News
Upgrade Yourself | Astronomy in April | Law for Lunch | Select: Sound & Vision Collection | Focus Groups | Borrow three, get one free | Baby Rock & Rhyme CD | New audiotours
Reserves on open shelves | Email notices | New satchels for sale | New library charges | Extended loans | Debt Recovery
Upgrade Yourself
Upgrade yourself with new skills for tough economic times.
Looking for a competitive edge in the job market? Fancy a new hobby? Want to learn more about something completely new - for leisure or work?
Wellington City Libraries in partnership with ACE Aotearoa present Upgrade Yourself - a free, three-day community education expo for adults that will see tutors from several community education groups coming in to offer talks and demonstrations on the classes they teach. It begins on Thursday 4th of June and over three days there will be over 20 presentations and opportunities to talk to a tutor.
You'll find the expo on the first floor of the Central Library. Registration is not required and if you have any feedback please let us know.
Schedule:
| Topic | Tutor | Community Education Organisation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday 4 June, 4-5pm | Sewing | Luella Plimmer | Newlands College |
| Computer terminology | Carolyn Bates | Wellington High School | |
| Budgeting | Brighde Campbell | NZ Federation of Family Budgeting Services | |
| Thursday 4 June, 5-6pm | Digital photography | Pip Payne | Wellington High School |
| Community resilience | Jarrod Coburn | NZ Resilience Trust | |
| Confidence with computers | Helen Waddington | Rongotai College | |
| Friday 5 June, 4-5pm | Astronomy | Vicki Irons | Newlands College |
| Growing your own vegetables, herbs and fruits | Jan Culy | Rongotai College | |
| What to consider when buying a computer | Carolyn Bates | Wellington High School | |
| Friday 5 June, 5-6pm | Yoga | Diane Clark Manley | Newlands College |
| Car maintenance | Rod Gibson | Newlands College | |
| Developing a small business | Jack Wood | Newlands College | |
| Saturday 6 June, 11am - 12noon | Silver Jewellery | Maureen Kemp | Newlands College |
| Saxophone for beginners | Greg Rogan | Rongotai College | |
| Basic accounting | Colleen Hurley | Newlands College | |
| Saturday 6 June, 12noon - 1pm | Computer keyboarding | Jenni Gibson | Newlands College |
| Flax weaving | Tatiana Brown | Te Wananga o Aotearoa | |
| Saturday 6 June, 12.30 - 1.30pm | Drums | Andreas Lepper | Wellington High School |
| Saturday 6 June, 1-2pm | Patchwork | Lynette Gilbert | Newlands College |
| Good posture naturally | Sue Field | Wellington High School | |
| Flax weaving | Tatiana Brown | Te Wananga o Aotearoa |
100 Hours of Astronomy in April
Libraries have become completely star struck and you can be too!
Be part of the largest event taking place in the world this year to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy!
Celebrations are taking place worldwide from 1-5 April with 100 Hours of Astronomy - a 100 hour, round-the-clock, round-the-globe event. And it's all starting here in Wellington! The Wellington Astronomical Society and Wellington City Libraries invite you to join in and look through telescopes, be part of live webcasts to the world and enjoy music performances.
Keep an eye on the Astronomy '09 page on our blog as we bring you information, events and activities that celebrate the International Year of Astronomy and a year of astronomical fun for all!
Astronomy Exhibition, First Floor, Central Library
Now -18 April
See two of the oldest telescopes in New Zealand - don't miss them, they are quite special to see!
Three Scapes - Ranginui
Wednesday 1 April, 12am - Sunday 5 April, 12am
An audiovisual installation of the sky by artist Paul Moss - projected onto the front window of the library on Victoria Street
Stories@7 - Astronomy
Friday 3 April, 7pm
A special astronomy themed Stories@7 session at Central Library (for children 7yrs and older)
100 Hours of Astronomy, 24hr Global Star Party
Saturday 4 April, 10am-10pm
12 hours of music in Civic Square with the global star party starting here in Wellington at 7pm (then it continues around the world). You can be one of a million people looking through telescopes during this worldwide event! Local astronomers share their knowledge and passion for discovery. And weather permitting you will see the rings of Saturn and moon craters along with other fascinating sights in the night sky.
(Organiser Paul Moss in association with Wellington Astronomical Society and WCL)
SunDay in Civic Square
Sunday 5 April, 12pm-5pm
Another chance to look through telescopes and ask astronomical questions of local astronomers
Law for Lunch
A series of free lunchtime seminars, presented by Wellington City Libraries in association with Wellington Community Law Centre.
Wednesdays in April, noon - 1pm
Central Library, 65 Victoria St, Wellington.
All welcome.
