Camera to Computer

Uncover the mysteries of digital photography. Chris Hamnett will teach you how to:

• Capture digital images
• Transfer them to the computer
• Edit the images
• Organize your images
• Morning tea provided

When: Saturday 12th August 11am
Where: Yarra Junction Hoddle Street, Yarra Junction Ph: 5967 1588

Bookings essential - Ph: 5967 1588. Hurry, last places.

Cheers, Maryanne

Great Fashion

Join us for an illustrated talk about some of the worlds great fashion designers including Worth, Chanel, Fortuny and Dior. Ann Dixon will bring some interesting examples from her extensive collection. An event not to be missed.

When: Thursday 10th August, 2 pm
Where: Healesville Library 231 Maroondah Highway Healesville Ph: 5962 4423
Cost: $5

Booking essential. Phone 5962 4423.

Cheers, Maryanne

The Cook's Kitchen - Simply Delicious

Simple food is often the best. Bring along your favourite simple but stunning recipes to share at our regular cookery group gathering.

When: Thursday 3rd August 2 pm
Where: Healesville Library 231 Maroondah Highway Healesville Ph: 5962 4423

Cheers, Maryanne

Extraordinary Booksale

Booksale of adult items. Prices range from 20c to $10 plus dollars. Includes recently withdrawn Reference material. Free tea & coffee while you browse.

When: Tuesday 1st - Friday 4th August
Where: Mt Evelyn 50 Wray Crescent Mt. Evelyn Ph: 9736 3851

Note: The books pictured are not necessarily the ones being sold.

Cheers, Maryanne

2006 Census

The 2006 Census is fast approaching. If you have any questions about the Census, have a look at the Australian Bureau of Statistics website - 2006 Census - What you need to know.

Census night is: Tuesday, 8 August 2006.

The guide lists the changes to the Census including some new questions about the need for assistance, Internet connection, unpaid work and the number of children ever born.

The Census will also include the Time Capsule question. The Census Time Capsule gives Australians the chance to have their name-identified information retained securely by the National Archives of Australia for 99 years. After this time it will be released for research purposes by genealogists, historians, academics, social analysts, journalists, and family members.

Cheers, Maryanne

New non-fiction too

We also added the following non-fiction titles, something for everyone:

Allison DuBois ~ We are their heaven : why the dead never leave us
Annabel Venning ~ Following the drum : the lives of Army wives and daughters
Bernard Salt ~ The big picture : life, work and relationships in the 21st century
Carmen Lawrence ~ Fear and politics
Christine Hogan ~ The veiled lands : a woman’s journey into the heart of the Islamic world
Claire Scobie ~ Last seen in Lhasa : the story of an extraordinary friendship in modern Tibet
Dan Parry ~ Blackbeard : the real pirate of the Caribbean
Ed Jocelyn/Andrew McEwen ~ The long march : the true story behind the legendary journey that made Mao’s China
Guidi Chen ~ Will the boat sink the water?
John Zubrzycki ~ The last Nizam
Julian Sher/William Marsden ~ Angels of death : inside the biker gang’s crime empire
Kim Kiyosaki ~ Rich woman : a book on investing for women, because I hate being told what to do!
Kristen Alexander ~ Clive Caldwell, air ace
Les Murray ~ By the balls : memoir of a football tragic
Mark Prothero ~ Defending Gary : unraveling the mind of the Green River killer
Melissa Sweet ~ Inside madness : how one woman’s passionate drive to reform the mental health system ended in tragedy
Peter FitzSimons ~ Tobruk
Sandra Lee ~ 18 hours : the true story of an SAS war hero
Seth Roberts ~ The Shangri-la diet : the simple weight-loss program that yields remarkable results without making you feel hungry or deprived
Stephanie Alexander ~ Winter
Sy Montgomery ~ The good pig : the extraordinary life of Christopher Hogwood
Zelman Cowen ~ A public life : the memoirs of Sir Zelman Cowen

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Find a Book. If you have a password on your card you can reserve books, cds & dvds to be sent to your closest branch. It costs $2.20 per item for adults, $1.10 for govt. concession card holders, free reservations for children.

