2009-04-06T15:13:00.002+10:00

Youth Week was celebrated with enthusiasm at Thomastown and Watsonia libraries on the weekend. The library partnered with youth workers from Whittlesea and Banyule Councils and local Freeza groups to present bands, singers, comedians and even a poet at events at the library.

Watsonia library was humming especially when headline group Frankie wants out played, a 9 piece band who play contemporary swing - they are fabulous! We will be posting a video onto our Myspace page soon.

Watsonia library have had a mini makeover and we have installed a wii in the new teenage area and Foxtel cable tv in the new lounge area that will be available for news stations, music and video and sports. We hope our users like it!

Thomastown library has had ethnic cable tv for some time now and is proving popular with different groups.

Lalor is proving particularly popular with young people since we introduced wiis there and regular games evenings on Friday night with pizza and coke have encouraged more interest.
Installing screens, games and tvs is our way of showing that education, learning, recreation and culture can come in all different kinds of media and are all equally appropriate in a public library. We hope you agree!

Youth Week at Yarra Plenty

2009-04-06T09:06:00.006+10:00

Thomastown library has had ethnic cable tv for some time now and is proving popular with different groups.

Lalor is proving particularly popular with young people since we introduced wiis there and regular games evenings on Friday night with pizza and coke have encouraged more interest.

Installing screens, games and tvs is our way of showing that education, learning, recreation and culture can come in all different kinds of media and are all equally appropriate in a public library. We hope you agree!

Disability Access Plan

2009-03-30T17:42:00.005+11:00

NEAMI created a beautiful mosaic for the Lalor Library last year and are now working on another project for Watsonia library.

The Library Service recently commissioned Access Audits Australia (AAA) to undertake the development of a Disability Action Plan for the organisation and the Library Board adopted the Plan at its last meeting. The DAP responds to the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and provide a framework for ensuring equitable access to library buildings, services, communication systems and employment for all library users and staff. Community Consultative forums have been facilitated, one in each municipality. AAA conducted a staff forum to raise awareness of access issues and responsibilities and to identify issues to be addressed in the Action Plan. The Plan is available on the library's website.

The Action Plan focuses on achievable outcomes for the library service and concentrates on access outcomes rather than disability issues. It provides a framework for moving forward in addressing access issues relevant to each area of the library.

The DAP provides the framework for the Library to address disability access issues across all areas of library responsibility and operations and to support it in meeting its requirements under the DDA. The DAP will assist YPRL in removing access barriers and providing equity of access to services, facilities and employment for all people, and is designed to ensure that the Library’s practices are proactive in relation to meeting the needs of people with disabilities, their carers and associates, and that services and facilities will be accessible to all.

The DAP document:

Identifies access barriers to YPRL
Outlines actions to remove barriers
Includes priorities for actions
Identifies who has responsibility for ensuring actions are completed
Outlines how monitoring, reviewing and evaluating of the DAP will occur

If you have any access issues we would like to hear from you, either commenting on the blog or emailing ceo@yprl.vic.gov.au

Pay your library fees online

2009-03-23T10:04:00.005+11:00

Last week we implemented a new service for borrowers, you can now pay your library fees online. On our first day we had over 20 people who did just this. We are pleased to be able to offer this option, as sometimes a card can be blocked because of a fee that is owed, and this way it can be cleared straight away, allowing holds to be placed and items renewed (as long as they aren't required by someone else or haven't been renewed already.)

Fees and charges are necessary for the library - for two reasons. First, to encourage people to bring items back on time so others may use them. Our materials go out on average 7 times a year (cds and dvds go out 15.4 times and some children's books over 12 times) and we want to keep them circulating. Second, it is a revenue stream for the library that assists us provide services. We charge for materials that are returned late and for lost cards and items. We don't charge for holds, though many libraries do. However we would much rather have the items back on time than the money. That is why if you have an email account, we remind you before the date due that your items should be returned or renewed. You can renew online, on the automated phone line 24/7 on 9401 0777 or by phone on 9401 0750.

Soon we will be implementing a new management system for printing in the library that will be more streamlined and will allow printing on the new multifuctional devices (fancy photocopiers) from the public pcs and will allow stored value on your library card. This will all be integrated with online payments and pc management. It will make printing very much easier for our customers.

Let us know what you think about our new systems - we'd love to hear from you.

Musings on 2 different themes

2009-03-18T09:58:00.004+11:00

Samuel Dundas as Don Giovanni
(credit - http://onstagemelbourne.blogspot.com/2009/03/review-don-giovanni-victorian-opera.html)

Last Saturday night I went to the opera to see Don Giovanni - this is only the second opera I have ever been to, and I enjoyed it very much. The Victorian State Opera is four years old now and building a repetoire and growing young musicians - and this is not just words. The conductor was Nicholas Carter, who has was accepted into the Developing Artist Program with Victorian Opera in 2006, and the lead role of Don Giovanni was performed by Samuel Dundas, a 24 year old singer. The opera company is creating a new sort of company - one that encourages partnerships, takes operas out to the suburbs and regional Victoria and who is engaging a new audience for opera through such programs as sing your own opera community events, Discover Opera programs hosted by Richard Gill, of Operatunity fame, and programs designed for schools.

It got me thinking about how we continually need to reinvent ourselves, offer programs and services that will appeal to our audience and think of ways to grow that audience by doing new and different things. When organisations do this, there is energy and a sense of excitement.

The other quite unrelated musing was about Australia's Public Lending Right. We are one of only 25 countries in the world that compensates its authors for public and educational libraries holding their works - the scheme was introduced in the 1980s. I have recently joined the PLR Committee, which has responsibility under the PLR Act for determining the eligibility of claimants, the amount of payment to a claimant, approving payments under the scheme, and providing recommendations and advice to the Minister about the operation of the scheme and the Act. Lending Rights is a very important part of building our cultural heritage and supporting the enrichment of Australian culture by encouraging the growth and development of Australian writing and publishing.

So my musings were that we are fortunate to have organisations such as this to encourage our cultural life and that the Victorian Opera is really hitting the mark in building new audiences and ensuring their relevance to contemporary society.

libraries transform communities in the West

2009-03-10T10:47:00.003+11:00

Beth Jefferson from Bibliocommons speaks at the conference

Last week I attended the LocLib 2009 Biennial Conference in Perth. The theme was libraries transform communities and there were over 200 participants. I presented 2 papers, one on integrating Web 2.0 and a keynote on the Great Public Library Tour.

The opening speaker was Beth Jefferson from Bibliocommons in Canada, who spoke about how we can build online communities in the same way we build real communities. She has developed an online public access catalogue where people can contribute reading lists, tag items and rate and review titles. For many people it can be the equivalent of browsing the shelves and return trolleys. One of Beth's main points was that its no good anymore libraries just being "free" as the cost of information becomes less and less - we are losing that point of difference. We need to add our special skills and build on the trusted brand we have to enhance people's online experience. She said that if all the public library catalogue hits in Nth America were added together this would put them in the top 10 of websites. But we need to work together and standardise the experience for people and give them the opportunity to interact and participate in the catalogue. It's about putting the public library at the centre of the online community, just as they are offline.

The other speaker that I was particularly impressed with was an architect, Josh Byrne, who described how the Peppermint Grove, Cottesloe and Mosman Park Councils have approached the development of a new library, community centre and council offices as an opportunity to create a building that is totally self sufficient using leading edge environmental and sustainable initiatives. As well as being beautiful and functional, the building will act as a educational and learning tool on sustainable architecture and building.

Perth was beautiful, hot and sunny - but I've had enough of hot and was pleased to get back to cool, dampish Melbourne!! I think most people who have endured our summer would say the same. Finally autumn is here and we hope lots and lots of rain.

Library industry unites for disaster recovery

2009-03-03T16:31:00.006+11:00

The library industry has united to appoint a disaster recovery support officer to coordinate its response to disasters such as floods and bushfires.

Jane Grace, currently Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service outreach manager, will take up the position of acting ALIA disaster recovery project manager immediately to ensure that appropriate support is provided to bushfire families and wider communities as soon as possible.

Grace, who will also be working with Queensland colleagues on requirements for their flood affected areas said in an ALIA issued press release that ‘she was very pleased to be able to take up this interim position to coordinate immediate support and future models and information tools to support communities to get back on track.’

‘People are often well-meaning, but getting the needs and requirements right for
the people on the ground is our aim. Libraries really are providing an amazing service in these difficult times and making a difference in people’s lives,’ she added.

Representatives from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Public Libraries Victoria Network, the State Library of Victoria, school libraries and school library associations, public libraries in the bushfire region, the Victorian Government and the book industry met at the State Library of Victoria last Friday so they could create a united assistance to disaster-affected areas.

The meeting, attended by more than 25 people agreed to call on all Australian libraries and library organisations to support and contribute towards the position of ALIA Disaster Recovery Project manager.

Article from Australian Library News
26 February 2009 Issue 362
PUBLISHED BY THORPEBOWKER,
A DIVISION OF R R
BOWKER LLC
(ABN: 87 082 599 102)

Reliance on technology

2009-02-23T10:01:00.005+11:00

As I write this, our server is down, its been playing up for a week now, and finally we are getting moved over to another one. And the reliance we have on technology is highlighted. I am composing this post with pen and paper, an increasingly unusual way for me to write. Once we are back up I will type it into the blog and all will feel right again.

It is hard to imagine that ithas only been in the last 10 - 12 years that electronic communication was introduced into Australian workplaces. I have been fortunate to work in progressive organisations where the uptake was timely. Without access to email many people feel quite isolated (I most definitely include myself in this group!) I have a Blackberry that keeps me online most of my waking hours - and I'm not sure this is a good thing, but it's the way it is.

Belonging to the baby boomer generation I still phone my mum - but increasingly my communication with the rest of the family is via sms or facebook. I like this short, more frequent contact. The same happens with professional colleagues - quick emails to stay in touch, or to swap information and the use of real time chat. And now contact with our users is easier too, as they can quickly send us an email letting us know of issues they may be having or to compliment us on something. This blog is another way of communicating with borrowers and we love to get your comments.

So now the system is back up again - and life gets back to normal!

A week of shock and sadness

2009-02-17T11:14:00.002+11:00

It has been a sombre week as the stories of the devastating fires became known and there has been a great outpouring from all around the country with offers of assistance and aid. The Relief Centres have been overwhelmed with the generosity of the community.

The Library has had some of our staff working at the Diamond Creek centre and there is an ongoing commitment to do whatever we can. We have a book drive happening at our branches, where people can donate books which we will distribute to individuals and schools, and those that are not directly distributed will be sold to raise funds for the Red Cross bushfire appeal. We are also participating in a co ordinated response to distribute books donated by publishers and the book industry.

Our mobile libraries are attending where they can, although access is still restricted to some sites. We particularly feel for our Murrindindi colleagues, who are amongst the worst affected. Their libraries are still standing and are being used as community centres.

As the rebuilding starts, we will be providing whatever services and support we are able to.

Horrifying bushfires

2009-02-09T15:37:00.002+11:00

Here at Yarra Plenty we are shocked and horrified by the devastating bushfires that have ripped through Victoria. Parts of our region, especially in the Shire of Nillumbik, have been badly affected, and our partners at Murrindindi have had terrible losses and are still facing danger.

Our hearts go out to all those who have lost family, friends, pets, stock, houses. Those of you who were not in Victoria on Saturday could not have any comprehension of the appalling heat and wind - the temperature reached 47 and a hot northerly wind was gusting at over 50 km in the morning. I drove down to Gippsland in the morning and although there was not much smoke around then, by early afternoon it was obvious there were very serious fires in many places. The cool change that came through around 5.30 in Melbourne merely exacebated the fires as they swung around in a completely different direction. The change reached Maffra around 10pm - outside there was ash and black debris blowing in. Driving back to Melbourne yesterday I was fortunate that the highway had been opened by the time I got to Warragul. There was a lot of smoke, though not so much sign of fires from the highway.

The news keeps coming of more loss - it is hard to comprehend.

