Christchurch City Libraries Blog

“Love thy neighbour” is a much easier ideal to keep when you live in a country like New Zealand. You share no borders and you can beat your biggest neighbour at rugby! There can be no denying though that we are part of a globalised world and need to be aware of our own region.

The Australia / New Zealand Reference Centre  collection is a vital resource for anyone seeking information on virtually any topic of regional interest. It includes:

• Australian and New Zealand periodicals in full text;
• Full-text Australasian reference books;
• 80,000+ full-text biographies;
• Full-text leading Australian and New Zealand newspapers and newswires;
• An image collection of over 510,000 photos, maps and flags.

Access this and many other fantastic electronic resources  from home with your library card number and PIN, or at our community libraries through the Source.

The results of the general election of 1919, posted outside the Press Co. Building, Cathedral Square, Christchurch

I come from a very political family. Election nights were huge, (almost as big as New Year’s – we were also Scottish!).  Out would come the sausage and asparagus rolls, the beer would flow freely and my father would spend most of the night cursing.   We would either finish the night in a haze of euphoria or would go to bed early, glumly predicting all types of dire consequences for the country.

Election nights have never been the same since, but there does seem to be a particular sense of apathy this year – perhaps it’s living in Christchurch, but I  suspect it is more likely to be nationwide.  This is a pity, given that we are also voting in a referendum on the electoral system where the choices are far and wide, and quite confusing.

Thankfully help is at hand  – our page on the Elections provides all sorts of interesting and important information to help you make your choices.

Perhaps you are already a bit of political animal so you might find Key to victory : the New Zealand general election of 2008  by Stephen Levine a good read. Including a DVD with “highlights” from the campaigns, leaders debates and TV ads, this could really get you focusing on the days ahead.  If you prefer something a bit lighter The Night book by Charlotte Grimshaw gives a rollicking good  fictionalised account of life of a new PM and his work and family intrigues.

Thanks to all the rocking and rolling that went on in Christchurch over the past year a large part of our central shopping precinct was annihilated. In a concerted effort by the Christchurch Business Association and others, a bright new shopping precinct, called Restart, has popped up in Cashel Mall to excite and rejuvenate the city centre. One of our beloved stores Ballantynes ,  has re-opened as a leading light for Restart and judging by the response of locals this  venture is very welcome.

If you would like to reminisce on what we have lost you can check out the library collection of  Heritage Images . Have a good fossick around the Heritage Pages  or read about some great Christchurch characters . If this gets your heart pumping with emotion perhaps you need to take a look at some great places  around Canterbury to take a holiday.

And why not take  a nice rest from all the strain of shopping at Restart with a visit to Christchurch City Libraries’ own restart in the city – Central South City Library. It’s a great little library.  Either way you are on to a winner!

BeThere.co.nz is a free online events calendar for Christchurch and Canterbury that is provided by the Christchurch City Council Events Development Team.  I get this emailed to me each week and I am constantly amazed at the number of markets that are taking place in and around Christchurch.

I love markets, especially of the crafty variety, and every now and then I think “I could do that”.  But then I end up wondering: would my crafty endeavours be good enough, has it all been done before and too often, and how would I market what I wanted to sell?

Help is at hand!  Our library website has a great number of links to craft groups via CINCH but also Internet links to organisations throughout the world that are actively making and selling their crafts.   We also have books that might be able to help us crafty seller-wannabes on our way.

Craft Inc. : turn your creative hobby into a business by Meg Mateo Ilasco

I like the book blurb that suggests that  this book ”translates business basics for the person who would rather wield a crochet hook than a calculator.” I am definitely in the hook rather than calculator category.

The global garage : home-based business in New Zealand by Janet Sayers

This book deals with thorny issues such as managing your time within a home-based working environment,  legal compliances , along with plenty of examples of people who are making  home-based businesses work for them from throughout New Zealand.

How to market and sell your art, music, photographs, and handmade crafts online : turn your hobby into a cash machine by Lee Rowley

Plenty of good practical solutions for creating  a website, attracting customers to your site, social marketing, payment, packaging and shipping considerations.

The knitgrrl guide to professional knitwear design : how to keep your knits about you by Shannon Okey

Especially designed for the knitter, but still full of good information for making your home craft business a success.

Make sure you check out the markets and support local home-grown business – there’s sure to be plenty of wonderful gifts for Christmas and there is always the chance to find new ideas for your own crafting pleasure.

The last entry in Herbert's diary

Monday 10 July 1916: Was hit this morning. Got it in the left hand ear and neck. Parapet came down on top of me; was buried for about an hour… on Nov 6th sent to Monckworth.

Nov 14th – sent to action.

And there ends the War diary of Herbert Harold Stephens. I got a bit teary-eyed as I thought that meant he was lost in battle, but then read about the provenance of this diary, and how it ended up being digitised in Christchurch City Libraries’ collection:

This war diary is a small pocket diary donated by H.H. Stephens’ family some time after his death about 1968, and deposited in the Canterbury Public Library by Mr R.C. Lamb, 27 April 1978.

