New 4 kids website

The new 4 Kids website is now live. I know, it's very exciting :-). I've been working on it for months.

Anyhoo, kids can submit their own book reviews, tell us about their favourite animal or send in a picture for the Art Gallery. There are also a couple of competitions.

Go to 4 Kids.

Cheers, Maryanne

Web Catalogue - Message to Staff

We're currently experiencing a few problems with the Message to Staff section of the web catalogue. So if you haven't received a reply yet please send your question through our contact form on our website.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Cheers, Maryanne

New DVDs @ our libraries

I've just been sorting through the boxes to compile a list of DVDs that will be available for borrowing:

2 Fast 2 Furious
A river runs through it
Anna and the King of Siam
Barefoot in the Park
Birthday Girl
Dr. Who. The complete second series
Fleetwood Mac in Concert
Goal! The movie
It happened one night
John Denver: the wildife concert
Kinky Boots
Ladyhawke
Legends of the Fall
Napoleon Dynamite
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Practical Magic
Spartacus
The Complete Fawlty Towers
The Floating Brothel
The Last Emperor
The Last of the Mohicans
The Squid and the Whale
The Vicar of Dibley: The Specials
Touching the Void
Wise up to IT

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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

Top 10 Reads for January

The following titles are the Top 10 Reads for January.

Anne Perry ~ At some disputed barricade
Catherine Alliott ~ A crowded marriage
Clive Cussler ~ Treasure of Khan
Danielle Steel ~ H R H
J D Robb ~ Born in death
Richard Dawkins ~ The God delusion
Robin McGraw ~ Inside my heart
Stephen King ~ Lisey’s story
Thomas Harris ~ Hannibal rising
Wendy Harmer ~ Love and punishment

Find anything interesting? You might need to place a reservation on it. Search in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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

Summer Booksales

Time to pick up some bargains at the library. Some of our branches will be having booksales in January.

Big Summer Book Sale

When: Saturday 13th January from 10am
Where: Belgrave Library, Reynolds Lane, Belgrave
Ph: 9754 7266


New Year Booksale

When: Monday 15th January to Sunday 21st January
Where: Lilydale Library, Anderson Street, Lilydale
Ph: 9294 3120

Books at various prices.


Summer Booksale

When: Tuesday 16th January from 10am
Where: Rowville Library, Stud Park Shopping Centre, Fulham Rd, Rowville

Cheers, Maryanne

Ranges Mobile is back!

***UPDATE*** Good news. I just found out that the Ranges Mobile will be at Monbulk today (Friday 22nd December).

The Ranges Mobile will be off the road today due to mechanical problems. It will then have the usual Christmas break until Tuesday 9th January. I will advise further if there are any updates.

Cheers, Maryanne

New Books Day

Borrow the latest books added to the library.

When: Friday 12th January from 10am
Where: Rowville Library, Stud Park Shopping Centre, Stud Road
Ph: 9294 1300

Cheers, Maryanne

Christmas/New Year Holidays

All branches of Eastern Regional Libraries will be closed on the following days for Christmas and New Year.

Sunday 24th December
Monday 25th December
Tuesday 26th December
Sunday 31st December
Monday 1st January

In the week between Christmas and New Year, branches will be closing at 5:30pm weekdays and either 12noon or 1pm on the Saturday. View the Christmas/New Year branch hours for the details. Normal operating hours will return from January 2nd 2007.

• Knox Mobile Library - closed from 4:30pm Friday 22nd December, resuming Tuesday 9th January
• Ranges Mobile Library - closed from 5:30pm Friday 22nd December, resuming Tuesday 9th January
• Valley Mobile Library - closed from 5pm Friday 22nd December, resuming Monday 8th January

You will be able to renew via the web catalogue if you have a password on your card. Follow the instructions at the Catalogue Tutorials.

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library show

For those that don't know library staff member Lesley Conway runs a radio show each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm on Eastern FM 99.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Tune in next week for a great show.