For those who have been affected, please let us know if we can do anything to help you. We are very conscious that the last thing you will want to be worrying about is your library books. If you would like to email us at ypmail@yprl.vic.gov.au , or call us on 9401 0750, or let your local branch know, we will manage that for you. We are intending that the Mobile Library will go out to those townships that it can get to - and will post that information on our website each day until the mobile is back to normal.

ebooks gaining favour

2009-02-02T10:03:00.007+11:00

A report in the Salt Lake City Tribune describes the growing popularity of ebook readers

The high-tech gadgets are still a novelty, but they appear to be taking hold. Already, reading newspapers on a smart phone isn't such a big deal anymore, so these book readers appear to be the next logical step in how new technology can change our reading experiences. Driven by sales of the Kindle, the most iconic of the devices, these hand-held book readers are larger than an iPhone and, with adjustable font sizes, can make reading text easier. Made by Amazon and touted by Oprah Winfrey, the Kindle showed up on several holiday shopping guides and is one of the few products this season that appeared to be recession-proof. Demand for the $359 device has been high, and it is sold out until February.

I brought back a Rocket eReader from the US in June 2000 - they were very new then and I had rather more problems buying one than I had imagined. However they grabbed our imagination at Brisbane City Council, and we purchased 20 of them for the opening of the Toowong Branch in March 2001. They were certainly a great novelty, and easy enough to use, but we had a lot of problems getting the content for them. Yarra Plenty also bought one to familiarise staff with. However, the end came when the website we were downloading the titles from just disappeared.

The Kindle reader, the Iliad and Sony’s reader are some of the new offerings on the market. It was a pleasant surprise to experience the quality of the screen and the ease of using an Iliad, compared with the first generation e-book readers. The higher quality screens and print resolution make it a much more viable proposition. It seems that the ebook may indeed be taking off.

However, before we get too excited, we need to be aware that the Kindle is not available in Australia and is unlikely to be in the near future - this is from the Amazon site:

"At this time, we are unable to offer the Amazon Kindle and associated digitalcontent from the Kindle Store to our international customers due to import/export laws and other restrictions. When you place your order for an Amazon Kindle, both the billing address for the payment method and the shipping address for the delivery must be recognized by our systems as valid U.S. addresses. To successfully purchase digital content from the Amazon Kindle Store, the 1-Click payment method listed on the Manage Your Kindle page must be a credit or debit card issued by a U.S. Bank with a U.S. billing address. We value our international customers and hope to make Kindle available internationally in the future."

The library service does have a growing collection of audio books, music and videos including best sellers and new releases are able to be downloaded from the library's customised website. Some of the authors available are Garrison Keillor, Ian McEwan and Dean Koontz. Classical music, feature films, movie classics, concert videos and other popular materials are also available. Check it out!

Have you had any experience with ebooks? What do you think the future of them is? Let me know!

Fiction Reading Increases for Adults

2009-01-28T09:49:00.009+11:00

The "Oprah" effect is credited with an increase in fiction reading

A report in the New York Times recently gives the perhaps surprising news that fiction reading has increased for adults.

After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed.
The report, “Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy,” being released Monday, is based on data from “The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” conducted by the the US Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen.

The increase has been attributed to community reading programs, such as the One Book One City programs, to the Oprah Winfrey ’s book club, the huge popularity of book series like “Harry Potter” and Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight,” as well as the individual efforts of teachers, librarians, parents and civic leaders to create “a buzz around literature that’s getting people to read more in whatever medium.”

We have experienced a similar growth in our fiction borrowings, between 2007 & 2008 there was a 5% increase at our libraries. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in tough economic times people use public libraries more and this will also translate to more fiction borrowing and reading.

Reading a novel is a wonderful way to experience someone else's life, to get insights into how others think and behave. My current bedside reading is a Henning Mankell book, a Swedish detective story that features Kurt Wallandar, who solves murders around Ystad. There's something cooling about reading a novel set in cold, foggy, wet Sweden on a hot Melbourne night!

If you would like to share your bedside reading we are launching a new program soon that will be running at all libraries. It is an ongoing bookchat program designed to encourage and create opportunities for people to share reading experiences. Unlike the traditional Bookgroup format, Bedside Reads is designed for people who wish to share what they are currently reading without having to read a set book. We will be putting all the details on our Yarra Plenty Reads when the program starts in February.

Are you reading more fiction? Let us know!

Welcome to our new Board members

2009-01-21T08:47:00.006+11:00

Cr Jenny Mulholland at Rosanna Library last year

Last week it was my pleasure to show our new Board members around the region. We visited all the libraries as well as Library Support Services. The main comment was how different each branch is and how well each reflects its own community, through its architecture, collections and programs and services offered.

Cr Jenny Mulholland is the new representative for Banyule. Jenny has been a councillor for 9 years and has always had a keen interest in the library service. She has also been involved in library programs, and is quite a storyteller!

Cr Chris Chapple and Cr Lewis Brock are the two Nillumbik representatives. Both these councillors were first elected in November and will bring a fresh perspective to the Library Board.

Our new representatives join Cr Anthony Carbines from Banyule, the most recent Chairperson, and two Councillors from Whittlesea, who have not yet been appointed.

The first meeting of the new Board will be held on February 19.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-12T09:25:00.004+11:00

Happy New Year to you all, already things seem to be settling down after our Christmas and New Year break. Of course our libraries have been open and I was particularly impressed with how busy Lalor Branch was when I visited last week. There are plenty of activities on during the holidays for the children, as well as adult programs and various summer reading programs too for adults and children.

The Summer Read runs through to the end of February.

The summer read invites you to take a trip through the pages of 20 books either set in Victoria or written by authors who call Victoria home. This summer, remove yourself from your hectic life and relax between the covers of a book. Vote for your favourite to go into the draw to win some fabulous prizes.

For more details visit slv.vic.gov.au/goto/summer-read

As part of the Summer Read Yarra Plenty Reads are hosting author events with:

Peter Steele, Tuesday 17 February, Watsonia Library, 6.30pm

Alice Pung, Monday 23 February, Mill Park Library, 6.30pm

Summer Reading Club for kids is also in full swing, and there are over 1,100 kids signed up to read books and have the opportunity to win great prizes. And the activities are great! check them out.

2008 - a good year!

2008-12-15T09:53:00.006+11:00

Butterfly wall at Lalor

Christmas and the New Year is a time of reflection on the past year and a time to look forward to new things. The library tends to do this at the end of the financial year when we prepare our Annual Report but I thought it might be interesting to highlight some of the major events for 2008.

The major undertaking was the implementation of our self service system and RFID (Radio frequency identification) which was completed at all branches by February. The self check units have proven popular with borrowers, who like the ease and speed of checkout. The move to self service has freed staff up to offer more services and programs, which have included reading programs for adults and children, internet and web 2.0 training, and arts and cultural programs.

Cultural Diversity week was celebrated in March with highlights that included world music at Eltham, a Vietnamese dragon dance at Lalor and Vlanaga Khoza who brought African rhythms to Ivanhoe.

A beautiful butterfly mosaic was created for Lalor library by the NEAMI group, a provider of community mental health rehabilitation and support services. The design reflects the cultural diversity and inclusion of all people in the Whittlesea community; butterflies were chosen as a symbol of freedom and renewal. This group is currently working on a project for Watsonia library.

Our reading programs continue to grow and we support 51 book clubs in the region. Over 800 children joined in the Summer Reading Program, which encourages kids to keep reading over the summer holidays.

From us all at Yarra Plenty - happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year and this blog will be back in 09!

Shanachie tour Downunder

2008-12-08T20:10:00.006+11:00

Every so often something new comes along that grabs people's imagination and gets them thinking in different ways. We have just experienced that with the visit by 2 Dutch librarians from Delft.

Shanachies were travelling storytellers who moved from village to village in Ireland in olden times, earning their board and lodging by telling stories. And that is the inspiration for Erik and Jaap, who have travelled around the USA in 2007 and now Australia. They landed in Perth, flew to Brisbane, then picked up their campervan and drove down the Pacific and Princes Highway to Melbourne, visiting libraries, talking to librarians and running workshops. They have videoed their experiences and their adventures are posted on their website. They are recording how libraries are engaging their communities and preparing for the future.

I wrote about the marvellous Delft Public Library - DOK - a few weeks ago, it is an amazing library, some say the most modern public library in the world. The idea of the library as a concept centre, a place where people can try out new things, explore new ideas and have fun - this is the aim of DOK.

Erik and Jaap ran a workshop at the State Library and enthused the audience with the stories they captured - and the story of DOK. It was great to have them here.

Customer satisfaction survey

2008-11-24T09:35:00.005+11:00

Every year Yarra Plenty, along with other regional libraries in Victoria, commissions a telephone survey of users and non users by Nexus Research. The survey now has been going for a number of years and provides good longitudinal data for our planning and evaluation of library services.

1,800 people were interviewed this year, 300 from Yarra Plenty region. 46% have visited a library over the past year, which is a decline from previous years. 30 - 44 year old females are the highest users of public libraries and males in this age group are also the biggest male adult users. The most common reasons given by people who don't use the library is that they are too busy, that they don't read much and they have no need.

The average importance rating of public libraries on a scale from 1 - 10 was a score of 9.3. This increases to 9.6 amongst those who have visited a public library within the last 12 months and still averages 8.7 amongst those who have never used a public library.

Staff courtesy and helpfulness are rated as the most important aspect of the library, followed by staff knowledge, ease of locating a book or information and range and quality of books.

It is very pleasing that our latest figures on user satisfaction reflect an improvement over the last years with a score of 8.7. Staff courtesy and helpfulness and presentation of the library building rate highest for us. There has been an encouraging increase in satisfaction with the internet, website and computer availability. Events and activities have also shown a good increase in satisfaction levels.

Overall the main area that needs to be improved is the range and quality of AV materials.

If you would like to give your impressions of the library service, please feel free to comment on this blog.

Libraries and digital futures

2008-11-19T11:53:00.003+11:00

Yesterday I attended a seminar at the National Library of Australia on Broadband, libraries and creating Australia's digital culture, presented by Charles Sturt University, the National Library and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)

The seminar featured a number of very interesting speakers, particularly Prof Trevor Barr from Swinburne University of Technology, who spoke about the National Broadband Tender to be announced by the Federal Government in early 09. He outlined possible outcomes of the tender, which is worth $4.6 billion from the government and a further $5 - 9 billion from the preferred fibre network operator. He spoke about the central issue being what services will be offered on the new broadband and will they justify the return on investment, as there is no white paper that describes how the network will be used and what services it will provide. His view is that Telstra is the likely provider as there is no other entity able to roll out such infrastructure.

Peter Adams from CSU presented the results of a household survey that showed that most people who want broadband already have it and most do not see the need for more bandwidth than they have. My view is that once people have very fast connections they will appreciate the extra services and more applications will be found.

Debbie Campbell from the National Library described some of the initiatives the library is undertaking to create digital cultural resources, and in particular talked about Picture Australia and Libraries Australia, two world class projects that make many resources available to everyone. The NLA is working on a new portal that will bring a number of their projects together and it all sounds very exciting.

Laura Simons is the Executive Officer of Australian Digital Alliance and she spoke about some changes to copyright law - it is now legal to copy a tv show or record a song from the radio for your own use - its taken a while for the law to catch up with consumer practice!!

I spoke about public libraries and digital futures and how despite the increasing role of online information sources, libraries are still being built. I described the Amsterdam and Delft libraries and Library10 and Meetingpoint@Lasipalatsi in Helsinki as examples of where public libraries are heading. I also talked about our Web 2.0 initiatives.

It was an interesting and useful seminar, and provided some good updates on what is happening.

Helsinki Libraries

2008-11-10T13:06:00.003+11:00

Helsinki is a charming city, it puts me in mind of a small Melbourne, with the green and gold trams, a wide main boulevard reminiscent of St Kilda Rd, and some lovely old buildings. Helsinki was our second stop on the Great Library Tour, and we visited Sello Library, just out of Helsinki, which I wrote about last week. We also visited 2 libraries that belong to Helsinki City - and they look a lot different from our normal concept of what a library is.

