Just a glimpse of some of the programs we've been involved in recently

Ever wondered what the library staff get up to when we're not answering questions and checking in books? Here's just a glimpse of some of the community programs we've been involved in.

Ringwood Move
Lyn and Paul have been busy weeding the Ringwood Collection prior to the move in October. Lorraine has been working with Lyn on the new layout of the building. The building is quite different from the original Ringwood Library……some of us still remember the brown bricks!

eLearning and Virtual Team
Congratulations to the Virtual team on the ERL Facebook! Really well done and a great job keeping it up to date.

The eLearning Team spent a day at Croydon with one to one sessions helping people master their iPad and the art of downloading eBooks….they helped 24 people during the day. These sessions are really popular now……it’s terrific that we can respond to the demand. Great work from all the eLearning staff in the branches.

Children’s Services
School holidays are in full swing! Several Big Draw events are being held this time…..Leigh Hobbs, Michael Salmon and Ian Forss are all special guests. Ysls are all busy with lots of young people visiting during the holidays.

Leigh Hobbs at Ferntree Gully Library

We are sad to farewell our wonderful and long serving children’s librarian Pia. She will be missed by her adoring storytime children and parents alike. Pia has several things planned for the future and we wish her all the best. We also sadly farewell Hilda… her storytime children will certainly miss her wonderful storytimes. I’m sure Hilda has some wonderful plans too.

Knox has two Nintendo DS units set up in the library and will host a ‘play-off’ on Friday. Nintendo offers the DS units to community groups and they have done lots of work with the Starlight Foundation.

Janet and Sue will both be working with Glen Park Community Centre on children’s projects over the next month.

South East Water have asked ERL if they can present two storytime sessions to children. The storytimes will focus on the importance of water and its conservation. They have produced a children’s book about water….sessions will be at Bayswater and Rowville Libraries.

Outreach Vehicles
The Flexi-service vehicle together with Rebecca, Rowanne, Sue, Helen and Lorraine spent last Saturday at the Yarra Valley and Mountain District Football Final. We painted faces (and other body parts!) of children (and adults), cut out and coloured, read stories, joined new borrowers, promoted the school holiday program and the library in general. We also spent time walking around the football ground encouraging people to visit their local library.

Parents were grateful to have activities for their children to do and Rowanne was pleased to see some of the footy families at the Healesville school holiday program this week.
Rebecca took the flexi-vehicle to visit a Young People’s Drop-In Centre at the Redwood Centre in Warburton and spent a day at Milwarra Primary School in East Warburton. Grant was recently accompanied by the staff from Inspiro (a community health service) to the caravan parks in the Yarra Ranges. Inspiro provided a sausage sizzle.

Sue will be joining Amy on the Knox Outreach vehicle next week to run storytime at the Dorset Road/ Burwood Hwy housing complex.

Events
Ita Buttrose
ERL is very pleased to be hosting an event with Australian of the Year 2013, Ita Buttrose. Ita is a very well-known media personality but does a lot of work in the health and well-being area, especially for women and older Australians.

The Lunch with Ita event is being supported by Kubix. Places are filling fast - Book Online Lunch with Ita.

Vintage Market
Montrose Library is hosting a Vintage Market in November with lots of stalls for lovers of all things vintage. A similar market was part of the Fashion Meets Fiction Exhibition and was very popular so I’m sure this event will be well attended.

Home Services
The Home Services staff have decided to host an early volunteer celebration this year. The usual Christmas get together will be held earlier as most of our volunteers are too busy at Christmas. Many of them volunteer in several places and are kept pretty busy! The lovely thing is that several volunteers bring along one of their clients to the celebration…and it’s wonderful to meet them.

Projects
Janet and Lorraine are part of the Yarra Ranges Early Learning Working Group and ERL has recently received funding for two new projects that will take place next year.

Dads and Kids 
Dads and Kids is a project to take place in Yarra Junction. It will focus on creating opportunities for Dads to spend time with their children while encouraging both Dads and children to read more and engage with the library.

Jump Start
Jump Start is another project being funded. This project will be used to encourage playgroups to be aware of creating opportunities for children to become readers and to improve literacy levels.

Reading Dog
ERL has worked over the last school term with Guide Dogs Victoria and Bayswater West Primary School on this project. Reluctant readers spend time each week reading to the Reading Dog….the dog is very non-judgmental and never corrects the child. It’s a time when the child can enjoy the company of the dog and just read. Results have been pretty amazing. All seven children in the program have gained confidence, improved in their reading ability and now read at home. Both parents and teachers have been surprised at the outcomes.

Lorraine and Janet are currently sourcing new funding areas so that we can continue to roll out this program.


Sharing Stories
This is a project being led by Yarra Ranges Council. ERL and the Healesville Indigenous Community Service Association are partners. It involves the creation of three art installations recording important milestones in the Indigenous history of Healesville. A DVD has also been produced. The installations will be placed in Healesville Library. The launch of this project is on Thursday 31 October in Healesville.

We also attend the Young Parents Network meetings at Upper Yarra Family Centre and have supported their projects and a couple of occasions this year.

Lorraine and Janet have also been working on a series of events to help promote local businesses-especially home-based businesses. An evening with local business owners will be held at Knox Library in the next month offering local business people some tips and a chance to network with other business owners.

In the family and local history area, Kathy is working on a grant application for the ANZAC Centenary. She has also been very busy preparing for History Week which runs from 20-27 October. Lots of events happening in the Yarra Ranges area.

Croydon Library is working with Maroondah Youth Services to have some musical instruments available for loan through the library. Great opportunity for keen musicians to borrow drums, guitars etc.

Great job everyone! Thanks Lorraine for the summary of programs.