We are Sailing!

The Volvo Ocean Race – previously known as the Whitbread Round the World Race – has arrived in Auckland. Six of the world's fastest monohulls, including top contender Emirates Team New Zealand entry CAMPER (pictured) , have been racing since October last year, tackling a nine month marathon around the globe, deep into the bleak latitudes of the Southern Ocean and through the world’s most hostile seas. And you get the chance to check them out between now and the 18th of March when they take off again on the next leg of the trip to Brazil. Before they leave they will be competing in a couple of short races in Auckland Harbour.

For more information on the stopover check out the official website.

If you don't get the chance to get down to the Viaduct to check out this year's entries, you can always relive the past by checking out the books and other resources at Auckland Libraries on the Whitbread and some of our best boats.

Or maybe you have a dream of competing in the future. Check out our sailing and yachting resources to help you be the best you can be.

And as for me, I have tried sailing a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would like to do more. But the sort of things these guys get up to in the oceans is a little too rough for me. While I like the wind to fill the sails, I like somewhat calmer waters than I see on the TV coverage. I take my hat off to you.

On the rocks

Once upon a time stories of shipwrecks and vessels in trouble was confined to the pages of the history books, with pirates and castaways struggling through heavily romanticised fiction to a happy (usually) ending. Pilgrims to far off lands sometimes managed to safely set foot in new worlds, while for others, the only things that made it to shore were the snapped timbers of boats that didn't make it into safe harbours. New Zealand coasts have many stories to tell of ships that didn't make it across some of the infamous bars guarding our harbours. And people can understand how a storm can create tragedy for those on the high seas, such as the sinking of the Wahine.

But a calm sunny day on the east coast of New Zealand just out from some of most pristine beaches is a strange place for the latest maritime tragedy to unfold. However the unfolding disaster of the cargo ship Rena will place it near the top of what some in Aotearoa must be thinking of as our very own "Annus Horribilis".

To find out more about Shipwrecks in New Zealand visit the link for a subject search here.
To find out more about what the authorities can (or might) be doing to mitigate the effects of the current disaster, here are the results of a keyword search on oil pollution

And to investigate the effects of oil pollution on wildlife, try this recently released non-fiction title from the Gulf of Mexico explosion. The tarball chronicles : a journey beyond the oiled pelican and into the heart of the gulf oil spill / David Gessner tells a story that extends beyond the archetypal oil-soaked pelican, beyond politics, beyond BP. Instead he explores the ecosystem of the Gulf as a complicated whole and focuses on the people whose lives and livelihoods have been jeopardized by the spill. He reintroduces this oil spill as a template for so many man-made disasters and the long-term consequences they pose for ecosystems and communities.

All things New

I was having a wander around the Auckland Libraries website on Monday and found something NEW. That's brand new, fresh and extra helpful.

There is a new addition to the New and Recommended option on our top toolbar. Click on "New Titles" and a whole new world of the most recent additions to the library collection opens up before you.

Browse our new titles lists which includes books, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, downloadable books and more. It is updated monthly, which should give you enough time to read the ones you ordered last month. There is also an option to print out some of the lists (perhaps your school library could do this for you).

We also offer a number of RSS feeds for new titles.
RSS for all new titles: Please see a daily feed of the latest Auckland Libraries titles to hit the library catalogue.
RSS for new titles by category: Please see an alternative selection of new titles lists updated daily, weekly, monthly or bi-monthly. Each comes with an RSS feed.
(Note: Although these lists are on the former Auckland City Libraries website, they contain titles from across the Auckland region.)

So far I have ordered two fiction, two graphic novels and one music CD. It is a wonderfully dangerous addition to our website. Check it out today.

Saving Daylight

First up let me say, I am a BIG fan of daylight saving. I look forward to those lovely long summer evenings filled with family and friends and relaxing in the outdoors rather than snuggled under a blanket watching the All Blacks beat France on a cold spring night (although that has it's attraction).

What I detest is the first week (or so) of the change. I can (almost) cope with changing all the different electronic appliances in my house over to the new time. The time piece I have the most trouble with is my own body clock. Crawling out of bed this morning was just a little harder than normal. I just have to keep telling myself that it will get better if I persevere.

