Memory Victoria Roadshow

This coming Wednesday night, 30th April at the Kyabram Library we have a special event taking place. We are one of the twelve libraries in Victoria to host the Memory Victoria Roadshow. It will be held at the Kyabram branch from 6pm-7.30pm, bookings preferred on 5852 3382. Come along and hear from an expert historian and panel who will share some stories about the travelling items which include a collection of Ash Wednesday Photographs, 1900 edition of Babes in the Bush, 'On the Beach' photo album, 'The Riverlander' periodicals and a selection of Carols by Candlelight programs from the 40s. The Memory Victoria Roadshow is presented for free by Victorian Public libraries and the State Library of Victoria to showcase the wealth of wonderful community stories that are housed in public library Local History collections.

Our new computer system is on its way!

The real countdown has begun, this time next week we will be going 'live' with our new Library Management system that I previously spoke about. On Thursday April 17th we will be changing over to the Unicorn system as part of the SWIFT consortium. What does this mean for you?

The first thing is that our libraries will be all closed until 2pm on the 17th. We need to make sure that all is running well and that the staff are feeling comfortable with the new system. If you have any items to return please do so via the after hours books chutes at all our branches. The other thing that we would like to mention is that we would love all our library members to bring their cards with them to borrow items, this will certainly help us with using the new system. If you think you have lost your card we are happy to replace it for a small fee.

Our online catalogue is called ibistro - this will also have a new look and added features. The catalogue will be linked from our current website www.campaspe.vic.gov.au/library .

Anyway, all the staff are really looking forward to becoming one of 14 library services across the state that are working in the same system - sharing our skills, knowledge and resources - way to go!

Free resources at your fingertips

Did you know that all Campaspe Regional Library members have access to a wide range of free online resources that can be accessed from our website www.campaspe.vic.gov.au/library If you would like to use them, either from home, work or school all you need is your library card and access to the internet. You can of course access them at all library branches. What sort of resources am I talking about? It would be an extremely long post to list everything that is available but I will highlight a few things that I think you and your family or workmates may find very useful. We have Encyclopedia Britannica which includes versions aimed at primary and secondary school students. There are two Health information resources, one of them features videos that explain medical problems and terms. A Science resource centre with a range of topics from anatomy to zoology. If you require magazine and journal articles for study/research there are two databases that contain 100s of national and international articles - these can be printed or emailed to yourself for later reference. You can also access an Australian based site which has newspapers including the Age, Herald Sun and magazines like Choice, House and Garden, Womens Weekly just to name a few.If you go to the website as listed above then click on useful links, this will take you to all the resources.

Also a very special resource that we are proud to offer to all library members is the Your Tutor facility which provides students from years 4-12 access to free online tutoring in a variety of subjects every day of the week from 4pm-8pm. Again, you just need a library card, if you don't have one, come in today and join the library - it's free!! If you would like to find our more about these resources please contact your nearest library branch or jump onto the website and check them out. Give us a call on 1300 666 535 if you have any questions.