Find out about reserving and more with the catalogue tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

New fiction @ our libraries

The following fiction titles have been recently added:

Alexander McCall Smith ~ Love over Scotland
Amanda Quick ~ Second sight
Anne Baker ~ Carousel of secrets
Clare Dowling ~ My fabulous divorce
Dale Brown ~ Edge of battle
Dean Koontz ~ The husband
Elisabeth Hyde ~ The abortionist’s daughter
Elizabeth Lowell ~ The wrong hostage
Evelyn Hood ~ Voices from the sea
Hester Browne ~ Little lady, big apple
Iris Gower ~ Act of love
Jayne Ann Krentz ~ Gambler’s woman
Jenny Colgan ~ West End girls
Kate Morton ~ The shifting fog
Kathy Reichs ~ Break no bones
Linda Howard ~ Cover of night
Meg Hutchinson ~ The wanton redhead
Robert Wilson ~ The hidden assassins
Robin Hobb ~ Forest mage (Bk2 Soldier Son trilogy)

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Find a Book. If you have a password on your card you can reserve books, cds & dvds to be sent to your closest branch. It costs $2.20 per item for adults, $1.10 for govt. concession card holders, free reservations for children.

Find out about reserving and more with the catalogue tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

Next week @ ERL

Tuesday 25th July 1pm
Baby Sign Time Sampler - Croydon Library is fully booked

Tuesday 25th July 2pm
Genie Exchange - Lilydale Library

Thursday 27th July 12:30pm
Literary Lunches @your library - Angela Pippos - Belgrave Library

Thursday 27th July 7pm
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Kitchen - Millers Homestead

Friday 28th July 12noon
Friday @your library - Beautiful Beading - Knox Library

Friday 28th July 2pm
Library Growers & Weeders - Mooroolbark Library

Saturday 29th July 11am
Decades - Fashions of the era 1900-1920 - Yarra Junction Library

Sunday 30th July 2pm
Music @your library - William van Pinxteren - Ringwood Library


Bookings for activities can be made at any Eastern Regional Libraries branch.

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

Each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm Lesley Conway does a radio show on Eastern FM 99.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Just in from Lesley

On Wednesday's show

Women's clothing from the 1820's to the 1940's is the passion of collector and librarian Anne Dixon. Anne has created many fascinating displays for branch libraries, has given talks on fashion of specific periods of time, and is also very knowledgeable in Family History.

Anne has a talk on the fashions of the era 1900-1920 coming up on Saturday the 29th of July at Yarra Junction which can be booked for at any of our branches. She will be one of three staff members who will be available to talk to on Saturday 5th of August at Ringwood Library between 10am and 4pm about your interest in family history research.

Some of Anne's recommendations for pursuing research included the Ancestry website which can be accessed at any of our branches, the site for the Church of the Latterday Saints which is www.familysearch.org, and the website of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies www.aigs.org.au.

Cheers, Maryanne

Boronia - After Storytime Coffee Group

Don’t rush off after storytime. Meet new friends and relax over a cup of tea or coffee with Tracey. Bring a snack for the kids.

When: Tuesday 25th July & Friday 28th July, after storyime. Storytime starts at 11am.
Where: Boronia Library, Park Crescent, Boronia. Ph: 9762 4099

Cheers, Maryanne

Top City Books

Now here's an interesting idea. Top City Books uses Google Maps to provide a map of the top books about cities around the world in certain subjects; travel, business, literature etc.


1. Go to Top City Books.
2. Use the map controls at the top left to move around the world to the city you want.
3. Click on the red pin for a city and a list of books about that city will appear on the right. Some may be travel books, others may be novels set in that city.

At present the only cities in Australia with titles are Melbourne and Sydney but I imagine this will grow.

Cheers, Maryanne

Valley Mobile

The Valley Mobile will be off the road today (Thursday 13th July) and tomorrow (Friday 14th July) for maintenance.

I'll advise as soon as I know it is back on schedule. Keep in mind that items may be returned to any of our branches or renewed via the web catalogue if you have a password on your card (catalogue tutorial). If you have any problems please speak with mobile library staff on your next visit.

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

Each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm Lesley Conway does a radio show on Eastern FM 99.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Just in from Lesley

On yesterday's show

If you need a new direction with your fiction reading, have read everything by your favourite authors, don't neglect to browse the Teenage fiction. Popular adult fantasy authors Terry Pratchett and Robin McKinley both write for teens, and authors such as Garth Nix, Bill Pullman and Dianna Wynne Jones whose books are tagged Teen are excellent and engrossing storytellers. Adventure/thriller novels of substance can also be found, including the Tomorrow series by John Marsden and novels by Robert Cormier.

Even the junior collection includes great reads such as Anne of Green Gables by L.M.Montgomery, The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Music today was from the Burl Ives CD A twinkle in your eye.

Cheers, Maryanne

Friday @ your Library - Beautiful Beading with Ro Bailey

Come along and be inspired by Ro's creativity.

When: Friday 28th July 12noon
Where: Knox Library 425 Burwood Highway Wantirna South

Tea/Coffee provided. Bookings essential Ph:9801 1422

Cheers, Maryanne

Baby Sign Time Sampler

A Baby Sign Time Sampler session is a small 'taste' of baby signing. Learn about how rhymes and other strategies can help you and your child to go from 'cooing to conversation'. With Terri Anderton, Speech Pathologist. Free but bookings are essential.