Library 10 is a combination of two libraries - a technology/internet library and a music library. The Cable Book Library was the first public internet library in the world, and attracted great attention in the 90s when it was set up. It grew and evolved and in order to meet demand, moved into larger premises with the music library to become Library 10. This library is situated right in the middle of town, in the old Post Office building and is open from 10am to 10pm. It is a place where people create content, meet, listen to music and borrow books. There is a music studio, a radio station, musical instruments for loan, a stage for performances and books, cds and dvds for loan.

Meetingpoint@lasipalatsi is an information desk for internet services and technology – run by the library. It provides courses and information session, employment and recruitment services, workspaces with multimedia workstations, and WiFi. There is even a laptop doctor who will fix your laptop for free.

These 2 libraries are pushing the boundaries in defining what a public library is. They are very popular, they are informing, connecting and learning places highly appreciated by users.

Sello Library, Leppävaara District, Finland

2008-10-31T12:02:00.005+11:00

My next library in this report back on the Great Public Library Tour of the World is Sello Library, Leppävaara District, Finland.

Espoo is the second largest city of Finland, with a population of approximately 240,000. It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Espoo is the headquarters of Nokia. There are 14 libraries in Espoo; 3 of these libraries are in shopping centres, with a 4th coming 2009 and a 5th in 2010. There are also 2 mobile libraries.

Leppävaara District Library in Sello is the Main Library of the Espoo municipality. It is the busiest library in Helsinki.

Sello is the second largest shopping centre in Scandinavia, and was completed in 2005. There are over 160 shops and covers a total area 97,000 square metres, with 2,500 customer parking spaces. The library is situated adjacent to the shopping centre and pays market rent. The developers encourage libraries in malls, recognising their “civilising impact.”

Vital statistics
Size sqm 5,846 square metres
Population 24,000 (Leppävaara)
Visits 825,000 visits (3,000 – 4,000 per day)
Circulation 1.3 million loans (4,000 per day)
Collection 180,000 books, total collection 225,000
Date opened Opened 11th of August 2003

Financial arrangements
Budget: 3,5 million euros
Rent: 1,5 million € per year
Library service provision is free in Finland.

An interesting offer is to “borrow a librarian” for 45 minutes You can book online to have a librarian help you with your information request.

There are over 100 pcs for customers as well as a computer classroom with 10 pcs. 20 pcs have Microsoft Office, photoshop and other software loaded. There is a meeting room that accommodates 50 people. A reading room with 40 desks provides a quiet area for people who wish to read or study. There are 12 self check units and 2 sorting machines. Espoo was a pioneer in self service in Finland. 2 soundproof music rooms house 2 pianos - 1 of which is a grand piano. These rooms are very popular – with over 650 bookings a year.

The aim of the library is to be a Cultural Department store – the Stockman (large upmarket Swedish department store) of libraries, with everything under the one roof. It is a place where everything happens.

Books and writing
There are a number of partnerships, especially with publishers and bookshops. The library hosts fantasy and creative writing groups for young people. It has also hosted NaNoWrimo, which is an online web 2.0 application that allows different people to write a novel in a month.

Multicultural
There are many multicultural programs held by the library. Regular bilingual storytimes are held in Swedish, Chines and Hindi. Many children are left in the library after school and homework help programs are being developed for them. The library organises multicultural mother and child groups for immigrant women, with storytelling and conversation. The main groups are Russian, Estonian, Vietnamese and Albanian.

Marketing and Promotion
The library goes to the shopping mall to promote itself, to read stories and play music.
One example of a promotional event was the Cuba evening, in partnership with the Friendship Association of Cuba. Finland has a close relationship with a number of countries including Cuba. The aim was to change the perception of what libraries do, and staff performed as the Salsa Sisters. The library also has a lot of promotional material on Youtube.

ICT
In partnership with a software company the library runs WelhoNet school for seniors with basic computer, internet and Web 2.0 classes.

Young people
Librarians visit the schools and also run games evenings outside normal opening hours for young people (eg Saturday evening) featuring for example World of Warcraft. There is a games room set up with 2 screens, however this is now closed during school hours as it was more popular than going to school.

Cultural
The music studio has professional equipment including 2 keyboards, and Logic professional mixing software. It is booked constantly and workshops are booked out 6 months in advance.
Musical evenings are held regularly and studio workshops are conducted to show people how to use the professional software and hardware that is available in the music studio for mixing and editing. Hip hop and rap artists are invited and there is a music teacher on staff.

When we visited the library it was hosting an exhibition for children called Mikko Mallikas for 2 months. The exhibition comprised large installations designed for children to climb on, explore and play. It was very popular, and some children were coming every day to participate. The entrance to the library was designed to host such exhibitions and generally they are aimed at adults. This large space is a real asset for the library.

The biggest point of difference from Australian libraries is the size of the building. It is more than twice the size of Victoria’s largest public library. The rental cost of 1.5 million Euro a year (around $3 million Australian) illustrates the importance that the city places on its public library. It is a busy and attractive space, with very good facilities and a quality fitout. The emphasis on music and culture is also a point of difference with the provision of a fully equipped studio and 2 pianos, one a Steinway Grand. I wish!!

100th post - the Delft Library

2008-10-29T13:25:00.008+11:00

This is the 100th post on the blog - and it seems a fitting thing that I should devote it to the most amazing library - DOK - the Delft Public Library in the Netherlands.

Service desk, DOK

Delft is a one hour train trip from Amsterdam. The library is in the centre of town, in what was formerly a warehouse. The architecture is of the exposed concrete school, with bright primary colours throughout. There is a dominant staircase leading to the upstairs area where a coffee shop does great business next to the large AV area. The overwhelming feeling is of a bright, vibrant, happening space - and this is supported by a wide variety of programs and services.

Entrance to DOK

The Director of Delft Library, Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer, was formerly the CEO of a tv station in the Netherlands. A couple of years ago he wanted to give something back to society and recognised public institutions as very important and libraries as treasures. He has very strong ideas about what libraries can be - and he says that life is about having fun, but most libraries are about not having fun. Their theory is that “life is all about having more fun than you can think of, and it starts at the library." Eppo told us that annually, visitors to public libraries are dropping 6% in the Netherlands, yet librarians seemed unconcerned about this - in any other industry, people would be very worried about losing this market share.

Eppo described the Library Concept Centre as like Ikea where people can test things. They are working with companies and public broadcasters to engage with the users. He says there is nothing more beautiful than a beautiful story; but we must remember its about the story not the media. This was a continuing emphasis during the tour - that it is the "word" or the "story" its not about whether it is a book or a dvd or online. Books are not the future, people are. And books aren't dead, they are going digital. He talked about the added value that libraries can offer - letting people find / try something new.

We heard about the series of philosophy lectures that attracted 250 people. We heard about the summer camp, where library staff take 150 kids aged 6 - 12 away and teach them how to do tv shows; they take their mobile studio, theatre and music. They work closely with schools to encourage more use of the library by young people.

Chair for listening to music

DOK is truly a library of the future, and has been described as the most modern library in the world. There is content everywhere - books, cds, dvds, magazines. There are screens and playstations and chairs where you can listen to music. It is a beautiful story.

More on overseas libraries

2008-10-20T11:45:00.005+11:00

Amsterdam Public Library (OBA)

The trip is now over and I am back at my desk with my head brimming with ideas! We saw some wonderful libraries on our tour, undoubtedbly some of the world's best.

This time last week we visited Amsterdam Public Library (OBA) in the morning and Delft Public Library (DOK) in the afternoon. I will tell you about OBA today and next week about DOK.

The Amsterdam Central Library (OBA) is a magnificent new library in a prominent position, close to the Central Railway Station in Amsterdam. It is the largest public library in Europe, at 28,000 sq m over 10 floors. It was opened on 7th July 2007 after 10 years of planning and building. The concept of the new library is to transform from a lending library to an adventure library. The architect is Jo Coenen, a well known Dutch architect.

The most impressive feature of the library is its size and the quality of its fitout. It is the highest public point in Amsterdam and many visitors come for the view of the city. The escalators lead the visitor up through the building, ensuring that all levels are visible and easily accessible.

There are 2 eating places, a small café near the magazine area and a restaurant. The restaurant "Du Monde" on the 7th floor has a seating capacity of 250 and also takes care of receptions and corporate catering. It is becoming very popular both with users of the library and visitors. The library has a profit sharing arrangement with the restaurant.

The City of Amsterdam recognises that the library needs to be regularly refurbished and renewed. There is a budget for total renewal in 10 years. The AV area will be renewed in 5 years; it has not been fitted out to the same high standard as the other areas to reflect this.

The Children’s library is a magical place of discovery and adventure. It has small storytelling areas, many comfortable seats for sharing stories, and has a craft room that is permanently set up for children to draw, colour and paste.

A Radio station is located in the library, broadcasting in the afternoon and evening to a city and national audience. People are invited to come and have their say about issues of the day in the open studio. This has given the library a high profile.

There is a grid for IT on all floors of the entire building and a wireless network. There are 600 pcs, many of them Apple Macs. Seating for the pcs is comfortable and stylish – there are a number of different configurations throughout the building. There are 8 lending machines (Lendomats) / self-loan desks; 110 OPACs; 50 workplaces with multimedia facilities; 10 print and Xerox facilities and good facilities for payment. All libraries in the Netherlands have RFID and OBA has a book sorting system that delivers the books to each floor.

The Conservatorium is next door to the OBA and students use the library heavily, often playing in the library, and using the music rooms, creating a real cultural space.

The Theater van ’t woord is professionally designed with the latest in light/ sound/ recording technology. It seats 270 (the 10th largest in Amsterdam) and is linked with the library. Nearly everything is possible: film/ music/ lectures and it is also linked to catering and conference rooms. It already hosts 25 performances a month. A smaller children’s theatre seats 40.

Librarians work on the floor, the information desks are designed to consult with the borrower side by side. Increasingly programs are being held on the weekends, requiring more staff to work then. 50 new staffing positions were created for the new building.

There are a number of exhibition spaces within OBA, including 300 m2 of professional exhibitions supplementing what the library offers. The current exhibition features the OBA’s architect, Jo Coenen, with an exhibition called 3 buildings, 7 themes, 1 story.

The OBA costs around 1million Euro per month to operate. The Library Director acknowledges it is a lot of money, but also emphasises to the funders that it is cheap for what they get. The library gives a lot back to the City and is the most popular building in Amsterdam. It is a combination of information, education, culture and meeting place. There is the possibility for everything in the library. It is a tourist attraction as well as a library.

Library tour

2008-10-02T13:56:00.004+10:00

I am on a busman's holiday as they say - a group of librarians are visiting the best libraries in the world. Fifteen of us from Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are on a 3 week study tour to learn from our colleagues.

Our first stop was Singapore. Singapore libraries underwent a radical overhaul in the early noughties - many wonderful new libraries were built and usage rose dramatically. It has been interesting to see the sustainabilty of this enormous investment that the government made to their library service. We visited the beautiful new National Library that was opened in July 05 - The building consists of two 16 storey blocks, which are linked by skybridges on every floor. It houses two libraries, the Central Lending Library in Basement 1 and the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library from Levels 7 to 13. The lending library was full of people using the space and the facilities and the reference library houses over 8 million items.

We also visited the Esplanade library which is a special public library for the performing arts. The Esplanade building is a landmark building in Singapore, sometimes described as looking like a durian fruit. The library has collections in dance, music, film and theatre and has facilities such as pianos for practice as well as recitals and a wide audiovisual collection.

Our final visit was to the Bishan library which is the newest library in the system. The library is spread over four floors and a basement, with a coffee shop on the first floor. It has over 200,000 items for loan. A feature of this library are the windows that protrude out of the building which are reading pods for readers who want to read quietly. They are very popular with teenagers, who are at the doors every morning on opening to claim one of these spaces.

Singapore libraries are world's best practice in their systems and processes and the work they have done in developing self service has really led the way. They are now looking to the future to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of the people of Singapore.

Last night we arrived in Helsinki, so my next post will be about these innovative and exciting libraries.

Would you like to write your own reviews?

2008-09-22T13:05:00.006+10:00

Sometimes when I read a book I find it just so wonderful that I would love to tell everyone about it. I am still moved everytime I think of A fine balance by Rohintan Mistry. Sometimes I borrow a book and its a real stinker and I think - I could tell people not to waste their time! Well now I, and you too dear reader, can.

