Reading in the kids section

I just spotted a tweet from a Christchurch local @AdrienneRewi on our new Central Library Peterborough:

Have thrown myself through the doors of the new Peterborough St Library like a half-starved piglet. Can hardly carry my haul.

Yes, there is something about our new library that causes paroxysms o’ delights in library users (me included).

Why? Here are some of its selling points.

• It’s great to have our Maori and Family history collections back.
• Location, location. It’s in town. And very much within walking distance for people in St Albans etc too.
• Great space and stuff for kids. Lots of picture books, DVDs and nice seats to read to your little ones.
• Maagaaaazinnneeeees. Oh how I’ve missed ogling the Vogues and such.
• It’s SMART as heck. You can issue all your own stuff, and pick up your own holds  – and the self checkout offers a variety of language options. Even Pirate lingo.
• Yummy books, DVDs, CDs – this is a collection of more than 70,000 items.
• Sounding good. There is something cool about the acoustics of this building. It can have a lot of people in it, but not seem noisy.
• There are 22 free computers offering free internet access as well as free wifi is available. Along with printing, copying and scanning – extremely handy & well used services.

So get along and sample its wares.

• Find out more about Central Library Peterborough
• View photos of Central Library Peterborough
• Read more of our displaced reader series – we go and visit our libraries to catch their flavour.

Have you been? What did you think?

I’ll get out my preserving pan – I can’t believe I actually have one, and I’ll get slicing, weighing and stirring. The warm sweet smells will fill the house and imagine I will be briefly transported back in time.

I have wonderful childhood memories of helping both my grandmothers and my mother in the kitchen at this time of year. Nothing beats a slice of really soft bread with butter and still warm raspberry jam slathered on top! Seeing all the jars of various hues all lined up in the cupboard afterwards is also both satisfying and a joy to behold.

There’s a great selection of jam and preserve books  throughout the libraries, if you lurk about in the 641.852 area of the non-fiction section of any of our libraries, you will find recipes and advice for the classics, such as raspberry jam or orange marmalade, through to the more exotic, such as pink pickled ginger or peach and passionfruit preserve.

Do you have a favourite recipe for jam, preserves, a pickle or sauce, care to share. Maybe a book you find invaluable?

I am not sure I am of “undeniable character”? Certainly the language my mother uses during aftershocks and in heavy traffic would prevent me from saying that I am even from a “respectable  family”.

I am also short on the required skills – needlepoint, French, a dab hand at “preserves and jams”. I am not sure I know about “children management” nor the management of “house and table”. I think I could make it as a “clerk” but  I seem to be missing the appropriate body parts as they all seek “young men” – I don’t think at this point that was open to debate either. The language and belief systems make me want to seek out a Bronte novel and give a collective hug to the feminist movement all at the same time.

Family historians foam at the mouth when they come across this resource, but this is not just for those seeking an elusive death notice, it for anyone with idle hands and a curious mind.

This full text archive of the longest circulating daily newspaper in continuous publication spans from Doctor Livingstone’s reports on the exploration and discovery of Africa up until the fall of the World Trade Towers and the execution of Saddam Hussein. Do explore this resource – it really is a goldmine of all things interesting!

Classical Sparks

This year it takes place on Sunday 5 February. They’re featuring some great music with a programme featuring top Australian opera singers Jud Arthur and Virgilio Marino and it includes, to name a just a few favourites:

First half (with links to the music in Naxos Music Library)

• The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco (one of my favourites)
• The Swan, a sublime piece from the Carnival of Animals
• A bit of the very well known Mozart Symphony no. 40
• Bach’s lovely Air on a G String (of a violin)
• The irresistible Toreador Aria from Carmen
• The wild and exciting  Sabre Dance by Khachaturian

Second half

• The opening of  Also Sprach Zarathustra – otherwise known a the theme from 2001 a Space Odyssey
• Mozart’s ethereal Ave Verum Corpus
• The famous Duet from the Pearl Fishers by Bizet
• The Ride of the Valkyries which would be familiar to anyone who has seen Apocalypse Now

It should be a lovely evening of music, so see you there.

Of course with Christmas Day comes complications – my family!  My twig-like sister smirked at my ravenous ways and referred to me as a ‘hungry hippo’! Now I do know that there is a child’s game called Hungry Hippos and the plastic snapping heads do reflect my relationship with food, but I am no hippo!

Having explored Grzimek’s Animal Life I found that hippos weigh over 1800 kgs and have a mouth that can open to an amazing gape of 180 degrees! They also tend to eat fishermen.

I refuse for my name to be associated with such brutality. If I am to be compared to anything, then let it be a dugong. Dugongs are water inhabiting mammals that indeed may weigh over 400 kg but are also considered streamlined and were sometimes mistaken for mermaids in ye olde sea-faring days!  That’s me! On the large side, but still aerodynamic and hot!