When: Tuesday 25th July 1pm
Where: Croydon Library Civic Square Croydon
Bookings Ph: 9294 5640

Cheers, Maryanne

Review: On a wing and a prayer by Peter Bensley

Peter Bensley is an Australian actor turned author and this is his first book. Most of the story is set in New South Wales thirty odd years after World War II. Don Cameron has suffered a stroke and his best mate, Tom, sees himself as Don's helper in his old age. But when Don inherits some valuable war souvenirs, the entire situation changes. Don and Tom end up at the house of Tom's first love, Emily. The story switches between past and present times in this wonderful tale of these three peoples interesting lives, losses and courage.

---- reviewed by Julie, Ringwood

Find more staff reviews at Reader's Corner Staff Picks.

Cheers, maryanne

Ringwood refurbishment

Ringwood Library will be closing for refurbishment Monday 24th July until Friday 28th July inclusive. To re-open Saturday 29th July 10am.

The Book chute will be open during this time for returns and don't forget Croydon Library is just a few kilometres away.

I'm reliably informed that there will be new carpet, a fresh coat of paint and some re-arranging of the shelves. Sounds exciting!

Cheers, Maryanne

New DVDs @ our branches

The following DVDs have been added recently.

Classic collectors cars
Damien Parer's Kokoda : frontline
Grave of the fireflies
Honey sweet love
Le Tour de France 2005 : the highlights
New MacDonald's farm : Max's tractor
Now and then
Porridge
Serenity
The Aunty Jack show
The birth of a nation
The cat returns
The Englishman who went up a hill but came down a mountain
The shell seekers
Tokyo underground : Awakening
Tokyo underground : Irruption
Up close and personal
Whisper of the heart

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Find a Book. If you have a password on your card you can reserve books, cds & dvds to be sent to your closest branch. It costs $2.20 per item for adults, $1.10 for govt. concession card holders, free reservations for children.

Find out about reserving and more with the catalogue tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

New CDs @ the library

We recently added the following CDs to our collections:

Broken boy soldiers., Saboteurs
December underground., AFI
Kinky boots
Kryptonite., Lowery, Mick
Louder now., Taking Back Sunday
Number ones., Destiny's Child
ROCK, Ataris
St. Elsewhere., Barley, Gnarls.
Stronger than before., Newton-John, Olivia.
The best of the doors., Doors
The other side : acoustic sessions., Lloyd, Alex
We don't need to whisper., Angels and Airwaves

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Find a Book. If you have a password on your card you can reserve books, cds & dvds to be sent to your closest branch. It costs $2.20 per item for adults, $1.10 for govt. concession card holders, free reservations for children.

Find out about reserving and more with the catalogue tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

New non-fiction titles

We've also added the following non-fiction titles recently:

Brian Glanville ~ The story of the World Cup
Craig Taylor ~ Return to Akenfield : portrait of an English village in the twenty-first century
Gloria Hunniford ~ Next to you : Caron’s courage remembered by her mother
James Robert ~ Parish Fiasco : a history of Hollywood’s iconic flops
John Pilger ~ Freedom next time
Kerrie Murphy ~ TV land : Australia’s obsession with reality television
Leo McKinstry ~ Sir Alf : a major reappraisal of the life and times of England’s greatest football manager
Oliver Sacks ~ A leg to stand on
Peter Pagnamenta/Momoko Williams ~ Falling blossom : a British officer’s enduring love for a Japanese woman
Ruth Joseph ~ Remembering Judith
Sonia Harford ~ Leaving paradise : my expat adventure and other stories
Susanna Kaysen ~ Girl, interrupted
Teri Hatcher ~ Burnt toast and other philosophies

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Find a Book. If you have a password on your card you can reserve books, cds & dvds to be sent to your closest branch. It costs $2.20 per item for adults, $1.10 for govt. concession card holders, free reservations for children.

Find out about reserving and more with the catalogue tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

New fiction @ our libraries

Now Winter's settling in, why not curl up on the couch and read one of the following new novels we've added to our libraries.