Just for fun I did a keyword search for Daylight Saving in the library catalogue. It's amazing what it turned up.

Seize the daylight: the curious and contentious story of daylight saving time / David Prerau. The author weaves a tale of science, history, and politics - a story grand enough to involve luminaries such as Ben Franklin, Winston Churchill, and FDR, but personal enough to revolve around railroad conductors and schoolchildren waiting at bus stops on dark mornings - all about the simple act of setting the clock forward an hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall (publisher's summary).

Saving the daylight : why we put the clocks forward / David Prerau. The same author gives us another title. For several months every year, for better or worse, daylight saving time affects billions of people throughout the world. Every spring, the clocks go forward, and every autumn they go back. And for centuries this has been the subject of recurring controversy. Saving the Daylight explores for the first time the contentious and surprisingly entertaining story of this deceptively simple atempt to regulate the sunlight hours

And if that is all too profound for you, the other thing that turned up when I did the search was Brooke Fraser's album What to do with daylight which is much more my scene.

Have a great day all.

Comics Galore

We are over halfway through Comic book month and I have seen plenty of superhero librarians out there around Auckland (including some with wonderfully graphic tights). So it seems only fair to share some of my favourites.

Some of these are new favourites following sitting in on some book recommendations. Some of these are old favourites. I grew up with comics. I was never really into Archie & Co and only discovered Asterix and Tin Tin later. However my brothers' collection of western and war comics were thumbed just as enthusiastically by me as they were by the male members of the family. Weekly subscriptions to Tammy and Jinty magazines gave me a rose-coloured view of English comics before I delved into the super hero phase. That's my background in comics.

Green Lantern was my favourite super hero. I'm not even sure why that was (unless it had something to do with his eternal patience with the carping of Green Arrow). I still love the comics, especially when he joins his colleagues from the Justice League of America. I have withheld judgement on the movie.

Wolverine is my favourite X-man (everyone loves a Bad Boy). I came to the Xmen later than most but they would probably rank as one of my favourite super-hero groups.

The Fables have been called "probably the smartest mainstream comic going" (Publisher's Weekly). Imagine a group of storybook characters (both good and evil... and some a bit of both) are living around the corner from you. They are Legends in Exile which is the title of the first collection of tales available at Auckland Libraries. All your favourites are here (Bluebeard, Little Boy Blue, Rose Red and the Big Bad Wolf). They fight wars, make up, solve crimes, have families and much, much more. Not scared to kill off your favourite characters, there is always a twist in the tale of this wonderful series.

The Action Bible was recommended by Mack (and several others) at a recent Teens meeting in Manukau. I am so pleased I followed through and requested it. Yes, it's the Bible in graphic novel form, but this is not a dumbed down version. All the stories are here, from both the Old and the New Testament. It's fast paced and contemporary but still portrays the spirit of the Bible. There's even a website which invites you in to meet "the original action heroes".

Top 5 for Friday - September is...

It's September! Winter is over and it's time to celebrate in a BIG way as the world comes to New Zealand. Today's Top 5 concentrates on some of the things that are happening in the world of Libraries and the big city of Auckland during September.

1. Blue September. This comes first because this one is personal. Blue September is encouraging us to face up to Prostate Cancer. Here's what the website says. Why blue? It's simple - blue is for boys! Did you know men are twice as likely as women to die from cancers that in many cases can be prevented? Come on guys, it’s time to face facts and get cancer aware. Blue September is a nationwide awareness and fundraising initiative for prostate cancer, supporting the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. The campaign seeks to raise funds for prostate cancer research, as well as helping men reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by encouraging early detection. In Library terms, we can help by providing reading (subject search Prostate Cancer) for those who may have just been diagnosed and want to make sense of the frustrating rounds of tests and doctors (and for their families) or go to one of our Health databases through our Libraries website to get tips on early detection.