See what animal you can relate to at Grzimek’s Animal Life. A fantastic online resource for all things animalistic!

Known for his remarkable technique, expressiveness and beautiful rich tone, Kreisler came to be the dominant violinist of his day. Elgar wrote his violin concerto for him, he toured extensively and performed with many famous musicians including Enrico Caruso, Pablo Casals and Rachmaninoff. He is thought to be the first person to record an entire violin concerto, and was famous for his interpretation of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in particular.

He collected rare musical manuscripts, although some of these turned out to have been written by himself, but passed off as works by famous composers. This eventual revelation outraged the critics, but the public didn’t care. In fact some of these beautiful compositions are still considered part of the core repertoire for the violin today.

Part of the explanation for this curious behaviour rests in Kreisler’s unassuming character. Harriet Kreisler’s strong presence in her husband’s career  is said to have saved it. Left to himself Kreisler had surprisingly little confidence. The humility went with a kind heart and according to one of the entries for him in Biography in Context

During World War I, he assumed financial responsibility for the children of many soldiers who died in battle–not only the children of other Austrian soldiers like himself, but also the children of Russian and Serbian soldiers who died in the field hospital where his wife Harriet was a volunteer.

Naxos Music and Music Online both have many lovely recordings of his compositions and some of Kreisler himself playing. Try him playing the Beethoven violin concerto or his own short composition Liebesfreud (from Music Online.)

• This album (and over 65,000 more) is available online for free from anywhere with your library card number and PIN.
• Listen to free online music from Naxos Music Library and the Source.

Every year I only seem to see a fraction of what I want and in particular there is one event I just miss every year! The Chinese Lantern Festival is something that I have tried to go to for years and years, ever since they started having one. I imagine that it will remind me of the time I spent living in Hong Kong, not only the lanterns, but the food. For too many years, even if I put in on my calendar, I forget until the week after, and last year, earthquakes conspired to prevent it even happening. I also forget the Kite Day, most of The Breeze Lazy Sunday Concerts and I must have not only been under a rock but a large pile of sand to have missed the Sandcastles this year!

This week’s goal is to get to at least some of the Busker’s Festival. I’m keen to go inside the Le Tigre Bleu tent and see what lurks.

Shakespeare’s As You Like It at Mona Vale is a must see for me, as is The Anthony Harper Summer Series of The Complete History of Christchurch – Abridged by The Outwits. This is the last Abridged show this talented group is performing. This is one event I have been to regularly most years. We take the folding chairs, food and a little bubbly and we laugh ourselves silly.

So I challenge you all, do a better job of living in this wonderful city than I seem to, and avail yourselves of all the amazing Summertimes and other entertainment on offer until well into March.

• View images of Sumner and New Brighton from our collection
• Our Flickr page has photos of summer and the beach
• More local images on the blog
• Browse our image collection

Barrington Big Fun offers a very entertaining day for the whole family. In years past, more than 50 local musicians, entertainers, cultural groups, sports teams, crafts people, local businesses and non-profit organisations have pooled together with great community spirit. Christchurch City Libraries will be there running a story time session and displaying information on our fantastic services. The mix includes live performance, activities, information stalls, and of course yummy food!

Stage Line up!
It is great to see a community event drawing on local talent and offering something for everyone, a lot of different acts has been packed into the 3 hour duration of the event. Everything from classical, band music, clowns, martial arts, Irish, swing and zumba dancing; rock music and more.

FREE ‘Have-A-Go’ Activities
I still get excited at the thought of trains, kites, bouncy castles and the like. Activities include: Lil’ Puff Train, Climbing Tower, Skytes Kites, Pony Parties rides, Bouncy Castle, Face Painting, TumbleTimes (Council Gymnastics) and StoryTimes (Christchurch City Libraries).

Food
Barrington Big Fun Day offers a good mix of healthy and local produce along with the regular treats one would expect to see at such an event: hot dogs, kebabs, cakes and candy floss. The information tent will also have free water and fruit.

Find out about more local community events in the Summertimes  Family Fun programme and their events page.

Oxford Music Online has been a stalwart part of our collection for some time. Containing the venerable Grove Music, The  Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, it is a pretty comprehensive reference source just on its own.

However, when you are studying you need more than reference books, so we’ve supplemented it with the Fine arts and music collection which contains a wide range journal articles in the music field.

Now we have added the Oxford History of Western Music by musicologist Richard Taruskin, which is considered a landmark study on western music.

Then there’s Naxos Music Library which, although primarily about listening online, also provides study resources designed for both school students and children.

To supplement these specialised resources students, could also try some of  our more general online resources, as these also include music journals. Try:

• Proquest Megasearch
• Ebsco Megasearch
• findNZarticles