We have installed a program in our catalogue called Chilifresh. This allows anyone to add their own reviews to a title and give it a star rating. It is designed especially for public libraries and allows borrowers to share their thoughts about books and post them to a website to share with all libraries who are subscribed to this service. One of our patrons has already added a review - we'd love you to too.

back blogging

2008-09-16T13:50:00.003+10:00

There's been a bit of a gap in my blog - caused by the ALIA conference in Alice Springs and then me picking up a nasty viral infection that laid me low. But hopefully all will return to normal again...

The ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) conference is held every 2 years and this is only the second time that it has been held outside a capital city. Despite some doubts about whether there would be a good turnup, nearly 600 attended. Never having been to Alice Springs before, I was delighted by the wonderful landscape and the friendly locals. The conference had a strong emphasis on indigenous library services. A satellite event prior to the conference proper featured success stories from public libraries around Australia. It included indigenous storytelling by a librarian on Cape York, the local history publishing program at Launceston public library and Verbyl, a youth drop in centre and library in Yepoon.

We have just had the wrap up for our Taste of Web 2.0 online learning program, and 8 lucky (and hardworking) people are now the proud owners of an iPod. The program will stay up on our website, for people to continue to access.

Our two exchange librarians from the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County have arrived and are settling in. Kim and Mark started work yesterday, and are busy touring the region and getting orientated. They are also being inducted into an important bit of Melbourne culture, and will attend the Preliminary final on Friday night!

Nillumbik Number One in Victoria!

2008-08-20T08:53:00.008+10:00

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

2008-08-11T11:38:00.004+10:00

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!

2008-08-04T09:12:00.003+10:00

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.

Plenty Reads

2008-07-29T09:34:00.004+10:00

Author Kerry Cue will speak at Ivanhoe Library in August

At the beginning of the year we launched our Plenty Reads program at Ivanhoe Library. This reading campaign aims to promote reading in our region with a visiting author program, a reading wiki and other activities to encourage everyone to read.

August will see more action with the Books Alive - we have 14 authors visiting our branches! Books Alive is a federal government initiative that uses the money from the GST on books to promote reading and publishing in Australia. We are pleased to announce the following program:

Kim McKay will be at Watsonia on Thursday 7 August at 2.00pm

Toni Jordan in conversation with Alison Croggon at Diamond Valley on Monday 11 August at 6.30pm

Chrissie Perry in conversation with Meredith Badger at Rosanna on Saturday 23 August at 10.30am

Debra Adelaide at Mill Park on Monday 25 August at 6.30pm

Children's Adventure Day at Eltham on Sunday 31 August from 1pm - 5pm with Archimede Fusillo, Michael Pryor, Anna Walker, Holly Sievers (13 year old with 2 books!) Nick Place, Marion Roberts

Kerry Cue at Ivan hoe on Thursday 14 August at 6.30pm

Anne Manne at Watsonia on Monday 18 August at 7.00pm

For more information about the authors, dates and times check out YarraPlentyBooks

There has been some debate about the Books Alive program, in particular in the Australian on the weekend. Beth Driscoll says:

Books Alive is an admirable attempt to provide guidance in a world where thousands of new books are printed each year. The campaign uses government money to give literature new market power and provide a boost to overall literacy.
At the same time, Books Alive's popularity-oriented approach flattens culture, mixing literary fiction in with true crime and promoting them all like blockbuster films. It contributes to a publishing culture where a handful of bestselling books are flogged at every opportunity, while the rest sink without a trace.

Do you have a view on Books Alive? we'd love to hear if you do.

Local media

2008-07-21T11:53:00.008+10:00

Marketing & Media Co ordinator Chris Dennis at the briefing

Last week the library service held a media briefing for local journalists. We are very appreciative of the positive and cooperative relationship we have with our local newspapers, which are the most widely read by the community and we wanted to let them know that.

We also talked about how libraries are changing and highlighted some of our new projects, particularly the Taste of Web online learning program. We know that if we get good coverage for our events and activities that many more people participate because of the wide reach of local papers.

Journalists too are grappling with the changes in their world, as blogging unleashes the "citizen journalist" who is not responsible to an editor or an organisation, but is free to independently comment and publish online. Newspapers are also incorporating blogging in their online editions, encouraging people to offer their views on different stories. Web 2.0, the interactive, participative web is really changing the world we live in.

How is it changing your environment? Please feel free to leave a comment.

Eltham Branch

2008-07-15T15:26:00.002+10:00

Heading up the stairs to Eltham library

This is the second in the series of highlighting our branch libraries.

Eltham Library is a beautiful place, voted by Eltham people as the heart of their community. It is a mud brick building with a wonderful timber ceiling that was designed by award winning architect, Greg Burgess. The library is the busiest in our system, with the most loans and visits and the programs and activities are very popular.

Nillumbik Shire Council is currently planning an extension and repurposing of the library to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of Eltham people. Greg Burgess has been requested to submit plans to update the library and provide more space, especially for children. With the introduction of RFID we can reduce the space needed for a circulation desk and create a reading lounge complete with gas log fire. We will put more pcs in and the learning lounge will be available for individual or group online learning.

The plans will be on display in the library from next week and staff from Council and the library will be there to answer your questions. The times are:
11am - 12 noon Tuesday 22 July
7 pm - 8 pm Wed 23 July
10.30 am Thursday 24 July

We hope that you are as excited as us about the possibilities!

Let me know what you think.

A taste of web 2.0

2008-07-07T16:37:00.005+10:00

We are very excited about our newest program, a Taste of Web 2.0: connecting @ your local library.

Starting July 25, this selfpaced online course will introduce you to some popular Web 2.0 applications. Those who complete the program will go into the draw for one of 9 iPods. Registrations open July 11.

The program is divided into 6 modules and covers 14 different technologies including blogs, photosharing, podcasting, image generators, facebook, second life and skype. There are small podcasts to guide you through, and we will have help available online, as well as at your local branch.

During the program you are encouraged to write about what you have learned on your blog. After completing the program and filling in the evaluation form, you will be eligible to go into the draw for 1 of 9 iPod Nanos, one for each branch (including the Mobile Library.) You need to be a member of the library and live or work in Banyule, Nillumbik or Whittlesea local council areas.

We have a limit of 1,000 people participating in this program, so get yourselves organised to register on July 11!

This program was inspired by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County's 23 Things.

Lalor Library

2008-06-30T10:37:00.011+10:00

Lalor Library

This is the first in an ongoing series that will highlight a particular branch of the library service. I am starting with Lalor library for no particular reason! Lalor was extended and refurbished just over 4 years ago. It is one of our busier branches, there always seems to be something happening there.

A new program called One2One offers people the opportunity to learn about technology in a friendly and supportive environment, one on one with a library staff member. If you would like to learn how to work your new iPod, download a podcast or set up a blog just go along to the library and have a chat with our friendly staff.

New additions to the Toy Library

The Toy Library is being relaunched this Friday at 11am. Cinder the clown will be there, providing face painting and balloon sculpting, and there are lots of new toys to borrow.

The new Wii is proving a big hit with younger borrowers, and we have a dance pad, a guitar and a fit pad as well as over 20 games. The launch party was a couple of weeks ago at the Just4Kids session. Just4Kids is an after school program for 5 - 12 year olds that encourages reading and games at the library.

Baby storytime is really taking off at Lalor too, after storytime mums are welcome to stay and chat over a cup of tea or coffee. There is now a parent's room with a microwave and change table and a couch for mums to feed their babies.

So if you are in the Lalor area - feel free to drop in, have a chat with the staff, pick up something to read and take home or maybe even have a go on the Wii! I know Felicity and all the staff at Lalor would love to see you.

Annual Budget and Strategic Plan

2008-06-23T10:16:00.006+10:00

Finding My Place project to be expanded in 08/09

At the Board meeting on Thursday night the Annual Budget 08/09 and Strategic Plan 08/12 were adopted.

The aim of the 08/09 budget is to

increase collection funding to achieve a 6 year depreciation rate over the next 5 years

achieve the outcomes that have been identified in the Strategic Plan and the Service Frameworks

The overall budget increase for the library service is 4.9%. Some of the new projects that will be undertaken this year are:

Plenty Reads project, a program to promote reading and share reading experiences, including promotion of local authors
Finding My Place, an expansion of the program for at risk students in conjunction with local secondary schools

Marketplace of ideas, a new program to introduce speakers and discussion groups to increase community capacity

Children's library upgrades to make the spaces more attractive and vibrant
Additional pcs for branches, including advanced workstations
Digitising local history, especially local photographs.

As well as these projects, an additional $42,000 will be available to purchase library books and other resources.

This budget also sees overdue charges rising by 5c to 25c a day, the first increase in 12 years. We charge overdue fees to encourage people to return their library items in a timely manner and so allow everybody the best access possible to our collections. The cost for lost library cards will also increase, to $2.50.

The Annual Budget and Strategic Plan 08 - 12 are both available on the library's homepage.

Let us know what you would like in your local library, we'd love to hear from you.

Children's concept Mill Park Library

Libraries for everybody seeking to understand the world and themselves

2008-06-16T13:10:00.005+10:00

This was the theme for the International Federation of Library Associations' (IFLA) Metlib conference in Prague which I have just attended. Metlib is a section of the association for large urban libraries and members include some of the largest libraries in the world, Toronto, Taipei, Shanghai, Queens, Seattle and Singapore as well as leading Scandinavian libraries, Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Strahov Monastery Library

The program included papers and visits to cultural institutions including some very beautiful libraries, in particular the National Library of the Czech Republic and the Library of the Strahov Monastery, both of which date back to medieval times.

One of the most interesting presentations was from Taipei , Chinese libraries are becoming world leaders in many areas and their new libraries are embracing green principles. There is a strong program of events and activities promoting reading, some of which we can try at Yarra Plenty, and some of their new libraries are being sponsored by private companies.

In Singapore they are attempting to raise the livability index through rejuvenation of libraries, and they are looking to have a Youth library in Orchard Rd and also a Sports library to complement the Performing Arts library at the new Arts Centre.

Stockholm too is using libraries to increase its profile, and its aim to be a world class city by 2030 encompasses the new Stockholm library that extends the famous Asplund library, that will be completed by 2014.

I have come back with many new ideas and a new energy for the vital role that libraries are playing in our changing world. Please feel free to share your experiences of overseas libraries on the blog.

Services for children and teens at PLCMC

2008-06-02T15:55:00.011+10:00

An exchange program between the Yarra Plenty Library Service and the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina gave two staff from Yarra Plenty the opportunity to explore ways that another public library encourages visits from children and youth.

It is always hard to encourage the younger generation into the physical library building, especially in a world where social networking tools such as Myspace and Facebook, mobile phones and chat are part of everyday multi-tasking.

The Public Library if Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) have worked very hard in this area and have created great programs which draw children and teens to the library. Here is a snapshot of some of the innovative ways they attract the younger generation.

ImaginOn.
ImaginOn is a collaborative venture of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and the Children's Theatre of Charlotte.
It provides cutting-edge services and library collections, award-winning professional theatre and innovative education programs to children and teens. Parents must be accompanied by a child or teen to enter this library.
Services at ImaginOn, with specially-designed spaces, technology, and programs for 12-18 year olds, include the following:

Tech central
A space just for teens where they can use computers, do homework or just simply play games and socialize in a safe environment.

Studio i
An animation, video, editing and music creation room.
Computers with specific programs for recording and editing music are available to use.
Specific workstations with camera, lighting, blue screen and whiteboard capability with the ability to provide animation programming are also available in this area.

The Loft
ImaginOn has a space just for teens called "The loft"
Cafe style booths provide wifi access as well as a place to talk and socialise.
The loft facilities includes books magazines, CDs, DVDs, games and computers and well as regular ongoing after-school programs and informal learning communities for 12 – 18 years olds.
The loft has it's own web site and also offers online services to teens via IM

The Gaming Zone

The Library offers gaming events for all ages featuring next generation consoles and state-of the-art laptops. There are events at many different locations for many different age groups, including childrens, teens and family programs.

Childrens services
Preschoolers can enjoy storytimes where they can listen to stories, sing songs and join in craft activities. Special computers equipped with early literacy software are accessible to introduce this age group to computers and learning.