Schedule:
Redundancy: get it right/know your rights
8 April
Peter Cullen, Cullen - The Employment Law Firm
Buyer beware: possible trading pitfalls, including on Trade Me
15 April
Joanne Kearney, Ministry of Consumer Affairs
Long distance separation: relocation, the ex and children
22 April
Annette Gray, Family Lawyer, Buchanan Gray
Dying right: how to avoid leaving a legacy of legal problems
29 April
Frank Handy, Wellington Community Law Centre
New 'Select: Sound & Vision' collection
Get the latest CDs & DVDs faster! The 'Select' collection is designed to make it easier to borrow heavily used and reserved items within our audiovisual collection at Central Library. The titles in this collection have a reduced loan period of 3 days, meaning you can access the most popular CDs and DVDs faster for the same price and find them on the shelf more often. Just look for this sticker:
The small print:
- Loan prices and overdue fines for items within the 'Select' collection are the same as the ordinary collection..
- The 'Hire-3-get-one-free' discount does not apply to titles within this collection.
- You cannot reserve or renew any items in the collection.
Help us understand your library needs
We are holding a series of lunchtime and evening focus groups at Kilbirnie and Central libraries to discuss library products and services. If you would like to attend, please contact Kim Clayton, Customer Specialist, either by email or phone 803-8640.
Borrow three, get one free!
Starting now every 4th DVD you borrow is free! Take out any three DVDs from our wide collection of movies, documentaries or music in the Central Library and you can choose one more for free.
Does not apply to DVD box sets, DVDs from our Children and Young Adults collection, or items from the 'Select: Sound & Vision collection', or those held at our other libraries.
Enjoy Baby Rock & Rhyme at home - with our new CD
This new CD is a great gift for the young ones in your family, as it's a quality production of 33 songs to share with babies and children under 5. It includes traditional songs, nursery rhymes and waiata - all your favourites. It was recorded and produced by Wellington City Libraries and features the musical talents of library staff along with some very special guest singers from Capital City Pre-school.
Song samples (all in MP3 format): Haere mai | Wheels on the Bus | Eensy Weensy Spider | Hokey Cokey | Paki Paki
The CD is now available for sale for $15 at all our libraries. Stocks are limited so get in quick!
Now available - Central Library audiotours
Borrow a free audio tour to help you find your way around the Central Library and our collection - it's easy! The self-guided audio tours are available at the Information Desk on the Ground Floor. We have the tour on MP3 players you can borrow and it will soon be downloadable from our library website, for listening whenever you want. To see which areas of the library are covered, here are the maps showing the tour spots: ground floor | first floor | second floor
Central Library joins other branches in providing easier access to reserved items
From 27 March, all reserved books and magazines ready for pick-up at the Central Library can be found on the new Open Reserves shelves next to the self-check machines on the ground floor. Using the self-check machines to issue your own reserved items means picking up reserved books and magazines has never been quicker.
Other libraries already offering this service are: Miramar, Karori, Cummings Park (Ngaio), Wadestown, Khandallah, Johnsonville and Tawa.
If you have reserved DVDs, videotapes, audiobooks or compact disks for collection at Central Library, please see the Issues desk staff.
If you have any questions about the new Open Reserves shelving, feel free to contact us on 499 4444 or ask a staff member at any Central Library enquiries desk.
Email notices for overdues & reserves
Did you know you can get your overdue and reserve notices by email? This service can easily be added to your customer record, just complete the online form. We also offer notices by telephone or mail.
Being environmentally friendly never looked so good!
Wellington City Libraries are selling a new range of sustainably produced satchels which are fantastic for carrying, storing and filing papers, documents and magazines. They have also proved to be very popular gifts and as mementos for overseas visitors. In three unique vibrant designs, the satchels are made from "Govt 3" approved paper sourced from sustainable forests, are produced with Enviro-Mark NZ certified printing processes, and are 100% recyclable.
By buying the satchels, you will support the library's collections. They are $3 each - so buy one or a set of three today from any of our libraries.
New Library Charges
The Council's Annual Plan for 2007/08 was finalised on Wednesday 27 June 2007. This included new charges for some library services.
These charges are effective Monday 2 July 2007:
| Adult | Children and Young Adults | |
|---|---|---|
| DVDs | $4 | 50 cents |
| Reserves | $2 | free |
| Magazines | 50 cents * | free |
| Overdues (books, magazines, CDs and cassettes) |
60 cents | 30 cents |
| Bestseller Books | $5 | $5 |
| Bestseller Magazines | $2.50 * | $2.50 |
* Community Service card discounts do not apply to magazine charges for adults.
More details about the Council's Annual Plan is available at www.Wellington.govt.nz
Extended loans now available in our libraries and via our website
You can now extend the due date of your issued items for one week for a fee of $1 per item (plus rental charges where applicable), either via our website or in our libraries. Loans can be extended up to the due date via the online service if there are no other reserves waiting. If your item is one day overdue, please visit our libraries and a librarian will be able to extend your due date by one week if there are no other reserves waiting. We hope to add the extended loans feature to our telephone service, PAL, in the near future.
Changes to Library Debt Recovery Policy
All charges, costs, commissions and legal fees incurred by Wellington City Libraries in the retrieval of outstanding items and debt through our contracted Collection Agency will be passed on to the customer. This change will take effect from 1 September 2006.
