Top 10 books
New Adult Fiction
Springfield 1880 by William W. Johnstone
Tiny Tales by Alexander McCall Smith
Nothing but Blue Sky by Kathleen McMahon
The Weight of Small Things by Julie Lancaster
The House of Rani Kapur by A.K. Karla
The Other Girl by C.D. Major
Heart of a Warrior by Angela K. Couch
The Lies You Told by Harriet Tyce
The Boundless by Pater Newman
Broken Genius by Drew Murray
Pam Coleman- Community Engagement Librarian
One of the main aims of this weekly column is to make sure our community knows about our library services, programmes and events. When starting out as a librarian I would never have imagined writing about and sharing library life…as well as all of my library confessions and secrets.
As you can imagine, in order to make our library a vibrant, relevant and well-resourced space, lots of other important mahi goes on behind the scenes.
While a passion for books is great, more important is to have a desire to meet and serve our community. Librarianship is actually all about people. Our most important work goes on within the public space– connecting with customers, readers advisory and programming – to name but a few. A lot of that engagement on the library floor informs our choice of resources. The books, magazines, DVDS and audiobooks which are provided, are driven by the needs of our community. Suggestions from staff and library customers are the basis of what resources are bought.
Most libraries have a core list of authors which are always in demand and are bought automatically. Think James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Kathy Reichs and the many more popular writers of our time. These prolific authors often make our job pretty straightforward. Our team read widely and like most people, we do have our own favourites and specialities. Mine is fantasy adventure, classic literature and graphic novels – a motley crew of genres but together as a team we cover all bases.
Reviewing journals and newspapers is also a great way for us to find up to date recommendations. Another excellent source are from New Zealand Publishers’ catalogues; bookshop and warehouse visits; visits from booksellers and visits to local bookshops.
So like a certain Mr Liam Neesan, librarians “have a particular set of skills, we will find you and we will make you read.” Seriously though, librarians are not machines (not yet) so like every industry, staff training and development is important too. We are qualified professionals from diverse backgrounds and experiences, but on the job training, mentorship and self-development is important.
Our team also go into different sectors of the industry and community to share our work, knowledge and to inform them of what we do and why we do it. Our website coordinator recently delivered an online presentation to fifteen thousand libraries across the world on his work on our library management system and websites. Librarians deliver talks on heritage to local groups and organisations. Shannon Library and the importance of the work going on there, was the highlight at a recent staff wide presentation to our council staff. At the core of all of this though is making sure we provide the best services and opportunities for our community. No mean feat but we have a few Liam Neesans on our side.
What’s On
Exhibitions
Celebrating Levin Playcentre: October 2020, Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō Gallery
Parallax – Art Jewellery and Painting – Exhibition Saturday 17 October to Sunday 13 December
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom
Heritage room:
The Heritage rooms at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō are manned by volunteers 10am-12.30 pm Monday to Saturday. Monday to Saturday and Wednesday and Thursday afternoons 1.00pm – 3.00pm. Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom Heritage Room has the Research librarian available all day every Friday.
Friday 23 October:
Friday Concert: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 12pm
Saturday 24 October:
Shannon Library Open Day
Sunday 25 October
Foxton Spring Fling 9am $2 Children under 5 free
Sunday Concert Series: Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom 2pm-3pm