School aged children
Computers loaded with special software enable children to explore games and write stories in a safe online environment.
Interactive exhibitions in the library enable children to explore in a hands-on environment.

Children's theatre

The children’s theatre in run independently but allows children to become involved in theatre or enjoy productions produced locally. The theatre opens its doors to school groups during the school term as well as running regular worshops and summer camps during the school holidays.
There are two theatres at ImaginOn; the McColl Family Theatre which seats 570, and the Wachovia Playhouse which seats 250.

PLA conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota

2008-05-26T14:55:00.017+10:00

In March this year Jane Grace and Lynette Lewis from Yarra Plenty Regional Library had the opportunity to attend the annual Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is a brief account of their experience.

After a fifteen hour flight to Los Angeles, followed by domestic flights to Dallas and finally to Minneapolis, we arrived to see a blanket of snow covering the ground, certainly a contrast from the summer temperatures we had been experiencing in Melbourne.

Approximately 10,000 library attendees, exhibitors, authors and guests descended on the Minneapolis Convention Centre Minnesota for the 12th National PLA conference. The conference included workshops and discussions that focused on key issues such as technology; serving adults; gaming in libraries; library design and collection development; often drawing standing room only crowds in each conference room.

The conference opened with philanthropist John Wood, founder and CEO of Room to Read, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children in the developing world through education. Wood discussed the inspiration for his organization, this initial decision to leave his position at Microsoft, and his grand vision to provide educational access to 10 million children in the developing world through his organization.
John has written a book about his vision called “Leaving Microsoft to change the world: an entrepreneur's odyssey to educate the world's children” which is available in the Yarra Plenty Library catalogue.

Conferences such as these also allow library professionals to showcase cutting edge innovations in the library world... It is through these papers we can see what libraries are leading the way with technology, programs and their approach to the future of how libraries will be perceived.

We experienced wonderful papers which gave us insight into how libraries in America use cutting edge technology. Exceptional papers included:

“Changing Cultures: Experiences in Fostering Innovation from Within” and paper co-presented by Melanie Huggins from St Paul Library, Minnesota. We had the privilege of being invited to a brain storming session organized by Melanie to discuss the use of Web 2.0 technologies in libraries. During this session we were able to share some of the latest trends being offered at Yarra Plenty and in other Australian libraries. Trend which included the Wikinorthia collaborative wiki and the Learning 2.0 program being administered at a statewide level.

"What's the Big Idea? The Idea Store and the Future of Public Libraries" co-presented by Sergio Dogliani. The Idea Stores offer a new approach to public library services, offering a place to browse and borrow books, read a newspaper or magazine, learn new skills, surf the net or to relax and meet friends over a coffee in a fun and stimulating environment.

“Creating New Stories and Investigating New Literacies with Virtual Worlds, Interactive Media, and Games” presented by Kelly Czarnecki and Matt Gullett.
This paper focused on the innovative ways Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County use gaming programs, including interactive media creation, gaming tournaments, virtual worlds development, and adult gaming activities in their libraries.

In todays world library staff around the world learn and share experiences via the Web through blogs, emails and other virtual Web applications, rather than meeting people face-to-face.

The opportunity to attend the PLA conference and the chance to listen and contribute to discussions about innovation, technology and the future of libraries and the chance to meet in people we know by name but have never conversed with in person was an opportunity we will both regard as the experience of a lifetime.

It's Library & Information Week

2008-05-19T11:07:00.012+10:00

Every year Australian libraries celebrate Library & Information Week with special programs and activities to highlight the important role libraries play in the community. The first Library Week was held 40 years ago, in 1968.

The theme this year is Libraries are for everyone, and Yarra Plenty has lots of activities on this week. Highlights are the Literary Speed dating at Watsonia tomorrow (Tuesday) night, digital photography at Mill Park on Thursday evening at 6.30 and a session on wikis at Eltham library on Friday morning at 10.30. Have a look at our calendar of events for a list of what's on.

Another event being held during Library Week is National Simultaneous Storytime, where the same story is read all around the country at the same time. This year the book is Arthur, and at Mill Park library we have the Mayor, Cr Elizabeth Nealy, reading it, along with a very special guest. I'll see you there.

I'm off for a couple of weeks from next week, so I've asked Jane and Lynette to fill in and write something about their exchange to the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.

Education & virtual worlds

2008-05-12T10:24:00.004+10:00

Last week I was invited to present at workshops to teacher librarians on web 2.0 technologies, how we have integrated them into our library service and how we have encouraged staff to explore and play with things like blogs, wikis and social tagging. Also presenting at the workshop were Will Richardson from the US, who talked about why the read/write web changes everything (and who blogs at http://weblogg-ed.com/) and 2 NSW educators, Westley Field and Judy O'Connell.

Will presented some compelling arguments about why the education system and the way we teach children needs to change. He challenged the audience to act as models in the online world and provide advice and guidance on the impact of social networking.

Westley Field from MLC School in Sydney is the Director of the "Skoolaborate" initiative. This uses virtual reality to engage students in new ways of learning about the world. This is an incredibly exciting global initiative.

We learned about some great new web tools and sites - ustreamtv is your own personal television station - for all you budding media moguls out there. Myfamily.com helps keep track of the doings of your nearest and dearest and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has all its courses online for free.

Life is certainly changing for schools and teachers, and it was very interesting to hear some of the future directions it is likely to take. Yarra Plenty is currently administering the Learning 2.0 program for a number of school librarians in Victoria, and they are very engaged with that.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about how learning will change because of new technologies.

Medieval imagination

2008-05-05T11:01:00.003+10:00

I had a spare hour between meetings last week at the State Library, providing the opportunity to visit the absolutely wonderful Medieval Imagination exhibition, which is on until 15 June. The beauty of these manuscripts, their freshness, their colour and the story they tell about life and beliefs from the 8th to the 16th centuries is just magic. This is the first time that such a display has been shown in Australia, and it has material from Cambridge, New Zealand and Australia. A real sense of humanity shines through, as well as the labour of love that the manuscripts convey.

My favourite is the one that highlights a miscommunication between the scribe and the illustrator, they both thought the other one was doing the capital "E" to start the sentence...so of course, neither of them incorporated it, and it has been included afterwards as a small E in a box. We all mess up sometimes!

On a similar theme, I was listening to the radio over the weekend and there was a program about the Nelson Moore Richardson and Helen Morewood Richardson collection. The Collection of 289 volumes consists mainly of texts of the English Bible and related material, together with some early printed books, herbals and medieval manuscripts. The radio program described how this collection was bequeathed to the Library, mainly due it seems to the agreeable Australians Mr Richardson met on his visit to NSW in the early 1920s. He was so taken with the people he met, he wanted to leave his collection for their benefit. The Chief Librarian of the Public Library of NSW steered the political process and ensured that the collection did indeed end up at the Library, organising for Mr Richardson to meet with the Premier of NSW who was visiting "the old country." One of the most significant manuscripts isthe score of a Gregorian chant which has now been performed for the first time at the State Library of NSW. The whole story can be read on the ABC website, on the Religion Report. Its fascinating!

So, all this is very different from the daily work of the public library, but it highlights how important libraries are in preserving material and making it accessible to people.

Welcome to winter!

2008-04-28T10:10:00.004+10:00

The weather has certainly changed, from our balmy autumnal temperatures last week to a distinct nip in the air today! There's snow in the mountains - the ski operators are pleased. In direct contrast with that, I was driving along the Princes Highway on Saturday, through the smoke from the fires in Garfield and Tonimbuk, which was very thick.

I like winter - soup, stews, red wine, fires - and books! There's nothing better than a cold wet Melbourne Sunday afternoon, when you can't do anything else but curl up with a good book and perhaps a chocolate or two beside the fire.

I'm reading a book by Jonathan Raban at the moment - Passage to Juneau, where he writes about his experiences sailing up the northwest passage from Seattle to Juneau in Alaska. He follows the steps of earlier explorers and weaves their adventures in to the narrative, his recounting of Captain Vancouver's expedition provides a fascinating backdrop to his own story. And its cold and wet there too!

So why not pop into your local branch, pick up a good book and head home to relax and enjoy yourself. And let us know what you like doing on cold wet weekends in Melbourne....

We've updated our homepage!

2008-04-21T10:17:00.003+10:00

The library's homepage has been updated to better reflect how people are now using the internet. There are easy links to blogs, the reading wiki and other social networking sites and the front page now looks much cleaner. There's a search bar for you to find out if we have a particular item quickly, and other quick links to LibraryLink Victoria for interlibrary loans, and to databases. And there's a link to the downloadable media, through Overdrive. I hope you like it - please let me know.

We are also on FaceBook, we'd love you to become a fan! You can search the catalogue from there too. We've got a MySpace account too, featuring the Get Loud at the Library program that has just been held. There are audio clips and photos to enjoy.

Remember you can do lots of things online - renew your items, change your email address, and place holds on items. Soon you will be able to pay your charges too, we are introducing an online payment system in a couple of months.

If you have any ideas about what services you would like online or what you would like to find on the library's homepage, please post a comment.

Library statistics

2008-04-15T10:28:00.003+10:00

Yesterday I attended a workshop on Data Collection and Analysis for Victorian library managers in at the State Library. Libraries are good at collecting statistics, we know how many people borrow how many books, how many people come into the library and attend activities and programs. We count our new members, how many holds people place and how many searches are done on the catalogue. All these statistics are in our Annual Report.

The purpose of the workshop was to explore how and why we collect all this data. There is a wealth of demographic data freely available on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website. This could be most useful for small business people as well, as it gives in fine detail all sorts of information, for example, how many mothers with children between 0 - 4 years are working, by postcode. The information is provided in maps or tables. For libraries, some of the relevant areas are the breakdown by age of the community, ethnic background and internet connectivity. This sort of information is very useful for designing services and programs.

Another very interesting speaker was Mary Dalmau from Readers Feast Bookstore in the City. She talked about the sorts of statistics and information she needs to run a successful bookshop, and how it is very different managing a bookshop where people are looking for an experience when they visit, compared say to a chemist shop. She is particularly proud of her staff who are all avid readers and are able to convey their enthusiasm and love of books to customers.

This ties in with a conference that has just been held, also at the State Library, on Reading Development, which was about how librarians can promote reading for pleasure. Again there were some wonderful presenters and some great ideas to bring back, and our staff who attended are getting together to develop ideas that they got from speakers from the UK and NZ as well as Australia. One of the most popular was Tom Palmer, a young man who is employed as a reading consultant for a group of libraries in the UK. He explained that when he was in primary school he was a very poor reader, but his mother encouraged him by using books and magazines about soccer to engage his interest. Now he is using similar techniques with boys as part of an ongoing program in libraries and schools in the north of England, with great success - and he writes books for children using football as the main theme.

Let us know if you have ideas on how you would like the library to encourage a love of reading or even if you'd like to know some statistics!

Library governance

2008-04-07T09:49:00.005+10:00

Library Board members and senior staff

I thought people might be interested in how the Library Service is governed and something of its history. Yarra Plenty Regional Library has been in existence in some form since the mid 60s when the then City of Heidelberg began providing library services to the former Shire of Eltham. Later the former Shire of Diamond Valley and the Shire of Whittlesea joined, and in 1989 it became incorporated under Section 196 of the Victorian Local Government Act.

The Library is governed by a Board, comprising 2 councillors from each of the 3 municipalities, Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea. Board meetings are held bi monthly and rotate between Banyule and Whittlesea. The Board develops the strategic direction for the Library Service and is responsible for ensuring that it is effective and efficient. Board members recommend the library budget to their respective councils for approval, and also appoint the CEO. I am responsible for the operational aspects of the service.

The advantages of a regional library are that the costs of specialist staff are amortised across 3 councils and members have access to a much larger and more comprehensive collection than they would as single municipal library services. We have an Outreach Section that comprises a Manager, a Reading Co ordinator, a Local History Librarian, a Seniors Librarian and a Marketing and Media Co ordinator. These staff work across all 3 municipalities.

The Regional Library manages the staff, the IT provision and finances, including payroll. We are like a small Council, and we are audited by the Victorian Auditor General and are required to submit our Strategic Plan and Budget to the Minister for Local Government each year. The member Councils provide the buildings and maintain them.