2. Rugby World Cup 2011. It's hard to ignore so we are not going to. The World's here to play, Auckland is ready and so are the Libraries. From fantastic displays supporting one (or all) of the teams, rugby and other sporting literature and provision of internet services so that visitors can keep in touch with home to lots of friendly welcoming spaces and enthusiastic people, Auckland Libraries are right behind the Rugby World Cup. Check out the special RWC2011 page on our library website for more details of events near you.


3. Comic Book Month. The best of all different activities from previous years from all around Auckland have been combined into one event during September. We give you Top 5s, write-ups, an interview with the award-winning Sheehan Bros, and introduce you to our graphic novel and zine collections. There are also reward cards (with the chance to win some fantastic prizes) special events and storytimes being run in some libraries and our Create a Character competition starts up next week. Watch the website or your local library for more details.


4. Auckland Art Gallery. After nearly four years away, a civic ceremony on Saturday 3 September will officially reinstate the Auckland Art Gallery to its original home on the corner of Kitchener and Wellesley Street... The newly developed Gallery has 7,194 sqm of public space, including four floors, 4,264 sqm of display space, a café, gallery shop, Learning Centre, auditorium and more than 800 artworks on display. Museums and Art Galleries are the cousins of Libraries and visiting this family member (which I am ashamed to say I have never done before) is top of my list to do once netball finishes and I get my weekends back. Which leads me to the last item on today's list.


5. Spring. Yes - Winter is officially over and September marks the beginning of spring. This morning every single member of the netball team I coached remarked on how lovely it was to turn up to 7am practice and for it to be daylight. Time to spring clean, prepare the gardens, start the exercise/diet programme that will have you looking the best you can for the beaches this summer. Or just be able to take your book and coffee (or wine) outside onto the deck to relax and enjoy. (If you hit the link on 'spring' you get a rather eclectic mix of library resources which is the result of a keyword search).

It's a full month and I plan to make the most of it. Have an awesome weekend everyone.

Silver for the Silver Ferns

I was really hoping that there would be a different title to today's blog. So close and yet so far away (and a million other cliches which will no doubt be rolled out after another epic battle on the netball courts last night between the Silver Ferns and the Australian Diamonds - just in case anyone doesn't know what I am talking about)

I am proud of our girls, chuffed that we made the Diamonds work so hard, gutted that we had it and let it go, not sure if it helps that it was just the toss of the coin (or the umpire's call) and basically just exhausted. Which is probably only a small percentage of what the Silver Ferns and their team of supporters are feeling.

So with some seriousness (but also a little tongue in cheek), here are today's Library resources to help everyone survive the loss.

Grief - This is the result of a subject search so you can narrow down if you are looking for something specific. How to survive it, how to help other's survive it, talking to children, biographies of how other's coped. The truth is that everyone does it in a different way but hopefully there is something here.

Sport in New Zealand - A whole range of books and titles looking at why sport is so important in New Zealand and asking whether or not this is a good thing.

Silver Ferns - Regardless of the result last night, the Ferns are (and always will be) a champion team. Check out their history and some of the characters of the sport here.

Of course we will be winning the Constellation Cup later this year (although I imagine the girls won't be thinking of that at the moment) and just think of the satisfaction when we come home with the Trophy from Sydney in 4 years time. In the meantime, there is always the Rugby World Cup to look forward to.

Celebrate Maori Language week with the Library

Celebrate Māori Language Week (4-10 July) with us. Find out about our recommended Māori books and resources; services and collections at Auckland Libraries. Let our specialist staff assist you with any Māori family and/or local history research. Here are just some of the things that you can now find and have access to as part of Auckland Libraries.

Read our popular topic about the evolution of te reo Māori by Pou Arahi Taonga Heritage Māori Librarian, Rob Eruera.
See top books and resources that relate to the Māori language.

Read the July issue of our Māori Services eNewsletter, which celebrates Māori Language Week with a selection of titles to get you started learning te reo Māori.

DID YOU KNOW that we have a special Māori services section. Our dedicated Māori staff can provide you with specialist knowledge and advice. They can:

• assist in whakapapa research or history for whānau, hapū and iwi


• locate information on kaupapa Māori


• support the community through our Māori services and events


• enhance access to Māori collections and information


• offer one-on-one or group whakapapa sessions and training on Māori databases, resources and our website


• arrange for Māori speaking staff to travel to your marae or community centre.