The diary is full of the everyday stuff of war and hospitalisation – shipboard life, clergymen visits, lady visitors, and the joy of meeting other Kiwis, especially Cantabrians:

… saw 4 NZ men there. One was from Belfast, and knows Rangiora and Chch well. Had a long yarn with him … he has lost a leg above the knee.

Private H.H. Stephens from Sydenham, Christchurch, joined up and was stationed in C Company, Infantry, of the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He departed for the war zone from Wellington on Saturday 14 August 1915, as a member of the Sixth Reinforcements. Private Stephens’s war quickly became a personal battle against dysentery which took him to England and hospital. On 9 May 1916 Private Stephens arrived at the Western Front near Armentieres. On 10 July he was wounded and again evacuated to the Middlesex Hospital in England.

• More digitised resources related to World War I
• Read more about Armistice Day
• Go to our page on New Zealanders in World War I
• Images of New Zealand at war

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month – Armistice Day -  commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany in 1918. In 2011, Armistice Day commemorations will be held on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and also the eleventh year of the century (11am, 11 November 2011).

Before the earthquake,  the bells of the ChristChurch Cathedral would ring at 11 o’clock in the morning to mark the time, something we will be missing this year.

Instead, following the observation of a two-minute silence at 11am, a service will held at the Henry Nicholas V.C. M.M. statue in Remembrance Park, on the corner of Hereford Street and Cambridge Terrace (adjacent to the Bridge of Remembrance). The service is to commemorate those members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I .

• Find out about Armistice Day commemorations in Christchurch
• Read our page on Armistice Day
• Our images of New Zealand at war
• Explore our resources about World War One
• Read about World War One

I want to write about the variety of content we have on OverDrive by highlighting what men will find engaging. Men and boys are sometimes reluctant readers (sexist assumption number one) so I wanted to bring attention to the titles we have on OverDrive on war and adventure because that is what men like (sexist assumption number two).

Am I being presumptuous?  I want to tell men and boys about The Field of Bones concerning the Irish division at  Gallipoli rather than Baby Names Your Child Can Live With? I expect that they want  to go Walking in the Footsteps of Private Lynch rather than having  Lessons in Letting Go.

Do men really want to read about Fight Club rather than hearing about the adventures of Country Brides?  I may indeed be wrong as I personally can’t stand romances – I know that in life there is no walking off into the sunset.

I guess making rash generalisations is never a good idea – but then again I can’t think of one woman I know who would want to read about New Zealand Railways.

Am I a realist or am I sexist? Do I generalise to a fault or are there generalisations out there for a reason?

Is there a man out there willing to put his hand up and say YES! I love a bodice ripper.

“Mum, can we pleeeeeease go to the Show?” my ten year old pleaded, batting her big eyes.

What could I say? Getting up at the crack of dawn to pack a bag with sunblock, polar fleeces, loose change and ham sandwiches and drive across paddocks to join the throng is part of our family culture. The Canterbury Agriculture and Pastoral Association has held a Show Day every year since 1862 and there is no way we’d let a few (thousand) earthquakes get in the way of it this year. Of course we’ll go!

We’ll get there early to beat the crowds. My ten year old’s looking forward to candyfloss and the Ferris wheel, while my teen wants to meet up with friends and look around the market stalls.

I’m taking a sunhat and a deckchair so I can watch the equestrian events in comfort with a nice glass of chardonnay in one hand and a whitebait fritter in the other. And I’m going to visit the Christchurch City Libraries’ stall in the Christchurch City Council tent to record my earthquake story and pick up a free bookmark.

Special days, special memories, don’t you reckon?

• Go to our page on Show Day and Cup and Show Week
• Check out our photographs of the Show on Flickr and on our website

I love my mother very much, but like many mothers she has this way with words that can floor you. Last time I was visiting her in my hometown of Invercargill she cast an appraising eye over me and commented “You are looking really healthy”. Healthy I asked? Yes she replied – “lovely and sturdy”. Now I know this is a form of compliment from my mother but sturdy for me is a large table that you could cower under in the advent of another decent aftershock!

I can confess that I may have taken the quake weight concept a little too far. You know the concept - I will eat that cream bun because the Alpine fault is next!

The fat lining my body is not going to save me – it will though clog my arteries and have me in an early grave. As my father would say – you are a long time scratching at the lid.

Here at Christchurch City Libraries, we have a multitude of  items that can help us lose weight and experience a healthier lifestyle – now that the days are longer and the days warmer. Our internet gateway introduces a huge amount of online information on health issues  while our BiblioCommons catalogue will find you numerous resources on weight loss, nutrition and exercise.

Put that cream bun down, my fellow sugar lovers and let’s get moving … tomorrow?

Find My Past Ireland is an online tool to help you flesh out the Irish branches on your family tree. They have just released the Irish Prison Registers (1790-1924), a register that contains more than 3.5 million entries, covering all types of custodial institutions.

Most records include details such as physical description, next of kin, and information about the crime and sentence.  What was once a source of shame is now a clue in your hunt for your past – and the juicy bits at that…  This is an easy way to find out if you have  jailbirds nesting in your family tree!

Don’t forget we also have Find My Past UK and Find My Past  AU  for our family history detectives  and a variety of other family history resources. (Please note that you can only use Find My Past resources inside community libraries.)

Explore at will!