Dinovember!

It’s DINOVEMBER at Shirley Library! Here are some photos.

Once upon a (prehistoric) time parents Refe and Susan Tuma decided to surprise their children with scenes of their plastic toy dinosaurs getting up to mischief in their house at night while they slept … one photo a day for the whole month of November, resulting in DINOVEMBER and a book of the dinosaurs exploits: What the dinosaurs did last night: A very messy adventure.

In the spirit of DINOVEMBER, the dinosaurs have come to life at Shirley Library! Come in and check out our display or see our images on Flickr. Bring in a photo to Shirley Library of your dinosaurs doing stuff (with your contact details) and we’ll put your picture up on display and you’ll go into the competition to win some dino-mo prizes. Prize drawn 1 December.

• Dinovember webpage
• Dinovember on Facebook

Check out the What The Dinosaurs Did Last Night book trailer on YouTube:

There’s more dinosaur action too. Dinosaur Footprints: A Story of Discovery is a national touring exhibition brought to you by GNS Science and New Zealand Oil & Gas and supported in Ōtautahi by Christchurch City Libraries is on show at Fendalton Library starting Saturday 14th November.

Find New Zealand dinosaurs stuff (non-fiction) in our collection.

Kim
Shirley Library

Shirley Library will remain open during its 9-week repair programme

Kia ora Shirley Library customers! We are happy to report Shirley Library will remain open during its 9-week repair programme.

From Monday 24 August 2015, Christchurch City Council is repairing the Shirley Library, near The Palms, at 36 Marshlands Road. The repairs are relatively minor and the library will remain open during the repairs. There will be some visible changes such as areas closed off or shelves moved while the repair and refurbishing work is done.

Work will take about 9 weeks and is expected to run from Monday 24 August to Monday 12 October.

As your safety is important, the Christchurch City Council and Libraries staff ask for your cooperation with all signage and warnings on site during the repair.

We look forward to mid-October when the repairs and refurbishment will be completed.

Read our news post on the repairs.

Meet Kids Book Award Finalists at Shirley Library

Are you a young writer who wants to improve your writing? Do you love to meet authors and hear how they write their books?  We’ve got two events coming up at Shirley Library just for you!

On Saturday 8 August Shirley Library will be hosting some of the wonderful authors who are finalists in this year’s New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Karen Healey is a finalist in the main book awards and both Desna Wallace and Natalie King are finalists in the Children’s Choice Award. There are two events for kids and teens that you can come along to for FREE:

• Writing Workshop with Karen Healey, 10:30am-12:00pm, Saturday 8 August – Join Karen Healey, author of While We Run, for a young adult writing workshop. Recommended for ages 10+.
• Fast Track Fiction, 5:00-6:00pm, Saturday 8 August – Join Karen Healey, Joanna Orwin, Desna Wallace and Natalie King as they unlock the secrets of their success as writers. Recommended for ages 10+.

You need to book for both of these events but they are free. To book phone 03-941-7923.

You might like to read the finalist books from these wonderful authors so check these out:

• While We Run by Karen Healey
• Canterbury Quake by Desna Wallace
• Awakening by Natalie King

Women fly into Shirley Library

When the Wright brothers took to the air on December 17, 1903, it is quite possible that women around the world thought it was a great idea and took to the air too. On July 8, 1908, Thérèse Peltier is believed to have become the first woman to pilot a plane.

In Christchurch there has been a long tradition of women aviators and several of these women are members of the New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation (NZAWA).  Many members are recreational pilots, some fly competitively, whilst others have made a career out of flying commercially or with the Air Force.

I love flying, so it is a good thing I work at the Shirley Community Library. During the first three weeks of September our local members of the NZAWA will have a static display in the library.  Come on down and check it out. You don’t have to be a pilot; you just have to love flying.

If you have been bitten by the flying bug, here are my suggestions:

• Read about women air pilots
• Read about aviation and its history
• Find groups and organisations which teach or celebrate flying

Check out more photos of the display in our Flickr photostream.

Craft Space: a new place @ Shirley Library

When the community hall in Shirley Road was demolished, we didn’t just lose a hall, we lost a place to learn and practice handicraft. Many groups struggled to find a new location and many people, displaced from their homes, didn’t know where they could go. Some tried crafting alone at home, but it is a bit boring and you don’t learn from others.

Here at  Shirley library we have attempted to fill the void. We did have two craft clubs. Knitting for a Cause ran on Tuesdays and the ladies knitted and crocheted granny square rugs for the children in CHOC, the Children’s Haematology Oncology Centre at Christchurch Hospital. The Craft Club met on Mondays and worked on simple craft projects using donated materials. Knitting for a Cause made enough granny squares to make fifteen rugs for the children in CHOC, while the Craft Club made pincushions, scrapbook pages, cards and egg cozies. After much discussion, it was decided to combine the two groups and re-launch with a new time, new day and a new name.