There are many advantages to belonging to a regional library and we look forward to continuing a high level of service to our communities.

Please feel free to comment on our services or anything else.

Successful grant applications

2008-03-31T09:56:00.005+11:00

Jacob uses a Daisy reader (from Vision Australia Website)

We were pleased to be awarded 2 important grants in the last couple of weeks.

In partnership with Vision Australia Information Library Service, Eastern Regional Libraries Corporation, Goldfields Library Corporation, and Whitehorse Manningham Regional Library, Yarra Plenty was awarded $73,100 for a Service Enhancement through Partnership project.

The Service Enhancement through Partnership project will deliver digital information to Victorians who are blind, have low vision or have a print disability through public libraries. It will also provide people with print disabilities greater access to reading materials by using DAISY devices and hopefully to encourage and facilitate people joining existing public library book clubs.

I mentioned DAISY books in one of my earlier blogs, they are digital books loaded onto special playback devices that provide easier access than ordinary CD talking books and also have some smart features, like remembering where you stopped listening to a book, even if you've listened to others subsequently. The long term goal of Vision Australia is to distribute the devices to everyone who is eligible. If you know anyone who has a print disability, please contact Marie McMahon for more details.

The other grant we were pleased to recieve is from the Victorian State Government is for $69,000 towards a new prime mover for the Mobile Library through the Living Libraries Project. The new mobile library is just over 2 years old now, and provides a much valued service especially for outlying communities. This grant will allow us to upgrade the prime mover which is now due for replacement.

Yarra Plenty staff on study exchange to the USA

2008-03-25T10:07:00.005+11:00

Imaginon, PLCMC

Yesterday morning two Yarra Plenty staff boarded a plane for the US - they are off to do a 5 week exchange at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

Lynette Lewis and Jane Grace were chosen to represent our library in a new program instituted last year between our 2 libraries, which will also see 2 staff from PLCMC visit Yarra Plenty in the next few months.

Jane and Lynette are also attending the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis on the way to Charlotte.

PLCMC is one of the most innovative and inspiring library systems in the United States. An online learning program for library staff called the 23 Things program was developed there and it is also home to the fabulous Imaginon, a children’s library and theatre complex. Yarra Plenty implemented the 23 Things program for our staff and we have built up a relationship with PLCMC over the past 18 months.

The learning opportunities will focus on any of the following areas:

• Work experience within the children’s and teen library at ImaginOn, a unique partnership of the Library and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte

. Work experience within self selected divisions and departments of Main Library, or any of the 23 other locations. Focus areas for PLCMC include community engagement, organisational excellence, research, innovation and strategy, library experience, branch planning, collection management, development and building strategies

• An orientation to PLCMC and an overview of the library’s culture, management and strategic planning processes

• An opportunity to participate in Library Board and senior management meetings

• Branch visits and visits to neighbouring library systems.

We are very excited about this special opportunity to learn and share with a leading US public library. I'll keep you posted on their adventures!

Young readers program launched

2008-03-17T15:04:00.003+11:00

On the 5th March the Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development, Maxine Morand, launched the Young Readers Program.

The key objectives of this State Government initiative are the delivery of children's books and reading support materials to improve early childhood literacy. The program has 3 components:

A picture book for every 2 year old child through the Maternal & Child Health service

A free "Rhyme Time" booklet and DVD, book bags and information on local libraries for families with 4 month old babies through the Maternal & Child Health Service and

Professional development offered to early childhood professionals, librarians and maternal and child health nurses.

This project is being managed by the State Library of Victoria and is funded by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

It will work in conjunction with the long running Bookaroo program that our library service has provided for a number of years. This too is promoted through Maternal & Child Health services and provides an opportunity for new parents to learn how to read to their babies and prepare them for literacy. On joining the library the baby is presented with a book. There are regular programs in the branches for babies and toddlers.

Let us know if you use these services and attend programs with your baby or toddler - we'd love to have your feedback.

Home Library Services

2008-03-12T13:35:00.005+11:00

Marie McMahon, Aged services officer

This Friday Yarra Plenty is hosting a workshop for library managers and outreach library staff to discuss future directions for home library services. As our population ages, there is a greater need for libraries to deliver books and other materials, especially talking books, to people who can no longer visit the library. The aim of the workshop is to share information and ideas and discover new technologies, such as Vision Australia's Daisy reader and Overdrive, the downloadable media now available from Yarra Plenty.

Home library service is the library version of Meals on Wheels for library materials. We have a wide range of books in large print and talking books for those whose eyesight might be failing. We also hold current magazines, a huge range of dvds and music cds. Materials are delivered to people in their homes by volunteers who select the material and deliver it on a regular basis.

As well as home delivery, the library also has an outreach vehicle that was commissioned at the end of 05. It is a state of the art purpose built mobile library for ambulatory older people who cannot access their branch library. With its wheelchair lifter, it is accessible for people in wheelchairs and on walking frames. It visits assisted living accommodation in the region on a regular roster.

If you know of anyone who loves to read but has difficulty getting to the library because of sickness or disability please phone Marie McMahon, our Aged Services Officer, on 9401 0725 or email mmcmahon@yprl.vic.gov.au. Referral forms are available at all our libraries and can be downloaded here.

Also, if you know of a facility that would be interested in having the Outreach Vehicle visit, or you are interested in volunteering we would love to hear from you.

Have you used these outreach services? What do you think of them? Please let us know.

Wikinorthia Launched

2008-03-03T10:12:00.003+11:00

WikiNorthia, a joint project between Darebin, Moreland and Yarra Plenty libraries, was launched last Thursday at Coburg Library by the President of the Library Board of Victoria, Mr John Cain. This initiative aims to collect and preserve the stories and images of this region’s colourful history and rich cultural foundations.

WikiNorthia uses social networking technology to publish people's stories in Melbourne’s north onto the world wide web. This is the first such project in Victoria and Australia, engaging people from communities across the five local council areas of Moreland, Darebin, Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea. The aim is to engage and encourage people across the five municipalities to share their stories and by compiling people’s stories, photographs, even moving images, a profile will be built of life in Melbourne’s north.

The project was funded by the Library Board of Victoria , through a $50,000 Libraries Building Communities demonstration grant.

Ongoing training sessions will be offered to people who are interested in contributing their stories, memories and insights to the project through their local library. A reminiscence session will be held at Watsonia Library on Wednesday April 16 from 10.30 - 11.30 where library staff will help you record your memories of growing up in the northern suburbs.

I encourage you to have a look at the site, and please - feel very welcome to add your stories. We are looking forward to watching WikiNorthia grow!

Accessing books across Australia

2008-02-25T16:53:00.008+11:00

Sometimes people want to borrow books that their local library does not have in stock. One of the services that Yarra Plenty offers is obtaining books from other libraries, or in library speak, inter library loans. This service has been available for a long time, but recently it got a lot easier for people to track down a title and place a request to borrow.

LibraryLink Victoria is a State Government initiative provided through Victorian public libraries that offers online access to various databases and library catalogues Australia wide. As well as being able to access library catalogues, you can also request material for pickup from your local branch. This service is free for materials borrowed from other Victorian public libraries. Some other libraries (eg University libraries, some State Libraries) charge for this service, and if they do, the cost is passed on to you - the usual fee is $13.50 per item.

So next time you are looking for a particular title, and your local library doesn't have it, try LibraryLink Victoria. It's another great service from your local library. And let me know if you've used this service and how you find it - we'd love to hear from you!

Butterflies and Lalor library

2008-02-18T16:20:00.005+11:00

Our World Through Butterflies is a very special project undertaken by the library service in conjunction with NEAMI Whittlesea and the City of Whittlesea. NEAMI is a provider of community mental health rehabilitation and support services funded by the State Government's Health department.

The project has been funded through a Community Grant of $5,000 from the City of Whittlesea, as well as some additional funding from local MP Lily D'Ambrosio and NEAMI Whittlesea.

The Project Coordinator is Suzi Duncan, who has worked with another community artist, Siggy Pferfferle, and NEAMI consumers to create a beautiful mosaic art work made up of butterflies to "encompass, reflect and celebrate the indigenous heritage, cultural diversity, and inclusion of all people of all abilities in the City of Whittlesea." (Sarah Poole, City of Whittlesea's Public Art Officer)
The library wall near the children's area has been painted blue, and features 25 butterflies emerging from the pages of a book all made from mosaic tiles. Butterflies were chosen because they are a symbol of freedom and, for the artists involved with the project, renewal.

"We could have made all the butterflies the same shape but they would still have been so different" says Suzi. Suzi is eager to let other Melbourne communities know about the project saying "Art is an invaluable form of expression, a creative outlet for people who may not be confident to speak or write their feelings. The project is an example to local and neighbouring communities that people who have experienced mental illness are able achieve something significant".

For the library, the project has provided a start to continue a valuable partnership and the opportunity of further projects with NEAMI.

This artwork will be acquired into Council’s Cultural Collection. The project will be officially launched by the Mayor of Whittlesea, Cr Elizabeth Nealy and Cr. Kris Pavlidis on Thursday 28 February at 11 am at Lalor library.

Keeping up to date

2008-02-11T11:11:00.000+11:00

As the oft quoted saying goes - the only certainty is change. Over the last couple of weeks I have been to 2 conferences, both of them with similar themes of new technologies and libraries.

One of the speakers I found most interesting was Sherman Young from Macquarie University. He is the author of "The book is dead. long live the book."

Forget the debate, says Young: the book, like John Cleese’s parrot, is already dead. Look around the bus: who’s reading? They’ve all got headphones “dangling out of ears.” (He also noted the irony of using the book format to proclaim its death...) At the conference he talked about the interactive, participative way that people now use media, and this includes how they get information and also their recreation. All that time that goes into creating and interacting on Facebook is being taken from passive television watching. He gave a great short take on where the web is going:

Web 1 - was about connectivity

Web 2 - is about creating

Web 3 - will be about content, and the machine pulling together information in a meaningful way.

Where does that leave public libraries? I think, at the very least, in a position they were in for Web 1 - providing people with access and training so that they can participate in an increasingly online world. At a higher level, we can facilitate content creation - whether that is through workshops or providing the means for people to do things like upload photos, videos or their stories onto social networking sites.

On 29 February, WikiNorthia is being launched. WikiNorthia aims to document life in Melbourne's north through the use of a wiki - which is a website or similar online resource that allows users to add and edit content collectively. But more about WikiNorthia in future blogs!

Regular classes are held in libraries that show people how to use RSS feeds, set up a blog and do other neat web 2.0 things. Just ask at your branch. And if you have any ideas about how you think libraries can incorporate these things into our programs and services please leave a comment.

Volunteering @ the library

2008-02-06T13:09:00.000+11:00

Volunteers at Yarra Plenty provide much appreciated services and we encourage the involvement of volunteers for the benefit of our community. We appreciate the skills volunteers are able to offer and we know that they gain satisfaction from the services they provide.

This picture shows some of our volunteers enjoying Raymond J. Bartholomeuz (aka Brian Nankervis) at the annual volunteers party.

Our volunteers work with the library supporting services including the home library service, to provide access to reading materials. The Home Library service volunteers are paired with a person who is housebound, and they select the books and deliver them to the person's home. Others assist in the library with various tasks, which included RFID tagging.
And its not just us who think volunteers are terrific! At the recent Australia Day awards, the local history community was recognised by all 3 of our member councils:

The City of Whittlesea Citizen of the Year is Lindsay Mann, President of the Whittlesea Historical Society.

Harry Gilham of Eltham & District Historical Society and his wife Sue Dyet are the Nillumbik Shire Council's joint citizens of the year.

John Butler of Heidelberg Historical Society received a Jagajaga Community Australia Day Award from Jenny Macklin MP.

Merle Gilbo, one of our library volunteers at Ivanhoe also received a JagaJaga community Australia Day award.

If you are interested in volunteering we would love to hear from you. You can contact Marie McMahon on 9401 0725 for more details.

To the person who commented on the last blog about Haiku poems - could you please repost your comment, it disappeared into the ether ):

Reading, book clubs and other musings

2008-01-29T12:12:00.000+11:00

When people ask me where I work and I say "Yarra Plenty Regional Library" the inevitable reply is "how lovely, you must be able to do a lot of reading!"

