Well Done Rodney Schools!!

A big congratulations go today to Mahurangi and Orewa College Kids Lit teams who both came third in their respective heats for the Auckland region on Friday.

Orewa College were up first in the afternoon heat and came in third behind Bucklands Beach Intermediate and Glen Eden Intermediate. In the evening it was Mahurangi's turn, doing the Rodney region proud by repeating the third placing behind Belmot and Kowhai Intermediates respectively.

That's a huge achievement when you consider how many schools there are in the Auckland Region and that each school can enter two teams. So well done to everyone involved.

The finals of the national Kids Lit competition will be held this Sunday as part of the Storylines Festival at the Aoteo Centre (more on that later in the week). If you want to find out more about the competition, hit the link to the Kids Lit website, find out all about and try the sample questions to see how you go.

Matariki - the Maori New Year

Based on early traditions, Matariki is something special for all New Zealanders to share. It connects us with our unique Maori heritage, nature, creativity and expression. For many Maori, Matariki signals the beginning of a new cycle of life and a time to reflect on the previous year.
Today Matariki means celebrating the unique place in which we live and giving respect to the land we live on.
(source Matariki Festival 2008 website)

Matariki is the name for a small cluster of tiny stars also known as the Pleiades. In late May early June Matariki rises on the north east horizon, around the same spot as the rising sun (and one of the best times to spot the stars is about half an hour before dawn).

There are heaps of activities and events around Auckland and Northland (as well as the rest of the country) celebrating Matariki. Check out the two websites to find out more details from happenings at Museums and Observatories, to Art Exhibitions and Concerts, there is something for everyone. These go on for the next three to four weeks.

The Matariki Festival 08 website gives both history and details of Tamaki-Makarau (Auckland) events and the Matariki Northland website gives details of what's happening in Tai Tokerau (Northland).

Locally, Wellsford and Te Hana are the places to be to celebrate Matariki. Events on Saturday 7th June include an Art Exhibition, Wearable Arts and Fashion Parade, a DJ, Kapa Haka, and a Health expo at Wellsford Community centre from 9.15am and a tree-planting at Te Hana.

Have a good weekend everyone. Ka kite ano.

Celebrate World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day and this year it is being hosted by New Zealand in conjunction with the United Nations. The government website calls World Environment Day "an opportunity to raise awareness and promote action on national environment issues. New Zealand businesses and communities can tie-in their own environmental and sustainable activities and messages to the event and take advantage of WED’s status and media focus."

So there is heaps going on today to try to achieve this, both big and small. Zoos, Museums, Universities, Councils, businesses and schools are all getting behind the day, with exhibitions, activities, plantings and debates. One of the local events is a Kauri tree planting at Te Hana this weekend which is also part of their Matariki celebrations (more on that tomorrow).

Whether or not you believe in climate change (way beyond my limited scientific knowledge) and sustainability, I still think it's a good idea to look after the environment. After all, Aotearoa is a rather special place and I'd like to keep it that way. The best thing is that you don't have to make any big changes. To celebrate the day all you need to do is turn off a couple of switches at home to conserve power, talk to your work mates about carpooling, work on your recycling or go out and plant a tree. Imagine what a difference it would make if we all managed to carpool even one day a week (which is all we are probably going to manage here with all our meetings before, during and after work). And it will save us money too.

If you want to know more about it all check out the World Environment Day website. Or call in and check out what's on offer at your local Rodney Library to help you help the environment.

National Library is getting a Makeover

The National Library of New Zealand will be redeveloped over the next three years at a cost of $NZ69 million. This was announced as part of the 2008 budget.

‘The redevelopment will open up and expand the building, making its valuable heritage collections more accessible to the public, and creating almost 4000 square metros of additional storage and exhibition space,’ Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
‘The National Library’s collections are estimated to be worth $1 billion. They include material such as journals and notebooks of Katherine Mansfield, Sir Apirana Ngata’s papers, and a diverse range of books, cartoons, paintings, photographs, and sound recordings. It also houses the Alexander Turnbull Library. This development is a major milestone in the history of the National Library – a 21st century library for the digital age will be created.’

The redevelopment will provide controlled storage environments, which meet international preservation standards for collections, and will enhance research space and facilities. The National Library will ensure that its collections continue to be available during the redevelopment. Minister for Libraries, Judith Tizard said the redevelopment was an ‘exciting and significant’ milestone in the history of the institution.

‘The redevelopment of this building will ensure that the National Library of New Zealand continues to make an important contribution to our national identity both in our own sense of nationhood, as well as increasing the awareness and understanding of New Zealand internationally,’ she said.

The National Library, not only houses the important collections and items mentioned above. It also plays a major role in supporting school and public libraries throughout the country. On a day to day basis, Rodney Libraries customers will be most familiar with their role in obtaining books not available in our own collection through the "interloan" service.

Time for a Proper Introduction

INTRODUCING “Rosie”

The majority of our customers at Rodney Libraries, ask for us to phone them when the book that they have requested has arrived. Phone calls are also the main way we contact you when you have overdue books and outstanding fines.

The voice of Rodney Libraries has been called many things. “The disembodied voice” is a common one, but there are many others (some of which we probably can’t publish) such as the automated or mechanical voice and talking technology. Well, we decided that was a bit unfair to the hardworking voice of the Library so one day we decided to give her (and we are all pretty convinced that the voice is female) a name and a personality.befitting her status as one of the most important members of our staff. It took a while (several coffees) before we thought that such a sunny personality should have the name “Rosie”.

Rosie is of indeterminate age and nationality, although we are fairly certain English is not her first language. She will not always get the pronunciation of your name right but she does her best. Because this is her second job she makes her calls to you after hours, often around dinner time or when the evening news is on (because that is when she is most likely to find you at home and we want to make sure the message gets through).

If getting a call from Rosie is not the highlight of your day (or week), you do have other options for how we contact you. You can choose to be contacted by phone, email or by letter. Obviously the letter will take a couple of days to reach you, which is why sometimes a letter advising your books are overdue when you have already returned them. And if you opt for being contacted by email, you should check it regularly.

If you would like to change the way we get in touch with you, just advise us next time you are in the library and check that your details are all current.

PS I hope you all had a fantastic Queens Birthday Weekend. And for anyone that is interested, Yes I did start my lawnmower. Have a good day.