On this week's show

What do you do when the Christmas bustle is behind you, and you need something interesting to do indoors, out of the heat? Brush the dust off your family history files and put together the family tree at last!

Kathy Smalley was with us this week, and suggests that you check out the Family History information accessible from the ERL webpage, and subscribe to the newsletter which will keep you up to date with what is coming in during the year.

Not only do we have new microfiche, CD-ROMs and books, but the Ancestry.com database which is available (at no charge) on any of the PCs in our library branches has added a huge ammount of extra records. These include Scottish census details from 1841, 1851 and 1861, also the British Phone Book Collection 1180-1984, the Births Marriage and Death Index Records for England and Wales 1837-2004, the 1841 English and Welsh census (which completes the census releases from 1841-1901) and Passenger Lists.

So, go to it, talk to family members over Christmas, get some dates, names and places and dive into some family history records. It's fun, it's addictive!

Cheers, Maryanne

Christmas themed books, CDs & DVDs

Create the perfect Christmas atmosphere with the following books, CDs and DVDs.

Books

Agatha Christie ~ The adventure of the Christmas pudding
Agatha Christie ~ Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Ann Ripley ~ The Christmas garden affair
Anne Perry ~ A Christmas visitor
Anne Perry ~ A Christmas journey
Bernard Cornwell ~ Sharpe’s Christmas
David Baldacci ~ The Christmas train
Debbie Macomber ~ On a snowy night
Debbie Macomber ~ When Christmas comes
Fannie Flagg ~ A redbird Christmas
Isis Crawford ~ A catered Christmas
Jacquelyn Mitchard ~ Christmas, present
Jan Karon ~ Esther’s gift : a Mitford Christmas story
Jane Gordon-Cumming ~ A proper family Christmas
Janet Evanovich ~ Visions of sugar plums
Jennifer Chiaverini ~ The Christmas quilt
Joan Medlicott ~ A Covington Christmas
Joan Smith ~ A Christmas gambol
John Grisham ~ Skipping Christmas
Karen Harper ~ The Queene’s Christmas
M C Beaton ~ A highland Christmas
Mary Higgins Clark ~ Silent night
Mary Higgins Clark ~ He sees you when you’re sleeping
Mary Higgins Clark ~ The Christmas thief
Philip Gulley ~ Christmas in harmony


DVDs

A Bing Crosby Christmas
A Christmas carol
All-star Christmas
Christmas with the Kranks
Disney’s Christmas favourites
Grumpy old men at Christmas
Grumpy old women at Christmas
It’s a wonderful life
The Muppet Christmas carol
The nightmare before Christmas
The Office – the Christmas specials
The three tenors Christmas
The Vicar of Dibley – the Christmas and Easter specials

CDs

Adeste Fideles : Christmas down the ages
Aled Jones – The Christmas album
Barbra Streisand – Christmas memories
Christmas adagios
Christmas classics
Diana Krall – Christmas songs
Favourite carols by candlelight
National Boys Choir – A Christmas celebration
Neil Diamond – The Christmas album
Noel : Christmas at King’s
Our favourite things
So Fresh presents songs for Christmas
Tony Bennett – Snowfall : the Tony Bennett Christmas album
Wiggles – Wiggly, wiggly Christmas

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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 added

We've also added the following fiction titles. A teenage Hannibal Lector? Could be interesting.

Alan Dean Foster ~ Trouble magnet : a Pip and Flinx adventure
Andrew M Greeley ~ The senator and the priest
Andrew Taylor ~ Naked to the hangman (Lydmouth series)
Anne McCaffrey ~ Changelings (Bk1 - Twins of Petaybee)
Anne Perry ~ A Christmas secret
Clive Egleton ~ The Presidential affair
Elizabeth Adler ~ Sailing to Capri
Juliet Marillier ~ Wildwood dancing
Laurell K Hamilton ~ Mistral's kiss (Bk4 - Meredith Gentry)
Michael Crichton ~ Next
Nicholas Rhea ~ Prize murder
Scott Turow ~ Limitations
Thomas Harris ~ Hannibal rising