Craft Space at the Shirley Library is held on the last Tuesday of the month, 1-3pm, for social crafting and featuring guest demonstrators. You can bring along your crochet, knitting, scrapbooking and more. We also provide a box of craft supplies to help you get creative.

On June 25th we welcomed Canterbury Embroiderers’ Guild. The ladies turned up at 1pm  and Michelle made them welcome.  By the time I arrived, everyone was working on their projects. One was doing cross stitch, another was hand quilting a blanket. Hexagonal patches were been carefully pieced together to create flowers. Approximately fifty more motifs will be needed to make the quilt. One lady showed me her up-cycled muff.  One was teaching another how to do blanket stitch.  Books on embroidery and ideas were happily shared by all. Talking and sharing was the theme for the day and no-one mentioned EQC or insurance.  I was amazed how quickly the time passed and too soon everyone started packing up. On Tuesday I learned one very important thing: handicraft isn’t just about the making; it is about the learning and sharing, friendship and company that goes with social activity.

If you need somewhere to craft, come down to the Shirley library on the last Tuesday of the month 1-3pm.  You might like to contact your local library to see if they have a craft group or check out CINCH for a craft group near you.

For more photos of the Craft Space in action, check our Flickr set.

Billboards, hoardings and the prosecution of William Posters

I have always liked the music posters that adorn the hoarding around construction sites. Whilst waiting for the bus to arrive, I would discover that open mike night was on Wednesday, a band with a doubtful name would be playing in a seedy bar in an unsavory part of town, and the National Ballet would be performing The Nutcracker in two months’ time.

Unfortunately, not everyone appreciated these informative, ephemeral works of art. One night the posters were ripped off, the hoardings painted white and “Bill Posters Will Be Prosecuted” was stencilled across the hoarding in big, black letters. My early morning reading material was gone. How was I to find out when my favorite band was going to tour my home town or release a new album? Thank goodness, a new poster soon appeared: “William Posters Is Innocent”. The posters came back and Split Enz released a new album in early April 1978.

At Shirley Community Library, the spirit of Bill Posters lives on. Our small billboard promotes Music Month and the acts that will be performing here: Helen Webby, Shirley Primary School Kapa Haka, Sam Dally and Midge McCleary.

The bills went up when no-one was looking and William Posters was not prosecuted.

P.S. For more photos of the display, check out our Flickr photostream.

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).

Abstract psychedelic pop music hits Shirley Library

Adam Willetts performing live

I have to admit that I am a complete novice when it comes to abstract psychedelic pop music, but as a budding librarian my craving for knowledge about the unknown encouraged me to talk to Adam Willetts about his style of music. I was especially interested as Adam will be giving a live performance at Shirley Library (Sunday 24th May) as part of Christchurch City Libraries New Zealand Music Month .

I have discovered Christchurch has a thriving experimental music scene and Adam is an important part of this and performs regularly around New Zealand and internationally, featuring alongside artists such as Dan Deacon, High Places, The Dead C, Rafael Toral, and Akio Suzuki. He was recently part of Trambience, where a Christchurch tram carriage is transformed into a mobile music venue and both the audience and performers travel through the city streets.

Adam makes his own instruments and uses his homemade synthesisers and electronics ‘to create rich and immersive fields of sound with a fragile yet propulsive sense of momentum, carefully balancing elements of euphoric beauty with seething and unpredictable noise.’

Come along to Shirley Library on Sunday 24 May 12-1pm for a musical experience like never before.

Laurie Searle at Shirley Library

Laurie Searle performs at Shirley Library

Is there anyone out there who still thinks the library is a quiet place? It certainly wasn’t at Shirley Library this morning. After an admittedly slow start to the day we had a rather raucous storytime attended by a local kindy (that always boosts the volume) followed immediately by our first Music Month performance from pianist Laurie Searle.

Laurie spent an hour playing hits from shows, popular classics, a few jazz standards and other easy listening tunes. He even brought his own fan club – a couple of older ladies who obviously knew him well. Practically all the customers I served in that time said what a pleasure it was to have live music – one lady even said it made her want to dance.

I would love to be that musical… to just be able to sit there and play so many tunes from memory… of course I’d actually have to learn to play the piano first, then spend years practising, eventually giving up the day job as a librarian and spending all my evenings in nightclubs and restaurants playing to the punters. I think I might have left it too late though – Laurie started playing when he was 9, was broadcasting on the radio by the time he was 15 and has already had success as a trio before striking out on his own.

Alternatively you could just check out some of the CDs, tapes and even vinyl recordings we have of easy listening music and pretend.
Check out our New Zealand Music Month page for more library performances and info on local performers.