Many of the 55 branches of Auckland Libraries hold Maori resources and taonga in special collections. Items include an unsigned copy of the Treaty of Waitangi, the original Sir George Grey Special Collections New Zealand Māori manuscripts and letters, including facsimile copies, tribal and oral histories and much much more.

For full information and details of our Maori Services and Collection check out the Maori Langauge Week page on our website.

The Essence of Words

If books and literature in novel and short story form are the power of words, then poetry may be considered the essence or flavour of words. Sometimes short and pithy, sometimes longer and rambling, they take the reader on a personal journey.



Auckland Libraries now has a fantastic resource for all poetry lovers that you can access with your library card.


Columbia Granger's World of Poetry contains over 250,000 poems in full text and 450,000 citations. The poems in full text are the most widely-read in the English language, as well as in Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Included also is poetry in Portuguese, Polish, Yiddish, Welsh, Gaelic, and other Celtic languages, as well as poems in the ancient languages: Anglo-Saxon, Provencal and Latin. There is complete coverage of the works of several individual great poets, including the complete poems of Shelley, Blake, Burns, Keats, Marvell, Poe, Unamuno, Heine, Baudelaire, and other major poets.

In addition you will find a wealth of current poetry from some of the best poetry periodicals, such as Poetry Magazine, The Southern Review, and Poetry Northwest.

Plus you can find commentaries on the poems and biographies of the poet's lives. Full text copies of entire books are included in the resource including titles on Chinese and Asian literature.

If poetry closer to home is more your think, pick up the just released Chords & other poems by Kiwi balladeer Sam Hunt. This slim volume contains the melancholic irreverance I have come to expect from Sam Hunt. It suits the moods of the rainy cold winter months admirably.

Who do YOU trust?

Trust. It's a simple little five letter word but there is so much to it both in everyday life and again on a much deeper level. Is trust believing everything you hear, everything you read? Do you need to see the evidence? Or is it a gut instinct? Maybe (if you are anything like me) it depends on the circumstances. You want to believe what people tell you, but sometimes you take that with the proverbial "grain of salt".

The reason for this discussion is the publication of the seventh annual Reader's Digest Most Trusted list. It makes interesting reading and in some respects ties into the whole concept of trust and needing to have people prove or provide evidence that they can be trusted. Because several of the most trusted people on this year's list are those that look for evidence and proof. They are the scientists and they rank as first, second and third most trusted Kiwi's in 2011.

New Zealand's most trusted man is Sir Ray Avery. You can find out more about him in his very popular biography Rebel with a Cause published in 2010. Ray Avery is an amazing person. He is the current New Zealander of the Year because of his clever work in the Third World using his scientific and business knowledge to provide cheap cataract operations, cheap and more effective incubators for babies and other creative scientific solutions. His childhood was very 'Angela's Ashes', brought up in an orphanage (his own mother had tried to sell him!), then running away and living on the streets. But Ray went on to become a scientist, a millionaire, a very successful businessman and now someone who literally does help to change the world. During the mid nineties Ray spent most of his time working in Eritrea and Nepal, setting up two world class intraocular lens laboratories. At that time the cost of an intraocular lenses was about US$300 but Ray managed to put the technology together to produce lenses for under US$10.00, making modern cataract surgery accessible to the poor throughout Africa and Asia.Today these laboratories produce over 10% of the world's supply of intraocular lenses. Today he encourages other talented people to get on board and tackle some of the really big problems confronting the poor in developing countries. From his garage in Mt Eden Auckland Ray manages a global network of experts to work on specific projects and somehow everyone finds themselves donating their time and knowledge for free and they are rewarded by making a difference" --Publisher description.

Number 2 on the list is Sir Peter Gluckman, the Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister. He is the author or co-author of several books held by Auckland Libraries including Mismatch - Why our lives no longer fit our bodies. He has also recently produced, at the request of the Prime Minister, a comprehensive piece of research into youth and looking at factors affecting the high rate of suicide amongst Kiwi teenagers and possible ways to prevent this.

