Library Notes 3 July 2020

Published on July 03, 2020

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Top 10 Fiction 

A taste of art: London by Holly Grothe Howard & Jacqueline Cockburn
Separated by the border by Gena Thomas
Crafting Meaningful Funeral Rituals by Jeltie Gordon-Lennox
100 Ideas that Changed Photography by Mary Warden Marien
Those were the days by Brian Conroy & friends
A place outside the Law: Forgotten voices from Guantanamo by Peter Jan Honigsberg
Living Architecture, living cities: Soul-nourishing Sustainability by Christopher Day
Fair Isle crochet workshop by Natasha Vreeswijk
Deeds not words by PJ Beattie & MJ Pomeroy
The art of protest by Jo Rippon

 

The Joy of Weeding
Pam Coleman, Community Engagement Librarian 

Lean in a little closer to the page because I’m going to confess something to you. Everyone has small, satisfying tasks that we pretend we don’t do or don’t confess to feeling joy about them. Relate?

My top three:

-Making a ‘to do’ list but including tasks I have already done, just for the joy of crossing them off.

-Pumping the exact amount of fuel to a round dollar.

-Weeding a Nora Roberts book (or any prolific author’s book if I am honest) for condition. Gasp!

The satisfaction of finding a well-read book, opening it to find water damage or even worse a missing page, and removing it from our shelf runs deep and pure. To be fair to Nora, I am a big fan, and this isn’t a reflection on her or her writing so much as that there is only so much space. Truth be told, we have also got to make room for the fifteen to twenty books both Nora and Mr James Patterson’s going to publish this year somehow!

Unless a library exists to archive and preserve materials for the ages, we have to weed. As most public libraries do, we weed on three parameters: relevancy of the materials (especially important in nonfiction), most recent circulation, and condition. Nora Roberts is always relevant, and her books are always popular, but we have to be diligent about condition.

Weeding is a solitary time for librarians to put our hands on the collection, to better understand the gaps in what we offer, the surprising things that circulate, and the books that don’t go out, but maybe need to. We can’t all claim to be the world’s best weeders, I’m sure. We love books as much as anyone else, and sometimes hard decisions have to be made. Weeding gives us a chance to do more with the books we have. It’s a bit like not seeing the wood for the trees! It helps give us ideas for displays promoting the wonderful collection of materials we have. Noticing that we only have one particular book on a subject on the shelf is a reason to dig into what is circulating to see if we need to buy more.  

The awesome thing for our libraries is that The Friends of Horowhenua Libraries and our librarians spend time going through our weeded books, sorting them for sale and in the process raise funds for library projects and activities. Which also means, we know our books will be safe on someone else’s shelf to be enjoyed for some extra time. Books make their way to holiday Bach’s, little free libraries and local rest homes. Families can stockpile children’s books with the added bonus that they needn’t worry about expensive books being damaged.

So it’s a win win for everyone. I’m sure Nora Roberts will understand and forgive me but best keep it our wee secret – just in case!

 

Monday 6 July to Friday 10 July
Annual Winter Used Book Sale: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō, 9.00am to 5:30pm
Free entry, books $1 or less

What’s on?

School Holiday Programme – Matariki Craft 
Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 6th to 17th of July, weekdays from 10am to 12pm.
Shannon library 6th to 17th July weekdays from 2.30pm to 3.30pm.
Foxton library 6th to 10th July from 10.30am to 11.30am. 

Exhibitions:
Matariki – Deep Space: A View of the Stars and Beyond, by Dr Stephen Chadwick, Friday 5 June to Sunday 23 August, 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 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 3 July:
Friday Concert: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 12pm

Sunday 5 July:
Family Time in the Youth Space: Giant board games, craft activities and family fun in the Youth Space every Sunday from 1pm to 4pm. Come on in with the whānau!

Monday 6 July:
Raukawa Whanau Ora playgroup: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 9.30am-12.00pm
Toddler Time:
Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō – Children’s Library, every Monday, 2pm
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom – Children’s Library, every Monday 2.15pm 

Tuesday 7 July:
Raukawa Whanau Ora playgroup: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 9.30am-12.00pmJP Service: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 11.30am-1.30pm

Wednesday 8 July:
Toddler Time Shannon Library, every Wednesday 2pm
Social crochet and coffee club: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 10.30am
Quiz Night: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 7pm $5

Thursday 9 July:
Tea & Tales Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 10.30am
Lego Fun Hour Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 3.30pm – 4.30pm

Friday 10 July:
Local Music Showcase (Friday Concert): Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 12pm
SeniorNet: Get help with your tablets, phones and laptops
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom 10am-12pm
Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 2pm -4pm

 

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