Turning the Sod - you are all invited

Next Monday, 26th September, at 11.30am a very important task will be completed to signify the commencement of construction works on the Regional Library in Echuca.  Please join us to celebrate this important milestone.  The Echuca Library will be closed from 11.15am - 12pm to allow staff and library patrons the opportunity to attend.  The erection of fencing and preparation of the site will commence shortly after this celebration.  Car parking conditions in Hare Street has been altered.   Works are going well at the Tourist Information Centre to create additional car parking.  The Percy Street car parking extension has also been completed. 
We look forward to seeing you at the Cnr of Radcliffe and Hare Street next Monday to witness this important occassion.

The Regional Library project's progress will be updated via this blog, as well as the Shire of Campaspe website http://www.campaspe.vic.gov.au/ There will be regular fact sheets and updates in the one page supplements of the local newspapers. 

The Premier's 21

Congratulations to the Wheeler Centre, Melbourne for Victorian Premier's Literature Awards on Tuesday 6th September.  The following authors were successful in receiving awards for their work, including Kim Scott’s novel That Deadman Dance took out the inaugural Victorian Prize for Literature

The other category winners were Cate Kennedy’s The Taste of River Water for poetry.

Mark McKenna’s An Eye for Eternity for non-fiction

Patricia Cornelius' Do not go gentle… for drama

Cassandra Golds' The Three Loves of Persimmon for young adult fiction

Each category winner receives $25,000, while the winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature wins an additional $100,000, making it the richest literary prize in the country.


New Echuca Library

We are well and truly on our way!  Circon Industries have been appointed to construct the building and works will commence next month.   It is hoped that the new library will be completed by August 2012.   If you would like more information about the design please pop into the Echuca Branch and have a look at the design.  Our current library is about 350sqm, the new library will be 1300sqm so will be quite a change for library users and staff.  The library will be built adjacent to the Council Offices on the Cnr Hare and Heygarth Street.  It will overlook the riverine environment and will have paths and parking connected to the entry point. 
We will continue to provide updates of the progress with lots of pickies.  The image here is indicative of what the building will look like but please note there have been some changes to the external fabric so the end result will look a bit different but the footprint is correct.  This is the view from the river side; we are so fortunate to have such a beautiful setting.

Books on Wheels

Did you know that our library service provides home deliveries across the Shire to people who are based in their homes?  We provide monthly deliveries to over 120 people.  This service is coordinated at Echuca by our Books on Wheels Coordinator and friendly volunteers bring the library items to your door.  If you know of someone who would like this service, whether it be short or long term we are happy to assist.  Books on Wheels operates in all our main centres.  Please contact Valerie Hansen on 54821997 for more information.  We also have another outreach program called Words on Wheels which provides interactive storytelling sessions at all aged care facilties across the Shire.  These have been a popular addition to our programming and close to 300 residents enjoy listening to stories and poems each month.

Children's Book Week (Month) here we come

Campaspe Library Branches are now gearing up for Children's Book Week which we promote all through August in our storytimes and school visits.  We kick off this coming Monday with four classes from St Marys visiting the Echuca Branch.   The students will hear about the Shortlist nominated titles, hear a couple of stories and create some craft related to the book or the theme.  We really appreciate the support of all schools in our Shire and we anticipate that between 600-700 children will participate in the activities over the month.  We are lucky that we have such clever and enthusiastic staff who have worked out the program together and who all look forward to meeting the staff and students from their local schools.  The theme this year is One World Many Stories which is a fantastic theme to promote.  It is wonderful to celebrate and recognise the diverse makeup of Australia, there are so many wonderful cultural stories, including our own Indigenous ones.  So here's to a busy and happy month, we hope all the sessions go really well. 

Rochester Library update

We are very pleased to let everyone know that the library has been relocated into the meeting room section of the Customer Service Centre in Mackay St, Rochester.  We have added some additional shelving to allow for more resources to be available.  We have also got the public internet computer back and this is available from 9am - 5pm every weekday, except between 12pm-1pm.  This relocation is a temporary measure while we work on reinstating full library services as they were prior to the flood event in January.  The library will be visited by library staff each day.  At this stage we will not be open on Saturdays but will advise if this changes.   We thank the community for their patience and we look forward to the next steps in getting things back on track.  Please contact us if you have queries or item requests on 5482 1997.  The Customer Service staff at Rochester will also be able to assist you.

On board with books

The Campaspe Regional Library is proud to be partnering with the Port of Echuca to celebrate a very significant milestone of a most loved and well known member of the paddlesteamer fleet.  The PS Pevensey is due to celebrate her 100th Birthday on 20th July 2011.  We are well into the 100 day countdown to recognise this special date and lots and lots of activities have been planned to celebrate.  The library is involved in four ways

1. Treasure Hunt, venture into the library and locate the answer to the first question on the sheet.  Treasure Hunt sheets are available from the Port of Echuca shop.
2. The Nancy Cato Readathon, read five of Nancy's books, write a review and then receive a special double pass to the Port of Echuca.  Nancy wrote the famous book All the Rivers Run which infact put the PS Pevensey on the world stage as the PS Philadelphia.
3. On Thursday 5th July we are having a special school holiday activity on the Pevensey.  Stories, songs and craft as we cruise along the mighty Murray.  Boarding time is 11.15, bookings are essential and cost is $9 per child/adult
4. On Sunday 10th July we are having another cruise but this time renowned storyteller Julie Smith will be sharing the poetry and stories of Nancy Cato.  Afternoon tea will be included, boarding time is 2.15 and cost is $9 per person.
For more information about any of these great events please contact the library on 5482 1997.
We look forward to seeing you there and we congratulate our Shire colleagues on such a wonderful celebratory event.
For more information about the other events please head to http://www.portofechuca.org.au/