Ann Granger ~ A rare interest in corpses
Clive Egleton ~ The loner
Elizabeth Lowell ~ The wrong hostage
Geraldine O’Neill ~ The Flowers of Ballygrace
Gloria Cook ~ A stranger light
Gordon Kent ~ The spoils of war
Iris Johansen ~ Killer dreams
James Patterson/Andrew Gross ~ Judge and jury
Jan Karon ~ Light from heaven
Janet Evanovich ~ Twelve sharp
Kate Ellis ~ The marriage hearse
Kate Tremayne ~ The Loveday loyalty
Linda Lael Miller ~ The man from Stone Creek
Luanne Rice ~ Sandcastles
Pamela Oldfield ~ Jack’s shadow
Peter Robinson ~ Meet Inspector Banks
Rebecca Shaw ~ A village feud
Rosemary Rowe ~ A Roman ransom
Stephen Booth ~ Scared to live

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Find a Book. If you have a password on your card you can reserve books, cds & dvds to be sent to your closest branch. It costs $2.20 per item for adults, $1.10 for govt. concession card holders, free reservations for children.

Find out about reserving and more with the catalogue tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

Next week @ ERL

Wednesday 12th July 7pm
Speed Maths for Kids - Mooroolbark Library

Thursday 13th July 10am
Beginning Family History - Montrose Library

Friday 14th July 10am
New books day - Rowville Library

Saturday 15th July 11am
Consumer Affairs Victoria - Chinese - Knox Library

Bookings for activities can be made at any Eastern Regional Libraries branch.

Cheers, Maryanne

Read the blog articles you want

Have you ever wanted to choose the blog articles you want to read? You can do this by subscribing to the blog.

Backup a bit, what's a blog?
Well you're reading one now. It's short for weblog and it's a web publication appearing as a series of articles that range from personal diaries and musings to promotion of events for organisations. We use our blog for library news and events.

How do I subscribe?
All blogs have feeds and you can subscribe to blogs with a feed reader. A feed reader (also known as news aggregator or rss reader) is a bit of software that collects content from blogs and news services and displays those articles.

Examples of feed readers:

Some browsers such as Opera 8+ and Mozilla Firefox have feed readers built in. Mozilla Thunderbird, an email program, also has a feed reader. If you don't have access to these you can join up at one of the following sites:

Bloglines - http://www.bloglines.com
My Yahoo - http://au.my.yahoo.com/

Once you've joined up, you can subscribe to a blog by adding the feed address to your reader. Instructions can be found at out Blog Help page.

Feed address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/EasternRegionalLibraries

You will sometimes see an orange button like the one at the left that, when clicked, will lead you to the feed address.

Blog help
You'll find that if you have a hobby, someone probably has a blog about it. If you have any questions about the library blog or subscribing please use our contact form.

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

Each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm Lesley Conway does a radio show on Eastern FM 99.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Just in from Lesley

On yesterday's show

Lyn Baines was on the show yesterday with a familiar mix of history and mystery. The titles she reviewed were..........

Keeping the world away - a fictional account of the life of artist Gwen John, by Margaret Forster

Kingdom of lies - a classic English police procedural with an American professor thrown into the mix, by Lee Wood

Alfred the Great - a biography of the only English king to be called Great, by Justin Pollard

Why Alfred burned the cakes - an intensive and amusing look at the legend and how it has been used and interpreted over centuries, by David Horspool

Music today from the album Charmaine Solomon's Family Album partnered by an excellent cookbook titled Charmaine Solomon's family cookbook

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

Each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm Lesley Conway does a radio show on Eastern FM 99.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Just in from Lesley

On last week's show

Last week we caught up with recent developments in the Family History collection and services. Gail White was our guest, and particularly wants to publicise an Open Day for Family History at Ringwood Library. This will take place on Saturday July 8th between 10am and 2pm, with an emphasis on informality. There will be three very knowledgable library staff members to talk to, and computers available to check out the many useful resources provided by ERL.

Gail also made a plea for people to consider ticking the box on the Census forms this year which allow your information to be kept for future family and social historians. The information is locked away for 100 years, so personal privacy is not compromised. Gail pointed out that similar information from English census papers has proved invaluable for family historians.

Music played today was World Weary from the CD The Noel Coward Album

Cheers, Maryanne

Watch the Space Shuttle launch

There are a lot of cool things on the Internet, but not much is cooler than a live Space Shuttle launch.

NASA TV coverage begins at approximately 11:30pm tonight Melbourne time (Tuesday 4th July). If everything checks out, the launch should happen approximately 4:38am Wednesday 5th July (Melbourne time).

View NASA TV live on the web.

You can find some fantastic information on the NASA site. Find out everything you wanted to know about the countdown at Countdown 101. There's also Mission news and facts & figures on the vehicle structure. Apparently the external fuel tank is the only part of the shuttle that isn't re-used. It feeds more than half a million gallons of fuel to the 3 engines.

Why not checkout the following books on the Space Shuttle:

Space shuttle : the first 20 years
Endeavour views the earth by Robert A Brown

Cheers, Maryanne