Well, the truth of the matter is that I don't do nearly as much as I would like, and certainly not as much as many of our borrowers. My reading is done at the end of the day, and a few pages of a Bill Bryson or a short story is about the extent of it. But the January holidays have given me the opportunity of finishing a wonderful novel, and it reminded me again of the joy I used to have in immersing myself in someone else's life and experiences. The book I have just finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry was published by Faber & Faber in 1996 and shortlisted for the Bo oke r Prize. It tells the story of 4 people brought together in mid-1970s India, where a "State of Internal Emergency" has been declared. The book was engrossing - and confronting, funny, sad, tragic and inspiring. I can highly recommend it.

While poking around on the internet, I also found a terrific site for bookclubs - Reading Group Guides. It provides a summary of the book and discussion questions to consider.

As I mentioned in my last post, we now have a reading wiki up and running - have a look at it and add your comments. There's a section there for book clubs too, the Library has been supporting Book Groups for over 20 years. We currently have over 30 registered Book Groups that are either library facilitated Book Groups or independently run Book Groups who use our collections.

Library Book Groups meet on a monthly basis in one of our eight branches and regular meeting times are set and discussions facilitated by our staff.

Independent Book Groups are formed by individuals who meet regularly in a variety of places. Each branch has a staff member who helps with selection and supply of titles to these groups.

You can be involved with Book Groups in two ways:

1. Register you interest in being part of a Library Book Group at your local branch.
2. Start you own Book Group - all you need is a group of friends and a passion for reading. You can register your interest in starting your own group, just ask a staff member.

The library has a wide selection of titles to choose from in our Book Group Kits. Kits hold 12 copies of the same title. Registered Book Groups can nominate which titles they would like to read during the year and collect the kits from their nominated local library branch. It's easy!

And a bit more on my reading of late, I am enjoying Three Junes by Julia Glass on my drive to work - I've downloaded it from our Overdrive site, and its terrific! Beautifully narrated by John Keating with the most delicious Scottish burr, it has transformed the trip down Plenty Road!

I'd be pleased to hear about your experiences with book clubs, and how the library might help you - and you might like to recommend titles for our kits too.

Yarra Plenty Reading Wiki

2008-01-21T09:46:00.000+11:00

Last Thursday night at the "Reading Victoria" event at Ivanhoe Library author Barry Heard launched the Yarra Plenty Reading Wiki. The wiki is attached to our home page and the direct link is http://www.yarrabooks.pbwiki.com/

The reading wiki is designed to assist staff and borrowers in choosing and selecting their next reading choice and a great opportunity for readers to share their reading experiences with others.

The wiki highlights:

* up and coming reading events at Yarra Plenty libraries as well as events around Victoria

* booklists sorted by author and genre in three categories, children, teenage and adult that give direct links to the library catalogue and to author websites

* lists of new acquisitions and books most reserved at Yarra Plenty

* highlighted author, poet or illustrator of the month who has, or will be, visiting our branches

* links to reader development sites and databases to assist you in choosing your next book

* opportunities for people to share and write reviews of their favourite books.

Each month three books will be highlighted and you are invited to add your comments / review.

The first author highlighted on the wiki is Barry Heard. He presented a fascinating talk on his experiences during the Vietnam war. We have a podcast of his talk on the wiki.

So please, visit the wiki and have a look and add your comments.

Downloadable media arrives at Yarra Plenty!

2008-01-14T10:59:00.000+11:00

It's always exciting to have a new media available to our borrowers, and we are very pleased to announce that audio books, music and videos are now able to be downloaded from the library's website.

There has been a big growth in digital audio book, eBook, music, and video services available from libraries, and Yarra Plenty is the first public library in Victoria to offer this service. We have started to build a download collection of digital eBooks, audio books, music, and video downloads, including best sellers and new releases.

Here's how it works: you need to first install free digital media software such as Adobe Reader, Mobipocket Reader, or the OverDrive Media Console™. The software is available for use on many devices, such as laptops, Pocket PCs, PDAs, and even Smartphones! Unfortunately, due to Digital Rights Management issues, you cannot download to iPods.

You can then choose from the digital content the library has purchased - including fiction, nonfiction, best-sellers and children's books. Classical music, feature films, movie classics, concert videos and other popular materials are also available.

You can download and enjoy these digital titles anytime, anywhere. Digital media can also be transferred to compatible devices such as MP3 players, laptops, Pocket PCs, and Palm OS devices. Many audio titles may be burned to CD and played in the car (transfer and burn permissions vary by title). The loan period is 3 weeks and there is a maximum checkout limit o 10 items. Best of all, items are automatically returned, so there's no damage, late fees, or replacement costs!

Full instructions are available on the website. It is all quite easy to follow, and I have already enjoyed the Garrison Keillor audio book Pontoon very much, as I am sure that all fans of his Lake Wobegon series will.

So, if you want to see how to make sushi, discover choral music, read German for dummies or listen to Bryce Courtney's April fools day, checkout this new service from the library.

Young people and public libraries

2008-01-08T09:38:00.000+11:00

The Pew Report: How people use the internet, libraries and government agencies when they need help has just been published in the US. The joint study is from the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the University of Illinois.

The most interesting finding of the study and the one that has been picked up by the press is that Gen Y young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access information from home using the internet. That's especially true for those who had questions about health, job training and government benefits.

Pew's director Lee Rainie explains this surprising finding by suggesting that young adults are the ones likely to have visited libraries as teenagers and seen their transformation into information hubs, with computers and databases alongside shelves of books.

Last year our library service developed a strategic framework for services to young people, in consultation with stakeholders and young people. As a result of this process, we have identifed the main objectives over the next five years are to:

•Provide more services and collections for young people aged 12 – 24

•Develop strategies to break down barriers and ensure we are meeting their needs.

Some of the services that we currently provide are:

•YourTutor.com is an online chat service that provides one-to-one academic support for students in Years 4 -12 in English, Maths and Science

•Get Loud is an annual event at Eltham library featuring local bands

•Finding MyPlace is a 10 week program for students who may be at risk of not completing their schooling and features a weekly workshop to help improve students' sense of self and esteem.

These students were stoked after their martial arts session!

If you have any ideas or suggestions on how we might be better providing services to young people, we'd love to hear from you!

Reading and public libraries

2007-12-17T14:27:00.000+11:00

Mark Twain famously declared that rumours of his death were greatly exaggerated. It's a bit like that with books and reading - while participation in the online / digital world is revolutionising the way that people access information and entertainment, there are still many people who enjoy reading books for information and pleasure.

On Saturday I was delighted by a recitation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in the Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre. Dickens' novels and short stories have stayed enduringly popular and have always been in print. As was the usual format of the Victorian age, Dickens published serialised novels, and each new part of his stories was eagerly anticipated by the reading public. A Christmas Carol was written in 1843, and remains as engaging and entertaining today as it would have been when it was first published.

Two contemporary authors who use a similar style are Alexander Smith, the Scottish author who writes a serial novel in daily episodes through the pages of The Scotsman newspaper entitled '44, Scotland Street'; and Helen Fielding, whose Bridget Jones books had their origins in a column published in The Independent and The Daily Telegraph in 1997 and 1998.

Over the summer holidays we are running two programs - one for children and another one for adults - that promote the love of reading. The Summer Reading Program for primary aged children is themed Superheroes read and there are plenty of activities and ideas for reading.

The Summer Read is a program for adults and features Victorian authors. We are thrilled that Barry Heard, author of Well done those men which is one of the feature books on the Reading Victoria list for this summer, will be visiting Ivanhoe library on Thursday 17 January at 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Barry has had a very interesting life story; his experiences during the Vietnam War have shaped his life in unexpected ways. We are launching our reading wiki at Barry's talk and he has agreed to be our first author of the month. More on wikis soon!

Earlier in the year we developed a Strategic Framework for Reading - where we have outlined our goals in reading and literacy development for the next 5 years. Our main focus is to ensure the collection is matching needs and wants, providing programs and activities that encourage reading and literacy, and develop online tools and social spaces where people can share their reading experiences. We are providing increased support for book clubs and now have dedicated book club collections. Ask at your branch for more details if you are interested in accessing them.

Are you reading as much as you used to? Do you think younger people are? I am interested in your feedback and thoughts.

Disability Action Plan

2007-12-10T15:26:00.000+11:00

The primary role of a public library is to provide free access to information, and our strategic plan has as its aim informed, connected and inclusive communities. We are very conscious of the need to be accessible and we are also aware of the important role that our libraries play for many people with disabilities.

In order to respond to these concerns in a comprehensive and strategic way, we are developing a Disability Action Plan. We will be working in conjunction with our member Councils to ensure that our buildings, services and programs are as accessible as we can make them.

A recent example is that one of our borrowers is unable to access the genealogy resources at Ivanhoe Library, which is on the first floor of the library and so not accessible to people with mobility disabilities. What we are going to do is to load the CD Roms that are only available for use on one designated pc onto a laptop. This will mean that the resources can be taken to the person, rather than the person having to go to the resources. We will be working on this over January.

Another aspect of the library's role is to promote understanding and connectivity and the People and Icons photographic display was a celebration of International Day of People With Disabilities from December 3 - 10 at Mill Park Library.

We are eager to have community input into this plan and if you have any ideas or comments please post them here or email me at ceo@yprl.vic.gov.au.

Exciting new technology @ Rosanna library

2007-12-03T12:19:00.000+11:00

This Wednesday morning at Rosanna library we are going live with our new RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) library system. This is a pilot and we want to ensure everything is working as it should before the other branches go live in the new year.

The main change for borrowers is that they will check their own materials out using express check machines. There are 3 units specially designed to make this task very easy. As well as checking out materials, library members can find out what is on their account and renew materials, even if they don't have the items with them.

The reason we have introduced this technology is to make circulation easy, quick and safe. Easy and quick for borrowers, and safer for staff who currently lend out 3.6 million items a year. By reducing the amount of manual handling by this amount our staff will be available to provide more assistance, whether that is running a computer class, finding answers to questions or suggesting a good book to read. Staff are not losing their jobs - but they will be working differently. And there will always be someone on hand to assist if there are any issues.

The way RFID works is that a chip is placed in each item that acts like a smart barcode. The smart part is that it doesn't need line of sight or contact to read - which means that 5 - 6 items can be checked out at the one time. There's no need to line up barcodes - just swipe your new borrower card, place the items on the designated spot and the items are lent out to you and the security bit is switched off. When the items are returned, the security bit gets switched on again. The gates are able to identify the particular item that hasn't been properly charged out.

Implementing RFID is an important step forward for the library service. Libraries are so much more than lending out books, and over the past few years there have been many more programs and activities run in libraries, more classes and more services. Library staff this year have been learning about the social networking technologies that are changing the way people interact on line and there are some very exciting developments in store for next year as we start incorporating these into our library offerings. And its not just about technology - we will foster more book clubs, have more time to implement programs that encourage the love of reading and provide more resources in readers advisory.

This new initiative is about improving our services and about freeing up staff to provide connections to people, information, resources, events and programs. I'll be interested to hear your feedback and comments on the new system.

New federal government and public libraries

2007-11-26T10:10:00.000+11:00

The election of the Rudd Labor Government will impact on public libraries in a number of ways.

There are over 1700 public libraries in Australia. While the Commonwealth government does not directly fund public libraries except the National Library of Australia, all Australians are provided with information through cooperative relationships between public, state and national libraries. There are 12 million registered users of these libraries, with 100 million visits to libraries each year. There are more public libraries than McDonalds restaurants.

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) asked the two major parties a number of questions prior to the election. The ALP responded to the question "What is your party's commitment to supporting Australians access to information through libraries, particularly public libraries?" by saying

Labor's platform indicates our belief that Commonwealth, State, Territory and local governments should end the blame game and cooperate to ensure that regional and local libraries can provide effective and equitable access to literature and information, including through modern technology.
At a time when media and information technology is undergoing a process of major change, driven by digitisation, convergence of technology and the globalisation of broadcasting, communications and information technologies, Labor remains strongly committed to longstanding national and public interest objectives, including:
genuine diversity of sources of information, opinion, education and entertainment;
greater choice and accessibility for consumers; and
the development of, and equitable access to, new technologies

The way that people are accessing information and using the internet is changing fundamentally and Mr Rudd's commitment to commencing the work on building 21st-century infrastructure including high-speed broadband is welcome. As more and more people look to download content and move to streaming video we need this fundamental building block in place. Broadband needs to be like electricity, taken for granted.

