Wednesday, August 26, 2009

New Zealand Book Month

Our Voice, Our Choice, is the theme of this year’s campaign and it’s about communities getting involved and showcasing New Zealand literature on their own terms. In its fourth year, NZBM will be involving celebrities, schools, libraries, lovers of books and all things Kiwi to encourage local communities to first select a favourite New Zealand book and then create activities around that one book sometime during the month of October. Pick a Kiwi book, create activity based on it. It’s that simple.
Over 50 communities have already signed up through their designated Book Activist and will be picking their New Zealand book over the coming month. Five celebrities will also add their voices – picking their five favourite New Zealand books in categories from history to DIY.

There are a few big changes to the campaign. The first is that NZBM will be partnering with TVNZ and to do this, it’s had to move from September to October. It means that throughout October, there will be NZ writers and readers from across the country featured on TVNZ 6 and TVNZ online, promoting NZ literature.

The second big change is that there will be no Six Pack in 2009. The competition is on hold pending funding. However, the good news is that there will be a new public choice category in the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition – where the public picks the winner – and that winner, as well as the open and youth section winners of the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition will be announced in New Zealand Book Month.
“New Zealand Book Month 2009 is about taking the essence of our purpose home. Book Activists across the country are signed up and ready to bring their favourite Kiwi reads to their communities,” says Michele Powles, NZBM Director. “Already there is talk of art shows, dinner parties, speakers, school plays, author visits and so on – each community will be creating events to showcase their selected Kiwi read. Celebrities will be choosing their favourite reads and all this activity will be featured on Television and in Newspapers.”

Monday, August 24, 2009

Montana New Zealand Book Awards

The winners of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2009 were congratulated at a gala function at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on the evening of Monday 27 July 2009.
The winning books are the judges' picks for the very best of all those published in 2008.
And the winners are...
Montana Medal Winners
Montana Medal For Fiction or Poetry
Novel About My Wife - Emily Perkins
Montana Medal for Non-fiction
Rita Angus: An Artist's Life- Jill Trevelyan
Category Winners
Fiction Winner
Novel About My Wife- Emily Perkins
Fiction Runner-Up
The 10 PM Question - Kate De Goldi
Fiction Runner-Up
Acid Song- Bernard Beckett
Poetry Winner
The Rocky Shore- Jenny Bornholdt
History Winner
Buying the Land, Selling the Land- Richard Boast
Biography Winner
Rita Angus: An Artist's Life- Jill Trevelyan
Environment Winner
A Continent on the Move: New Zealand Geoscience into the 21st Century- Ian J Graham (Chief Editor)
Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture Winner
Ladies, A Plate: Traditional Home Baking- Alexa Johnston
Illustrative Winner
Len Castle: Making the Molecules Dance - Len Castle
Reference & Anthology Winner
Collected Poems, 1951-2006- CK Stead
Māori Language Award
He Pātaka Kupu: te kai a te rangatira - Māori Language Commission
Readers' Choice Award
The 10 PM Question- Kate De Goldi
New Zealand Society of Authors
Best First Book Awards
NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction
The Rehearsal- Eleanor Catton
NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry
Everything Talks- Sam Sampson
NZSA E. H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-fiction
Mates & Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand- Chris Brickell

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Library Birthday Celebrations...

To celebrate our Library Centenary we held several events over the month of June, this included displays, competitions, reading challenges, guest speaker, book design competition and a Library Staff Reunion. Below are just a few photos of what we did...

Chocolate Book Art - looks good enough to eat!!
The New Zealand Cheese Book Book Art - where's the mouse trap!Grand Piano Prize winners in the Young Adult Book Art

Timaru District Libraries Celebrate 100 Years of Public Library Service

On 4th June 2009 the Timaru District Libraries celebrated 100 Years of Public Library Service, while we have been around alot longer than that it wasn't until 1909 that the Library was officially free to all Timaru residents. Below is a brief history of the Timaru Library...

1862 - First Reading Room opened in the School House, Barnard Street. It was open daily from 5.00pm to 10.00pm and on Saturdays daily from 10.00am to 8.00pm. English and Colonial papers were provided, and a select library of books for the use of members.
1870 - 1st July - Opening of the Mechanics Institute which was created by an addition on an existing building, on the south side of North Street, which aimed to provide a Library, Reading Room and News Room.
1880 - 29th October - Total destruction of the Mechanics Institute building when it was burned down during the holding of a Church Bazaar. A new building was erected on the same site at a cost of 1,400 pounds.
1905 - Scheme for a Municipal Library was set afoot by Mayor Jmes Craigie. The subscribers to the Mechanics Institute agreed to present the old building and it's conents to the Council if it established a Municipal Library in a new building.
1906 - Timaru Public Act was passed to enable the Council and the Trustees to use the proceeds from the sale of the buildings and land of the old Institute to be spent on books.
1909 - 4th June - Official opening of the Timaru Public Library on the present Timaru District Council site on George Street, it was built in Oamaru Stone. The Library was built with a 3,000 pound grant from the Carnegie Corporation (Andrew Carnegie) of New York and was designed by Walter Panton. The condition under which the money was given was that the reading rooms should should be open to everyone and that the lending library should be free to ratepayers of the Borough. The Borough Council, however, considered that everyone who paid rent was indirectly a ratepayer, and it was decided the Library should be free to both rentpayers and ratepayers. The Timaru Library is believed to be the first in the Dominion for which this concession was made.

1959 - Timaru celebrated 50 years of Public Library Service - in the first 50 years more than 10,000,000 book issues have been made.


1979 - 7th May - Current Library was opened on Sophia Street. It was designed by Miles, Warren and Mahoney and opened by Sir Keith Holyoake.


1989 - Timaru City, Temuka, Geraldine Boroughs and the Strathallan County amalgamated to form the Timaru District and the Timaru District Libraries was born.

1997 - The new Temuka Library, Service Centre and Information Centre was opened in the revamped old Temuka Supermarket in King Street (the original building was built in 1911).
Old Temuka Library

New Temuka Library, Service Centre and Information Centre

2003 - August - The new Geraldine Library, Service Centre was opened on the old Community Hall / Library on Talbot Street.

Old Geraldine Library


New Geraldine Library, Service Centre