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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 @ our libraries

We've been busy adding the following non-fiction titles:

Brian Nankervis (editor) ~ RocKwiz : the ultimate rock trivia challenge
Cheryl Hardacre ~ Chewing gum in holy water : Mario Valentini's childhood in the Abruzzo mountains
Courtney Love ~ Dirty blonde : the diaries of Courtney Love
Jason Roberts ~ A sense of the world : how a blind man became history's greatest traveler
John Daly & Glen Waggoner ~ My life in and out of the rough : the truth behind that bullxxxx you think you know about me
Jon Katz ~ A dog year : twelve months, four dogs, and me
Keith Moor & Geoff Wilkinson ~ Mugshots 2 : a compelling line-up of murderers, madmen and the mafia in Australia
Marc Eliot ~ Jimmy Stewart : a biography
Martin Chulov ~ Australian jihad : the battle against terrorism from within and without
Martin Crotty ~ The great mistakes of Australian history
Michael Korda ~ Journey to a revolution : a personal memoir and history of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Nigel Havers ~ Playing with fire
Richard Dawkins ~ The God delusion
Robin McGraw ~ Inside my heart : choosing to live with passion and purpose
Stuart Howarth ~ Please, Daddy, no : a boy betrayed
Tim Guest ~ My life in orange : growing up with the guru
Tom Lodge ~ Mandela : a critical life
Tommy Chong ~ The I Chong : meditations from the joint
Tony Horwitz ~ One for the road : an outback adventure
Tucker Max ~ I hope they serve beer in hell

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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

Holiday reading

Well it's that time of the year and if you're stuck for something to read try the following suggestions from our library staff:

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

The latest book by the author of the runaway bestseller A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is another great read. The story concerns George, who thinks he may or may not be going mad, and his wife and their two adult children as they struggle with life's complexities of relationships with each other and with lovers and friends. It is amusing, despite one gruesome chapter, and the characters are really brought to life. Highly recommended.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville

Transported to Australia for smuggling goods on the river Thames, this is the story of a man's journey to regain his dignity and sense of belonging. From humble beginnings on Sydney Harbour to landowner on the Hawkesbury River we follow his struggles to raise a family and make his way in the new colony. Easy to read and a great story!

Listen by Kate Veitch

On a humid Christmas Eve in the Australian suburbs in 1967, an unhappy mother makes a decision that will change the lives of her four young children forever. Forty years later their shared pain is revealed when the family is finally reunited. This is a contemporary novel which encompasses the joys and sorrows of family life.

Having a lovely time by Jenny Eclair

Jenny Eclair is the bleached blonde with bright red lipstick from Grumpy Old Women (ABC). The language is very 'modern', as in 'lots of swearing'. So perhaps not for the faint hearted or more cultured of us!!!

This book confirms my belief that life isn't black and white, but very colourful, with bits of grey. There are no goodies or baddies, just ordinary people getting on with their mistakes.

More titles:

• Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber
• A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry
• Collectors by David Baldacci
• Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Lemony Snicket 13 The End by Lemony Snicket
• Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts
• Next by Michael Crichton
• Rockwiz: The Ultimate Rock Trivia Challenge by Brian Nankervis (Editor)
• Santa Cruise: a holiday mystery at sea by Mary Higgins Clark
• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (the book on which the movie Christmas with the Kranks was based).
• The Valley by Di Morrissey
• When Santa fell from to Earth by Cornelia Funke

Cheers, Maryanne

January Holiday Activities

The January Holiday activity program has been uploaded to the website. Book in early for the fantastic activities for kids at our libraries.

View the holiday activity program.

Cheers, Maryanne

Christmas decorations for kids

Come along and make a christmas decoration for your tree.

When: Thursday 21st December 4:30pm
Where: Yarra Junction Library, Hoddle Street, Yarra Junction. Ph: 5967 1588
Cost: $2

Cheers, Maryanne

New CDs @ our libraries

Well it's been a while since I've listed the new CDs. The script I usually use to create this list and the DVD list isn't working so I'll have to create the lists by hand. Anyhoo, enjoy.