Making it a trifecta for the scientists is number 3 on the list, current New Zealander of the Year, Sir Paul Callaghan. He is a physicist who is also author and editor of several titles on our shelves. Amongst the most intriguing is As far as we know : conversations about science, life and the universe As Far As We Know answers some of the oldest and most perplexing questions that have been posed about science - from what existed before the Big Bang to the rise of Homo sapiens. In their discussions, Kim Hill and Paul Callaghan consider some of the most momentous concepts of our time and in the process make science understandable, and, above all, entertaining and interesting. Reading this may go some way to also answering the question as to why we are ranking scientists so highly in the trustworthy stakes.

There are a fair smattering of entertainers, sportspeople, heroes and celebrities in the list. Politicians don't fare so well this year. The full list of the Top 100 people is on the Reader's Digest website (which contains lots of other interesting information). If you want to do your own research into whether you think the list is right (or wrong) then check out the biography section at your local library or one of our digital resources.

Happy snapper or professional photographer?

It's Auckland Festival of Photography 3-26 June. I am in awe of the work of some photographers. They can tell a whole story in just one image. I would love to be able to have that ability, or at the very the least the time to practice and find out if I had a smidgen of talent.

So instead I make do with snapping away with my digital (what an asset from the days where you had to develop photos to see what sort of mess you had made of the image) in the vague hope that one of the many clicks will look okay.

Which of course all leads me into what the library has in the way of resources for the budding, aspiring, novice or even professional photographer and for all those that like to analyse the images.

Discover the Digital Library's heritage images and photography eResources.

Auckland Art Gallery collection The Auckland Art Gallery Collection includes access to over 15,000 works of art, 9000 of which have attached images. Key information is....

Footprints Footprints contains more than 2500 historical photographs, cartoons, drawings, posters, watercolours and ephemera.....

Heritage Images Online Heritage Images Online contains over 40,000 images from our significant photograph collections: Winkelmann, Firth, Richardson, Radcliffe, Young,....

Herman Schmidt online exhibition This exhibition is an online version of selected items from the Herman Schmidt exhibition.....

Local History Online Local History Online is a combined collection of local history indexes to community newspapers, oral histories, and heritage images from the....

Manukau's Journey - a Manukau timeline Manukau's Journey is a selection of significant and representative events from the history of Howick, Manukau, Manurewa-Papakura and Franklin wards....

Matapihi Matapihi is a National Digital Forum initiative hosted by the National Library that allows you search the digital collections across....

Photographers database The photographers database is an index to photographers who have worked in New Zealand from the 1840s to the present day.....

Picture Post Historical Archive The Picture Post was an iconic British newspaper published between 1938 and 1957. It can be credited with defining the style of photojournalism that....

Point of View: Scenic New Zealand The photographs in Point of View: Scenic New Zealand show small rural towns and large cities, street scenes, gardens, buildings and beaches....

Sir George Grey website View rare books, medieval manuscripts, Shakespeare's First Folio and other highlights of the Sir George Grey Collection.....

The last Digital resource you can search is our Local History website

Or if you want to turn the pages of a real book, check out our Photography section on the non-fiction shelves (both children's and adults). The Call Number (which is the number on the spine of our non-fiction books) for photography is 770 to 779. There's plenty here from collections from Time and National Geographic to how-to's for the novices (like me). And how to play with your digital images to make them look good when you are back at home.

In the meantime, check out the Festival of Photography website to see if there is something happening near you.

New Digital Resources

Our Web guru Jo Lo reports that three new eResources have been added to the Digital Library: the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, New York Times (1851–2007) and Picture Post Historical Archive.

The New York Times (1851-2007)This database offers full-page images and article images from the New York Times dating back to 1851. You’ll find digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF files. It’s perfect for students of modern US history who want to see stories and images of the events as they occurred, from one of America's most well-known newspapers.
The Encyclopedia of Popular MusicThis is a searchable online encyclopaedia covering popular music of all genres and periods from 1900 to the present day, including jazz, country, folk, rap, reggae, techno, musicals and world music.The encyclopaedia is also cross-searchable from the Oxford Music Online eResource.
Picture Post Historical ArchiveThe Picture Post Historical Archive comprises the complete archive of the Picture Post from its first issue in 1938 to its last in 1957, all digitised from originals in full colour. A great resource for those interested in images of daily life of pre- and post-war Britain, from the newspaper that helped define modern photo-journalism.

