Shirley Library heralds the arrival of the godwits

In Christchurch, we have become accustomed to making do and that includes heralding the arrival of the kuaka (godwits).

Before the February 2011 earthquake, Christ Church Cathedral rang its bells for 30 minutes to herald the arrival of the godwits. Last year St. Paul’s Church in Papanui rang its bells. This year, Shirley Library rang its hand bell to herald the arrival of these amazing birds.

These small birds  fly non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand in eight days. They leave the cold Alaskan winter for the warmth of the Avon-Heathcote estuary.  They spend the summer here and, if you go down to the Spit, you might see them feeding on sea worms, mud crabs and shellfish. They need to put on enough fat to make the return trip in autumn. Their return trip is via the Yellow Sea, China and Korea, but  the environment of these staging  grounds is being destroyed. We can do our bit to help them. While they are here, please don’t disturb them or allow dogs to chase them.

Why not read about the godwits before heading off to the estuary? The library has several books and Christchurch City Council, together with other organisations, has published a fact sheet. You might also want to check out the display at Shirley Library (including a brief video of the bell ringing).

Student Research Center: for that last minute rush

Despite my advanced age I can still remember my habits as a student. I believed steadfastly in pressure. Leave it to the last moment and I will achieve more in a few hours than I would if I had a couple of days up my sleeve!  In my day we did not have electronic resources to look up at 2am in the morning so today’s students should count themselves lucky. In my day we only had the books we checked out, coffee and our prayers to any deity who would have us.

Christchurch City Libraries is here to help save you from yourselves with Student Research Center which allows you to simultaneously search all of EBSCO’s student databases. Every known subject is covered … and then some, at any time of the day or night!

We offer many resources for students aside from this glorious resource such as Student Resources in Context and Oxford Reference. Unlike Google or Wikipedia your teachers are not going to have a tantrum when you cite these resources either.  Have a look at all things electronic at the Source or alternatively have a look at  the Pulse where we gather all things of interest to those of you who still have sound minds. Now where are my teeth …