Summer Reading Celebrations!

Dancing with the Magical Mountains troupe.
Check out Facebook for more photos.

Well, its another year over for the Summer Reading Challenge - and what an amazing effort by all the kids who participated.

We had over 834 children join, with approximately
4,810 books in total being read over the Summer Reading period.

Ferntree Gully Library had the highest reading record sheets returned for one child, numbering at 12 - which means this particular reading whiz read 120 books. Knox Library followed, with at least one child powering through 70 books throughout the challenge. What a fabulous effort for these kids to put in!

To celebrate all our kids' achievements (yes, we librarians are so very proud!!), we held this year's Summer Reading Party at the Mooroolbark Community Centre. With a turnout of around 150 children, we were joined by The Magical Mountains Children's Live Entertainment performers. Amongst our special guests were Stewie the Koala, Locky Cocky, Breanna the Gum Tree and Suzie Roo who delighted our young audience with much singing and dancing.

Of special note are some of our Summer Reading Club Winners. From Lilydale library we have our Reading Winner Nicholas. Our Non-Reader award went to Harley, who shared his love of books with his older brother Jack, who read them all to his little brother. Congratulations, guys!! You can see our winners on our Facebook Page.

Well done to all the children who participated in the Summer Reading Challenge this year - and a big shout out to all the parents and teachers who encouraged the love of reading in their kids. Also, kudos to all our Youth Services Librarians - with Sue, Trudi, Rowanne and Hannah (she was also Breanna the Gum Tree!) for organising the party. Thank you everyone and look forward to seeing you all for  the next Summer Reading Challenge!

For more photos of our Summer Reading Challenge party, visit our Facebook Page.

ERL Facebook is here!

Woohoo!! Yes, it has finally arrived - and we must say, there is much rejoicing and maybe a little happy dance going on behind the scenes as we launch our new Facebook Page.

What does our Facebook offer?
Well, we wanted to go with a fun approach - afterall, Facebook is for fun and socialising. Our posts are going to be the kinds of things you can enjoy and share with your friends. Covering everything from library and book humour to quirky trivia, family history, competitions, library events and library news, we certainly encourage people to "Like" us and pop us in their "Interests" list so as not to miss out on any updates!

Our Approach?
Need help with a project? Sure thing - jump on and tell us what you're looking for.
Not sure how to download an e-book? No probs - post us a message.
Having trouble with the catalogue? Good to know, we'll see if we can steer you towards what you're after.
Looking for something new to read and don't know who or where to ask? Hey, no worries - ask us.
Did you love an event you went to the other week? Hey, there are probably photos or spare handouts to share.

So, you are cordially invited to...
Talk to us! We heartily encourage people to approach us with all their library and information enquiries. This is a place where we want people to feel welcome and comfortable to ask questions and chat to us. This is a very exciting venture and we can't wait to hear from everyone.

So go ahead - "Like" our Eastern Regional Libraries Facebook Page... we know you want to...

Eastern Regional Libraries launches National Year of Reading #1000thpost

Photos from the successful launch of the National Year of Reading for ERL have been uploaded to the Love2Read Facebook page.

The launch was celebrated at Croydon Library with ambassadors Ilsa Evans and Adam Wallace in attendance and signing books for fans. In addition Cr Natalie Thomas (Maroondah), Mayor Adam Gill (Knox), Cr Paul Macdonald (Maroondah) and Chief Executive Joseph Cullen were also there to celebrate.

National Year of Reading - ERL Launch

With this, we celebrate 1000 Twitter tweets!

Cheers, webgurl

Writing catalogue reviews just got easier with Facebook and Twitter logins

ChiliFresh have just added Facebook and Twitter integration into it's reviewing system. This means when you click on Write a review on a record in our catalogue you can click the Login with Facebook or Sign in with Twitter buttons and use these existing social networks.

You will need to login to your account and with Twitter you need to authorise the application however the application will not be able to:

• Access your direct messages.
• See your Twitter password.

Give it a test drive and let me know if you have any issues via out contact form or on Twitter.

Cheers, webgurl

Blog makeover

If you think you've surfed onto the wrong blog, well no you haven't. I thought I'd give the blog a makeover for the new year. Apart from some of the cosmetic changes I've moved the Top 10 Reads so that it always appears at the top of the blog. I've also added a Share button, free from AddThis.com. You can click the button to share the post with people via email, or through social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and del.icio.us.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers, Maryanne

Knox Cybersafety

Knox Youth Services, in conjunction with Eastern Regional Libraries, are running fantastic seminars on cybersafety in May and June. The free seminars are aimed at parents, grandparents, carers, teachers and young people.

Seminar 1
A snapshot of social networking sites - the what, why and how of using MySpace, Facebook and beyond. Presented by Melanie Reynolds, Knox Youth Services and Maryanne Gosling aka webgurl, Eastern Regional Libraries.

When: Thursday 29th May 6:30-8pm
Where: Knox Library, Knox City Shopping Centre, Burwood Hwy, Wantirna Sth
Cost: Free event
Bookings essential phone 98011422

Seminar 2
A cybersafety panel presentation - the how to guide for parents featuring experts from the field and a Q&A session. Tom Wood, well-known cybersafety advocate will be a member of the panel.

When: Thursday 11th June 6:30-8pm
Where: Knox Library, Knox City Shopping Centre, Burwood Hwy, Wantirna Sth
Cost: Free event
Bookings essential phone 98011422

Cheers, Maryanne