Meet the 'Jam Lady'

Former opera singer Lisa O'Connor turned her hand to making jams and preserves when her singing career ended. Lisa's range of Jam Lady products includes more than 20 jams, preserves and relishes, now popular in many restaurants and exported across Australia and overseas. Hear the story of her fascinating journey from opera singing in Europe to her international jam making success.

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

Bookings essential. Gold coin donation

Cheers, Maryanne

Little Black Princess Continued

Come and meet Alan Holman talk about his book The Girl Who Talked to the Stars which relates the later life of the Little Black Princess:We of the Never Never.

When: Wednesday 2nd May 11am
Where: Yarra Junction Library, Hoddle Street, Yarra Junction
Ph: 5967 1588
Bookings appreciated, refreshments provided

Cheers, Maryanne

Kids' Bookclub

Pia at Knox is starting up a great bookclub for kids aged 6 and over who love reading. There will be books, fun and games. Please ring Pia for queries on 98011422

When: Tuesday 1st May 4pm
Where: Knox Library, 425 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South

Cheers, Maryanne

Library Week Event - Star Wars Trivia Night

OK, I know it's a whole month away but you have to plan early. This year is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. So raid the wardrobe for those Darth Vader or Jedi costumes and come along to our Star Wars trivia night. Great prizes, nibbles and supper provided.

Make up a table of 8, or we can help you find some friendly fans to make a team.

When: Friday 25th May 7pm
Where: Ferntree Gully Library, 1010 Burwood Highway, Ferntree Gully
Cost: $5
Bookings 92948140

Cheers, Maryanne

p.s. you can come along in regular clothes as well :-)

Energy and your Home

Is your Power Bill costing too much? Then come to Yarra Junction tomorrow and meet local identity Colin Gilliam who will discuss simple ways to save you money around the home. He is willing and eager to answer all your questions on this timely subject

Bookings appreciated. Refreshments provided

When: Saturday 28th April 11am
Where: Yarra Junction Library, Hoddle Street, Yarra Junction
Ph: 5967 1588

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

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 Wednesday for a great show.

On this week's show

Today saw the return of our Family Historian Kathy Smalley to the show. As she pointed out, genealogy refers to tracing a family tree, but family historians usually want to broaden the picture with information about the period that relatives lived in, maybe information about the suburbs, towns, or even the houses that ancestors live in. And now it's possible to find out if members of your family held shares in a mining company, by checking the CDROM Mining shareholders index, 1857-1886 for Victoria, which is available at Ringwood Library. (There are many other fascinating CDROMs).

Kathy also brought us up to date with some new Census information for Scotland which is available through the Ancestry.com database which is available on all public PCs in our library branches. Both the 1881 and 1901 Census results have been added to a list of Scottish Census which cover the period 1841 to 1901.

One very useful hint Kathy passed on today was that there is information about problems associated with particular census data, at the end of the census. She suggest scrolling to the end of the information of any given census and checking this out, as in every case there is listed some information which has not been included because records have been lost or damaged. In the case of the 1841 census, a significant decision to round out the ages of people to the nearest figure divisible by five, means that if you are searching by age, you need to set your parameters to 5 years either side of the age you have for your ancestor. There are also cases where information was recorded in pencil, and not legible, and where marks on the census for male/female have gone into another column, and your ancestor John Smith may be recorded as female. Kathy suggests not putting in male/female as part of your search terms.

If you are interested in an informal family history information sharing session, the Genie Exchanges which happen every two months at Ringwood, Lilydale and Belgrave libraries, and monthly at Knox library are a good way to keep up to date with what is available, and these sort of useful tips. There is no need to book for these exchanges, and you will have access to computer resources, microfiche, print resources, and staff who are funds of invaluable information. Don't forget too that you can subscribe to the e-newsletter through the ERL website - click on the Family History link.

Some other invaluable resources for researching family history are the following web databases, friendsunited.com.au and schoolsunited.com, where it is possible to find information put on about families and individuals, family trees and school records, and to place requests for information. Access is free up to a point, there are fees for extended access.

Music today was Willie Nelson from the CD The Highwaymen perform on their own.

Cheers, Maryanne

Interested in all things relating to Military History?