The Red Stuff - The Gift of Life

It's World Blood Donor Day today. I have to admit that I am a lapsed blood donor but I might use today to make a resolution to get back into it next time the blood bus pulls into town. I heard a statistic on the radio this morning that under 10% of us are actually blood donors. Which isn't very much considering the need for it in all sorts of situations.

To celebrate (if that's the right word) Blood Donor Day, here are some library resources with ties both obvious and not so obvious, to the red stuff.

Blood - If you do a subject search for Blood in our library catalogue you get 3 pages of results with lots of different categories from Blood Alcohol, Blood Groups and Blood Diseases to the more unusual Bloodsucking Animals and Blood Accusations. Once again both children and adults are represented on the list.

Our Digital Library contains several extremely good Health databases for you to check out any diseases or concerns with relation to blood pressure, blood sugar or anything to do with blood. My family suffers from the common condition Haemochromotosis which is simply put the opposite of Anaemia - we have too much iron in our blood which can be just as devastating to our health. I'm lucky but both my brother and father have to regularly go and be bled (the old fashioned term - today they use the much more medical "venesection").

Which brings me onto the next topic. We couldn't have a blog about the red stuff without mentioning the word Vampire. A keyword search for Vampires reveals almost 2000 entries in our library catalogue. It is a worldwide trend and certainly we have plenty to keep even the most avid Vampire Fan happy. With so much being published in the current market, it is easy to forget that Vampire fiction has been around for a long time. So take a moment to revisit the classics such as Dracula and the novels of Anne Rice.

World Blood Donor day has it's own website "celebrating the gift of blood". And check out the NZ Blood Service website to see if you could become a donor.

Early Rodney Times now online

The early issues of Auckland Star and Rodney Times are now online, thanks to a collaboration between the National Library of New Zealand and Auckland Libraries. Here are some excerpts from the news release on our website.

Digitised, browseable and fully searchable, the first 33 years of the Auckland Star, and 44 years of the Rodney Times can now be read online on the National Library’s Papers Past website.

In 1901, the weekly Rodney and Otamatea Times, a four-page broadsheet, was printed on one of the first stone litho flat-bed press machines developed by Furnival & Co. Two casual workers shared the job of turning the large wheel by hand while the printer fed sheets of newsprint into the rollers.
The newspaper, published on Fridays, sold for three pennies a copy, and the annual subscription was eight shillings. This paper was renamed several times over the years, including a period as the Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, and most recently as the Rodney Gazette. You can now view issues from March 1901 to December 1945 online.

“The release of the early years of the Auckland Star and Rodney Times is a great example of National Library working in cooperation with Auckland Libraries, which holds the physical copies of the paper, and Fairfax Media, which holds the copyright, to make an invaluable historical resource available to New Zealanders at the touch of a button,” said National Librarian, Bill Macnaught.

Allison Dobbie, Manager Libraries and Information, Auckland Council, is equally enthusiastic about the collaborative project. “Auckland Libraries is committed to helping New Zealanders and researchers from around the world to access our past. Working with partners in this way helps to make this possible.”

“While the experience of the originals is irreplaceable, the value of digitised copies lie in the ease of searching and accessing the wealth of stories in these treasures for people everywhere.”

To have a look for yourself go to the Papers Past website.

NZ Sign Language Week

This week (2nd to 9th May) is NZSL Week to help promote the language as well as raise awareness about New Zealand’s Deaf community and the issues/challenges its members face each day. New Zealand Sign Language is one of the three official languages of New Zealand.

Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand would like all New Zealanders to gain a greater understanding of New Zealand Sign Language and the Deaf Community, so this year they are asking YOU to take a walk in a Deaf person’s shoes by introducing three "heroes" who tell us what their life is like as a deaf person. You can find this as well as plenty of other resources for learning NZSL on their website Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand.