Another area that will be impacted is internet censorship. Labor's ISP filtering policy will require Internet Service Providers to block access to websites that are listed by ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) as containing prohibited content such as child pornography, acts of extreme violence and X-rated material. ISP filtering under a Rudd Labor government will be applied to all households (unless they choose to opt-out), schools and public internet points accessible by children, such as libraries.

Ensuring free public access to government information, particularly government publications and e-government services is another area that is impacted by federal government policy. We welcome the commitment to making government documents more accessible online.

As ALIA has pointed out, public libraries in Australia have faced significant reductions in resources with the decrease of revenue during the drought and the pressure of growing costs. They are a vital community resources supporting developments in human capital that will complement work on broadband to truly provide a more successful, literate and informed nation. We need to continue to advocate for federal support for public libraries.

Do you have views on any of the above? Please feel free to let us know what you think.

Web 2.0 and the library

2007-11-19T11:37:00.000+11:00

Web 2.0 is a new way of using available and emerging technology to connect people. It makes online interactions personal, participative and interactive. One example is this blog, and the other blogs that Yarra Plenty has, for genealogy, local history and reading. Our reading blog offers staff reviews on new books, and the genealogy and local history blogs have a wealth of information on resources in the library and activities and programs in our area.

The library is working on several projects that will be ready in the new year. One of these is our Yarrabook wiki, which will provide news and views on reading, highlight new books and enable people to add their own reviews. Another is Wikinorthia, which aims to capture the history of people, places and events in the north of Melbourne - how we live now and how we lived in the past. The third thing we are doing is setting up a Facebook account to build personal connections with people and enable them to search the catalogue straight from Facebook.

Next year we will be offering more training and classes for people who want to learn more about this new way of interacting online. We will also be holding workshops to add content to Wikinorthia so that the history of people and places is captured and available.

LibraryThing is now the second biggest library in the world! It is a library of books that people have in their own homes. It allows you to catalogue your books, share them with other people, and tag them with subjects. We have integrated LibraryThing in our catalogue, so that when you are looking at an item record you will see all the tags that people have given that book and also books like it. You can then just click on those titles or tags to navigate around the catalogue! It really is quite addictive and opens up lots of possibilities of books you might not have known about before.

If you have any ideas on how you would like to see the library using these new technologies please add your comments. We'd love to hear from you.

Collection Development Policy

2007-11-13T09:36:00.000+11:00

The Library's Collection Development Policy is now available in draft for comment and feedback from our borrowers and community. We encourage you to reply via this blog or email (to ceo@yprl.vic.gov.au) on any aspects of our collection.

The aim of the Collection Development Policy is to articulate the principles that are used in building and maintaining the library collection. While the principles of such policies are enduring, it is necessary to revisit the CDP to ensure that it remains relevant, especially given the big changes that are occurring in people's information seeking behaviours. Where once children came regularly to the library to get materials for their school projects, now they go online and access databases, online encyclopedias and other digital information.

There are four principles of selection that the policy is based on:

We will purchase items that our borrowers want
We will provide a collection which reflects the spectrum of community view points
Parents and caregivers are responsible for their children’s use of the library
We provide informational, recreational and cultural materials in the media of the day

Last year the library adopted a Strategic Asset Plan for the collection, and these two documents form the basis of our collecting and disposal of library materials. The CDP will be presented to the Library Board at the February meeting to be adopted, so we request your feedback by January 31st.

From the CEO - new blog direction

2007-11-05T15:58:00.000+11:00

from Christine Mackenzie...

Some of you may have read the article in the Heidelberg and Diamond Valley Times a few weeks ago - the one with the belly dancer on the front - that talked about how our libraries are changing. One of the things that we would like to do at Yarra Plenty is have a dialogue with our users, and so we are opening up the blog to be more of a discussion point and less of a "what's on" type communication.

So please feel free to comment on any posts - we'd love to hear from you.

The main task in the libraries for the next 2 - 3 months is completing the tagging of all our collections with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags. This will allow people to easily check out their own materials, freeing up staff to run more events and programs in the library and offering you a quicker service in checking out materials. Each branch will have 3 self check units and there will always be a staff member on hand to help anyone who needs it. The first site to go live with the new system is Rosanna at the end of November.

Are you watching "The Librarians" on ABC on Wednesday nights? Of course we all are, with baited breath, and some trepidations! We thought the first episode had some very insightful moments and has avoided the worst of the stereotypes. If you missed it you can watch it online

In the next week we will be posting our new Collection Development Policy for comment. This document is a guide to what we do and don't add to the collection. We will look forward to your feedback.

What's on at Yarra Plenty October 22- October 28

2007-10-18T10:28:00.000+10:00

Many exiting activities are on offer to the community at Yarra Plenty Library

In addition to our weekly scheduled Storytimes for the young, we have the following special events next week

Monday 22 Octopber

Computer class - Introduction to MS Word
10.00am-11.00am
Mill Park Library

Tuesday 23 October

Seniors Week - Dance for life
11.00am -12.00noon
Rosanna Library

Wednesday 24 October
Confident Living
Presented by Victoria Police Crime Prevention Department
11.00am -12.00noon
Thomastown Library

Friday 26 October

Friday Focus : Poetry for all
10.30am - 11.30am
Eltham Library

Sunday 28 October

Backyard poultry
Information onSelecting a breed & how to keep them
2.00pm - 3.00pm
Diamond Valley

Seniors Week at Yarra Plenty

2007-10-04T10:39:00.000+10:00

Seniors week runs from the 7 October to the 14 October 2007 and there are plenty of activities to attend at Yarra Plenty Library.

Monday 8 October

Water and Gardening
Presented by City of Whittlesea
1.00pm - 2.00pm
Mill Park Library

Alzheimer's Awareness Month.
Presented by Alzheimer's Australia
Trivia & Games afternoon.
Win fantastic prizes
Afternoon tea provided
1.00pm - 3.00pm
Thomastown Library

Wednesday 10 October

Feng shui for life with special guest Sally Fischmann
Fact and fiction of Fengshui
1.00pm -2.00pm
Mill Park Library

Friday 12 October

Golden Oldies
Mime, magic and Morning tea with "Charlie Chaplin"
10.00am - 12.00pm
Ivanhoe Library

Saturday 13 October

What is it worth?
Dawn Davis from Eaglemont Antiques shares her
knowledge and expertise
2.30pm - 3.30pm
Mill Park Library

Spring gardening events @ Yarra Plenty Library

2007-09-17T14:33:00.000+10:00

The Beauty of Orchids

A talk by George Dimech from the Orchid Society on care
and cultivation of these beautiful plants

Thursday 20 September
11.00am - 12.00pm
Watsonia Library
Ibbottson Street, Watsonia
Ph: 9435 2397

Gardening during the Spring and Summer months

A gardening expert from Bunnings talks about
how to be water wise and still maintain a great garden

Friday 28 September
10.30am -11.30am
Eltham Library
Panther Place, Eltham
ph: 9439 9266

Science Week @Yarra Plenty Libraries

2007-08-13T12:14:00.000+10:00

It's Science week from 20 August -to- 27 August and Yarra Plenty is celebrating with some science activities

For adults

Stormchasing presentation at Mill Park Library
Monday 20 August
6.30pm -8.00pm

John Allen from Melbourne University will put you in the seat of a stormchaser.
Come along and discover the wonders of storms, how they are formed, who are those daring stormchasers and what methods they use in chasing these “freaks of nature”
Refreshments provided.

Weather forecasting presentation at Mill Park Library
Wednesday 22 August
6.30pm – 7.30pm

David Morrison from the Bureau of Meteorology will show you how weather is watched, studied and forecasted. Learn about how climate change will affect our lives today and into the future
Refreshments provided.

For kids
Science Online
Did you know what science information is available on line?Come along and join in the fun when we search on line for simple experiments and check out sites that may help you with your homework.

Thomastown Library

Monday 20 August
4.00pm – 5.00pm

Lalor Library
Thursday 23 August
4.00pm – 5.00pm

Bookmobile in Mernda

2007-07-12T15:53:00.001+10:00

The Mobile Library Service is being extended to Mernda with a weekly 2 hour stop.
The Bookmobile will stop in Schotters Rd, near Brendan St. Mernda, outside the children's playground, on Monday 2-4pm.

The new Mernda stop begins on 16th July.

This is in addition to stops in Lime St, Whittlesea on Monday, 10.30-1pm and Friday 6.30-8.15pm.

The Mobile Library is stocked with Books, DVDs, CDs, magazines and has Internet access.

Enjoy Winter indoors at Your Library

2007-07-10T15:42:00.000+10:00

Family History July- September 2007: Past - Present - Future.
National Family History Week 6-12 August has a host of activities.
Some highlights include:
Surfing for your ancestors at Mill Park Library, 10.30-11.30am, Monday 6th August.
Family history for beginners at Ivanhoe Library, 10.30-11.30am, Wednesday 8th August.
Introduction to the Ancestry Database at Mill Park Library, 10.30-11.30am, Monday 13th August.
Pick up a brochure at your Local Branch Library.

Whittlesea July Events include:
Mill Park Library's 5th Birthday celebrations.
Acting and performance workshops for Youth, Mill Park library, Wednesday 11th July, 1.30-3pm.
Melbourne BT (Before Television) Thomastown Library, Wednesday 11th July, 2-3pm.
Hip Hop Dancing workshop for Youth at Mill Park Library, Friday 13th July, 1-2pm.

.........and so much more!!
Pick up a brochure at your Local Branch Library.
Nillumbik Events include:
Basic PC Computer classes at Diamond Valley Library, Friday 20th July, 1-11am.
Introduction to the Ancestry Database, Diamond Valley Library, Wednesday, 18th July, 1.30-2.30pm.
BOOKS ALIVE launch and author talk with it's ambassador Peter FitzSimons.
Eltham Community Reception Centre, 801 Main Rd, Eltham, music and refreshments, $3 cover charge. Tuesday July 31st, 6.30-9pm.

..................and so much more!!
Pick up a brochure at your Local Branch Library.
Banyule Events include:
Scrabble night at Rosanna Library, 6.45-9.30pm Thursday 12th July.
Wedding Fashions and customs, 1850-1980, Tuesday July 17th, 7-8pm at Watsonia Library.
The mystique of belly dance, Watsonia Library, Tuesday 24th July, 11-11.45am.

......and so much more!!
Pick up a brochure at your Local Branch Library.

Price It - Antiques & collectables database

2007-06-28T13:54:00.000+10:00

Got something you think is of value?

Price It
new Antique and collectables evaluation database

Thousands of evaluations of collectables around the world

Now available to access in the library or at home from the databases link

on the Yarra Plenty webpage

Library Elf and Snazzy Search Engines

2007-06-04T13:49:00.000+10:00

Library Elf, whats That?

Library ELF, is a free third-party service to receive email notices for due, coming due, holds, and overdue materials. You can also consolidate all family library cards on one handy email notice. Have your Library barcode and pin number ready and sign up today! Library Elf is a FREE service not affiliated with Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service.

SEARCH ENGINES TO WATCH!

Exalead
A clean search engine that gives a nice snapshot of each page in your search results. Video and image searching!

Zuula Search

Another new kid on the block, also has the clean interface.
Image, Blog and Meta searching.

TRY THEM OUT AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK?

Meet the Author - Judy Horacek

2007-06-01T15:24:00.000+10:00

ELTHAM bookshop
and
Yarra Plenty Regional Library

invite you to meet author/illustrator
Judy Horacek
“The Story of Growl”

Date: Sunday 3 June
Time: 3.00pm - 4.30pm

Venue: Diamond Valley Library
Civic Drive
Diamond Valley

Cost: $2 refreshments included.
Families welcome

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
Phone: 9439 8700
elthambookshop@bigpond.com