If you're interested in Military History come along and join the Eastern Regional Libraries Military History Group.

• meet fellow enthusiasts
• share information
• receive help with service histories
• borrow new ERL titles on military matters

Inaugural meeting at Croydon Library

When: Friday 23rd March 2-4pm
Thereafter every 2 months on the 4th Friday of the month
25th May, 27th July, 28th September, 23rd November 2-4pm
Where: Croydon Library Civic Square Croydon Ph: 9294 5640

Free event

Cheers, Maryanne

Culinary Conversations – Ann Creber

Ann Creber has an immense background of more than 25 years in the food industry. Ann has been retained as a Food Consultant to many companies including Westfield Food Centres, Bertolli Australia, Ardmona, Uncle Toby's Oats, Kraft Foods and is currently retained as Food Consultant by Salton Australia Pty. Ltd (suppliers of the George Foreman & Russell Hobbs product range).

Ann has been a food presenter on ABC radio for 12 years with Mary Adams & Elaine Canty and has been a restaurant reviewer for 10 years for The Age Good Food Guide and for two years with Mietta's Food & Wine Guide.

When: Monday 23rd April 12:30pm
Where: Mount Evelyn Library, 50 Wray Crescent, Mount Evelyn
Cost: $7.50 includes lunch
Bookings 9736-3851

Cheers, Maryanne

The House of Feng Shui

How to arrange the perfect lounge, kitchen, entry and bedroom for harmony and balance in your home. Come and Meet Sally Fischmann at Yarra Junction Library

When: Saturday 21st April 11am
Where: Yarra Junction library, Hoddle Street, Yarra Junction
Ph: 5967 1588

Bookings appreciated. Refreshments provided.

Cheers, Maryanne

Sustainable Living – Viva Italia!

Italians are renowned for making dishes from the freshest ingredients, very often from their own garden. Fresh hand made pasta, tomato sauce, olives, eggplant and prosciutto. Grace Molluso continues her parents’ food traditions and will inspire you with ideas for the kitchen ad garden.

When: Friday 20th April 1:30pm
Where: Mount Evelyn Library, 50 Wray Crescent, Mount Evelyn
Bookings 97363851

Cheers, Maryanne

Puffing Billy talk

Come along to hear this interesting talk about the history of the Puffing Billy Railway, how it is operating today and how you can get involved.

When: Thursday 19th April 7pm
Where: Rowville Library, Stud Park Shopping Centre, Stud Road, Rowville Ph: 9294 1300

Free event.

Cheers, Maryanne

Puffing Billy image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License.

Mosaics in the Garden

Create a mosaic feature for your garden. Artist Joy Serwylo will provide ideas and inspirations.

When: Tuesday 17th April 2pm
Where: Montrose Library, Corner Mt. Dandenong Tourist Road & Swansea Road, Montrose

Gold coin donation
Bookings 97284224

Cheers, Maryanne

Beginning Family History

Get started researching your Family History.

When: Tuesday 17th April 6-8pm
Where: Knox Library, 425 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South
Ph: 9801 1422

Free event, bookings essential.

Cheers, Maryanne

Reading Café – Meet Tim Richards

Tim Richards is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the world.

As a journalist he has written on such diverse topics as Lola Montez, mobile phone etiquette, biofuels and teaching birds to talk. He is a frequent contributor to The Age and has been retained by corporate clients such as Telstra and World Vision.

Widely travelled and an accomplished photojournalist he is a writer for Lonely Planet, including the recently published Lonely Planet Guide to Eastern Europe.

When: Monday 16th April 12:30pm
Where: Lilydale Library, Anderson Street, Lilydale
Cost: $7.50 includes lunch
Bookings 9294-3120

Cheers, Maryanne

Checkout the new layout

Hey everyone.....Don't think you've stumbled on the wrong blog, we've got a new layout. I wanted to test out some of the new features offered by Blogger so I needed to make some changes. What do you think?

Some things to notice:

• Top 10 Reads

Now situated on the menu bar at the right. I think I'll post these here each month rather than do an article.

• From the web to you

This is part of Google Reader. I'll be sharing some feeds for great blog articles etc through this section. At the moment there are articles about books and food. What else are you interested in?