In the library we have resources to help you learn more about how to live with deafness and NZSL.

Learn the New Zealand Sign Language with resources at this link. There are books, DVD's and CD-Roms to help you out.

For the deaf community we also have Storytelling and Joke collections in NZSL.

Deafness (or any sort of hearing loss) can be debilitating. But it doesn't need to be. Here are a selection of books about the different conditions and reasons why people are deaf, what can be done to aid them, and how those of us that have hearing can help.

Many of the DVD's in the Auckland Libraries collection have special subtitles for the hearing impaired. In addition to the dialogue, these special subtitles provide additional information to draw a complete picture of what is on-screen, from what song is playing in the background to describing sound effects.

NZSL is an excellent skill to have. Not only will it enable you to communicate more readily with the deaf community but from personal experience, I know more than one sports coach who can communicate with their players on court using this skill. Who would have guessed?

Trans-Tasman ANZAC Day Blog Challenge

Seonaid Lewis is a geneologist and researcher extraordinaire. She will be well known to family historians in the area with a regular column in the New Zealand Geneology magazine. She also scribes the Kintalk blog for the Central Auckland Research Centre (second floor of the central city library) and organises regular talks and presentations.

The latest promotion is a competition with friends across the Tasman. Seoniad picks up the story...

It started with Shelley from Twigs of Yore issuing a blog challenge for Australian researchers in celebration of Australia Day. Here at the Central Auckland Research Centre at Auckland Libraries, we loved the idea and thought that we could be just as successful with a blog challenge for Waitangi Day. We had loads of international response, with people blogging about their New Zealand early settler ancestor from as far away as UK and the US and as close as NZ and Australia!

This time, it is a joint challenge with our Digger mates from across the Ditch. Australians and New Zealanders know ANZAC Day – 25 April – as a national day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealanders who died at war. Do you have an Australian or New Zealander in your family tree who was killed in or served in military operations? We’d like to hear about not only their sacrifice, but the way their loss or experience shaped their family history.

To participate: - Write a blog post about an Australian or New Zealander serviceman or woman’s family, and the impact war had on their family history - Post a comment with the URL on the Auckland Research Centre’s Facebook page under discussions or on the relevant post on the Twigs of Yore blog. - Publish your post by 25 April 2011.

After Anzac Day, all submissions will be listed in a summary posting on Auckland Libraries’ Kintalk blog and also Twigs of Yore blog.

Just to get you started, recommended resources for New Zealand and Australian research, see the Auckland Libraries Digital Resources. Access great online resources such as:

Coming Home virtual exhibitionThe virtual exhibition consists of "albums" containing photos/images and documents. Virtual albums entitled "Gallipoli", "Lest We Forget", "New Zealand Maori Battalion", "Peace", "Postcards" and "Returned Services Association". Also has a portal for searching content nationwide from organizations such as libraries, archives, museums and galleries, including Auckland Libraries. Courtesy DigitalNZ.

Index Auckland and New Zealand Card Index For references to articles and other resources regarding WWI and WWII.

Manuscripts Online For diaries, letters, postcards and albums

And Papers Past

Within the library catalogue: Auckland Libraries Searching using WWI or WWII etc will return you wonderful results of holdings throughout the whole of Auckland Libraries, which you can narrow down by location by using the "select location" dropdown menu on the right of screen. For example, available in all three Research Centres:- Central, South (Manukau) and North-West (Waitakere) are gems such as:* New Zealand Expeditionary Force casualties, WWI. Books I to XIV, 15 Aug. 1914 to 6 Jan. 1919

and you’ll also find Australian resources in the Central Auckland Research Centre; for example:

* Book of remembrance of the University of Sydney in the Great War 1914-1918

* Index to news items and obituaries of WWI servicemen and women in the Tasmanian weekly magazines

For other sites, try looking at the Auckland War Memorial Museum ; the Australian War Memorial site and the National Archives of Australia, or look further using the resources listed on Cora Num’s website.