A fever you can't sweat out - Panic! at the Disco
Amore - Bocelli, Andrea
Big tunes
Black Cadillac - Cash, Rosanne
Both sides of the gun - Harper, Ben
Bup be bang bong
Comfort of strangers - Orton, Beth
Corrine Bailey Rae - Bailey Rae, Corrine
Danny Boy : the immortal Irish song
Du am
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland - Jewel
Hard NRG
Jimmy Z presents 4play : anthems
Little cloud - Whitlams
Meds - Placebo
Nang ve theo anh - Le, Quang
On an island - Gilmour, David
One love : bring it on
Pay the devil - Morrison, Van
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
Saturday night country
Sing-a-longs and lullabies for the film Curious George - Jack Johnson and Friends (Musical group)
Songs from Black Mountain - Live
The definitive collection - Foreigner
The hard road - Hilltop Hoods
The new bush - Kernaghan, Lee
Too far gone
Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not - Arctic Monkeys
Wild nights

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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

Christmas Fun at Ringwood Library

Before you get started on the Christmas shopping this weekend, drop into Ringwood Library for a great Christmas activity with stories and crafts for all the family.

When: Saturday 16th December at 11am
Where: Ringwood Library, 4 Melbourne Street Mall, Ringwood.
rsvp on 9870 0177

Cheers, Maryanne

Local to local: Christmas balls from recycled christmas cards

Come along and learn how to make some great decorations!

When: Saturday 16th December 10am
Where: Mooroolbark Library, 7 Station St, Mooroolbark
Ph: 9726 8200. All welcome

Cheers, Maryanne

Two weeks of The Eastern Regional Library Show

Just catching up with last two radio shows. For those that don't know library staff member Lesley Conway runs a radio show each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm on Eastern FM 99.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Tune in next week for a great show.

On today's show

Have you run out of authors in the Adult fiction area? Don't forget there are some great authors in Teen fiction. John Marsden has written a very popular adventure/thriller series which begins with Tomorrow, when the war began. Garth Nix and Philip Pullman have both written intriguing and sophisticated fantasy stories, and Catherine Jinks series called The Pagan chronicles is a gripping portrayal of Europe during the Middle Ages and of the crusades to the Holy Land.

Make the most of free reservations too, with Croydon Library providing free reservations every Sunday over summer, and free reservations for the summer reading program, 20 novels set close to home. The brochure with 20 titles set in Victoria is available at all our branches, and most branches have a display.

Music today was from Nostalgia : complete and Charmaine Solomon's Family Album.


On last week's show

Lyn Baines, flying solo today, reviewed the following books, all heartily recommended for lazy summer afternoons on the banana lounge, with the cricket on the radio in the background....

Ghost at the table by Suzanne Berne, an Australian novel

Messenger of truth by Jaquelin Winspear, a British mystery

A spot of bother by Mark Haddon, the author of the intriguing story, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Music was from new CDs in the collection....

Love by the Beatles

Very best of Australia

Imaginary kingdom by Tim Finn

Cheers, Maryanne

SunSmart Talk by the Cancer Council Victoria

SunSmart - protecting your family from the Sun. A free talk in Chinese Mandarin.

When: Friday 15th December 10:30-11:30am.
Where: Knox Library, 425 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South

Bookings Ph: 9801 1422

Cheers, Maryanne

Celebrate Christmas with Scott Ryan and Chester the Bear

Join in the Christmas fun at Mt Evelyn library with a special performance by Scott Ryan and Chester the Bear

When: Wednesday 13th December 6:30pm
Where: Mount Evelyn Library, 50 Wray Crescent , Mount Evelyn
Bookings essential 9736-3851

Cheers, Maryanne

Christmas & New Year hours

I've just put our Christmas/New Year hours on the website. You may wish to print this and keep it handy.