I'll add some more things a bit later and upload the quick links for feeds etc that seem to have been wiped in the change.

So, here's your big chance to give me some feedback. What would you like to see on the blog?

Cheers, Maryanne

Top 10 Reads for April

The following are the Top 10 Reads for April.

Alexander McCall Smith ~ The good husband of Zebra Drive
J D Robb ~ Innocent in death
Jayne Ann Krentz ~ White lies
Lynda Page ~ The sooner the better
Nelson DeMille ~ Wildfire
Nora Roberts ~ Heart of the sea
Penny Vincenzi ~ An absolute scandal
Reginald Hill ~ The death of Dalziel
Robert Barnard ~ A fall from grace
Tracy Chevalier ~ Burning bright

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

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 Wednesday for a great show.

On this week's show

"Country is a music that's frequently misunderstood" says Kurt Wolff, in his introduction to Country Music : the Rough Guide. This was true for me as a child in the fifties and sixties, when I thought country and western was all wailing guitars and lonesome cowboys. Since then, I have discovered that many well known songs were originally country and western, and some have become all time classics, such as The Tennesse Waltz.

While reading the book The inner Elvis : a psychological biography of Elvis Aaron Presley, I discovered that Elvis began as a country singer, and as far as he was concerned "everyone knows that rock and roll, at the very bottom, is just country music and Gospel, put together."

The singer who truly alerted me to the power of country music was Johnny Cash, and for serious fans, you can't go past the book Cash : an American man by Bill Miller. Miller has been a fan since he was 9 years old, and has collected a fascinating range of photos, posters, letters and interviews which give a vivid picture of the man and his music making. The library also holds copies of the recent movie of his life Walk the line, and has many CDs, including a great double album called The Essential Johnny Cash.

Music today was from Lyle Lovett's album The road to Ensenada, Willie Nelson and Ray Price from Willie and Ray, Patti Page on Queens of Country, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon from the soundtrack of Walk the line, and Jerry Jeff Walker on his album Jerry Jeff : Live at Gruene Hall.

I've had a request for a podcast of the radio show and this is something I'm seriously looking at this year. I'll let you all know once I can set this up.

Cheers, Maryanne

The Eastern Regional Library Show

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 this Wednesday for a great show.

On last week's show

Newly published author Genna de Bont was a guest today on the program, talking about her novel The pepper gate, and about the writing process. Genna has been writing for at least 15 years, and has an earlier novel for young adults tied up in paper and string on top of the wardrobe, and this novel has been 5 years in the writing. Obviously writing is a demanding occupation, but Genna has already begun her next novel, and cannot imagine not writing.

The pepper tree is a many faceted story, giving the first person account of Mallory, thrice married artist who is facing a degenerative disease, and the possibility that he has found the daughter he was parted from more than 20 years before; and also the stories of his third wife Sueyen, his intellectually disabled 5 year old daughter from his second marriage, and Em, who could be his first daughter.

From a complicated mix of memories, dreams and delusions, an evocative and highly readable story is woven, heightened for me by it's setting in and around Melbourne.

There are several copies in our collection, so if you enjoy a character driven novel, this is for you.

Cheers, Maryanne

Easter

All Eastern Regional Libraries branches and mobiles are closed on the following days over the Easter break:

Friday April 6 - Monday April 9 inclusive

They will re-open at the normal times on Tuesday April 10.

Have a great break everyone and take care.

Cheers, Maryanne

Catalogue pickup library list

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to advise that the pickup library list when placing holds is incomplete at this moment. There are about 5 branches missing from the list (Ranges Mobile, Ringwood, Rowville, Valley Mobile and Yarra Junction). We have software support working on this at the moment and hope to have this rectified soon.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Cheers, Maryanne

Slowness with the catalogue from home?

Have you experienced slowness with the library catalogue from home? If so please let us know through the Contact Us form.

We need to know:

• Your browser & version e.g. Internet Explorer 5.5 (you can find this usually by selecting help from the browser menu and clicking About)
• Your Internet connection - dialup or adsl/cable etc
• What screen you were on. e.g took 40 seconds for results to appear when searching for books on dogs

This helps us when we are troubleshooting. Thanks for your help.

Cheers, Maryanne