Tributes

While I was away we mourned the loss of two identities, one in the entertainment world and the other a children's literary favourite. Elizabeth Taylor. What can you say? When it comes to famous, they don't come much bigger than Liz. Icon, celebrity, actress, on-screen (and off-screen) lover, using her pulling power for good, addict, personality. There are so many words that can be used to describe the woman who first hit our screens in National Velvet and later tore up the movie and tabloid world with her exploits. The Libraries hold over 20 biographies and pictorials on her life as well as over a dozen of her movies so that you can relive some of her magic. Diana Wynne-Jones. For those that don't know, this author had a devoted following as the writer of children's fantasy novels, the most famous of which was probably Howl's Moving Castle. The UK Telegraph obituary calls her "40 or so books maintained a remarkably high standard in both inventiveness and the elegance of their prose" and several were adapted for television and film. She received numerous awards, including a World Fantasy lifetime achievement award and a rennaisance on the back of the popularity of the Harry Potter genre. This is the link for the full list of her titles held at the Auckland Libraries. Rest in peace ladies, knowing that you have bought joy and magic into the lives of many.

Libraries helping Christchurch

After the catastrophic earthquake in Christchurch, more and more evacuees have arrived in Auckland and Rodney seeking refuge and respite. I know several families are already up here in the Warkworth area. If this is you and you are missing your library fix, we can help.

At Auckland Libraries we will:
1. Offer evacuees a full three-month membership. There is no charge for this membership. Just pop along to the local library and ask about it, bringing with you some form of identification if you have it.
2. Return evacuees’ books and items to Christchurch City Libraries for them. Christchurch Libraries have an amnesty on overdue items and advise the following on their customer blog
We have extended due dates of all items issued to 1 May 2011. Sorry if, in the meantime, you have had an automated email about an overdue item. We are waiving all fines incurred from the 22 Feb. We will keep you updated with information here, and from twitter @Christchurchlib. If you are from Christchurch watch this blog for information as at present they are asking that items be kept at home as they do not have the capacity to cope with returns.

Upcoming Christchurch Earthquake Fundraiser
In addition to the immediate help we can give above, the libraries and the NZ Society of Authors will jointly host a fundraiser on 25 March to further help with the recovery efforts in Christchurch. Watch this space for information.

It's not the Flu - just something like it.

We all seem to be rattling while we walk at the Library today. One recovering from bronchitis, one arrived at work with a box of tissues, one with the remnants of a very (very) bad cough and then yours truly with a sore throat and a runny nose that only just made it through storytime. The panadol, antibiotics and cough mixtures are doing overtime and the library keeps running. At least we have managed to do it in shifts as those that are recovering are back at work and those of us that have just started on the downward slide can stay away.

For myself, I was determined last week that I was just overtired and working too hard with too much still to do (a common complaint). However, after a reprieve that got me through the week and half the weekend, I woke up yesterday feeling like... Yuck. So I am off home with my box of tissues, some lemon honey and ginger drink and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

If the "so-called" winter coughs, colds and flu's have hit you early as well, here is a catalogue link to colds and flus which has everything on it from what they are, what the differences are and remedies from natural to medical.

And if I'm not blogging tomorrow - you will all know why. Have a good day.

It's Oscar Day!

Today we take the opportunity to escape into a bit of glitz and glamour as the Film Industry celebrate their achievements at their annual Academy Awards Ceremony. We can admire (or wonder) at the garmets worn down the red carpet, cheer for our favourites (I am sooo hoping that Colin Firth and The King's Speech feature) and yawn our way through the acceptance speeches.

Although many of the movies featured in the awards today haven't made it to DVD yet, once they do they will join the growing and eclectic collection available at (or by request through) your local library. From rock music (or classical) to classic movies, from children's to documentaries and all the way to the latest releases. There really is something for everyone with 17,534 DVD's (as of today) to choose from. You can find the full list at this catalogue link (and from there start narrowing things down so it is easier to choose).

As well as the autobiographies you can find under Call No. 920 on our non-fiction shelves, we also have a range of books about the film industry. You can delve into subjects from how to make movies, to movies that you shouldn't miss on our non-fiction shelves around Call No. 791.

Also watch out for the new Express Select (or Best Seller) DVD collection which will be coming soon to a library near you. More details to follow.