Christmas & New Year hours 2006 259Kb pdf (requires free adobe acrobat reader).

Cheers, Maryanne

Next week @ ERL

Monday 4th December 2pm
Chinese Read and Chat Group - Knox Library

Tuesday 5th December 10am
Monster Booksale - Knox Library

Thursday 7th December 10am
New Books day - Knox Library

Thursday 7th December 1pm
Homeschoolers meeting - Belgrave Library

Thursday 7th December 1:30pm
Gully Gardeners - Gardening in the Dry - Ferntree Gully Library

Thursday 7th December 7pm
Meet the Author - Geoff Prince - Belgrave Library

Friday 8th December 10am
New books and Poetry Reading - Rowville Library

Saturday 9th December 10:15am
Heidi's Beading - Yarra Junction Library

Book in for these great activities at your local Eastern Regional Libraries branch.

Cheers, Maryanne

New non-fiction titles

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

Andrew Symonds/Stephen Gray ~ Roy : going for broke
Clive James ~ North face of Soho : unreliable memoirs (Volume 4)
Fay Weldon ~ What makes women happy
Greg Norman/Donald T Phillips ~ The way of the Shark : lessons on golf, business and life
Jeanette Grant-Thomson ~ Jodie's story : the story of Jodie Cadman
John Silvester/Andrew Rule ~ Underbelly : more true crime stories (Volume 10)
Les Carlyon ~ The Great War
Mac Maharaj (editor) ~ Mandela : the authorized portrait
Martin Flanagan/Tom Uren ~ The fight
Patricia Edgar ~ Bloodbath : a memoir of Australian television
Ricky Ponting ~ Captain's diary 2006 : Australia's road to the battle for the Ashes
Robert Anwood ~ Bears can't run downhill and 200 other dubious pub facts explained
Ronnie Corbett ~ And it's goodnight from him...the autobiography of The Two Ronnies
Schapelle Corby/Kathryn Bonella ~ My story
Wendy E Cook ~ So farewell then : the untold life of Peter Cook
William J Mann ~ Kate : the woman who was Hepburn

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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 are in our libraries:

Andy McNab ~ Recoil
Anne Perry ~ At some disputed barricade (Bk 4 World War I series)
Ben Elton ~ Chart throb
Brian Freemantle ~ Time to kill
Bryce Courtenay ~ Sylvia
Catherine Alliott ~ A crowded marriage
Cecelia Ahern ~ A place called here
Clive & Dirk Cussler ~ Treasure of Khan (Bk 19 Dirk Pitt)
David Baldacci ~ The collectors
Deirdre Purcell ~ Tell me your secret
John Francome ~ Free fall
John Sandford ~ Dead watch
Julian Stockwin ~ Command
Kim Edwards ~ The memory keeper's daughter
Lynda LaPlante ~ The red dahlia
Mandasue Heller ~ The club
Mary & Carol Higgins Clark ~ Santa cruise
Meg Gardiner ~ Kill chain
Nora Roberts ~ Valley of silence (Bk 3 The Circle trilogy)

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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

Top 10 Reads

Check out the following Top 10 Reads for December:

Bryce Courtenay ~ Sylvia
Debra Byrne ~ Not quite ripe
Di Morrissey ~ The valley
Ian Rankin ~ The naming of the dead
Jamie Oliver ~ Cook with Jamie
John Le Carre ~ The mission song
Les Carlyon ~ The great war
Nora Roberts ~ Valley of silence
Schapelle Corby ~ My story
Stuart Woods ~ Short straw

Search for them in our web catalogue. Type in your search in the box next to Search library for. 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 Ask-a-Librarian

If you're stuck on a school project or have questions about our library service and books, you might be interested in our new Ask-a-Librarian service.

Ask-a-Librarian replaces the old Global Librarian service that we operated over the past 4 years with our partners in Vaughan, Surrey and Southampton.

Mark it in your bookmarks or favorites, ready for the next time you need to

Ask-a-Librarian!

Cheers, Maryanne