Sod Turning Milestone for the new Regional Library in Echuca

Yesterday under blue skies, sunshine and our stunning backdrop the first sod was turned to signify the commencement of works and site hand-over to our builders Circon.  Paul Weller MP and Mayor Neil Pankhurst both spoke on the State Government and the Shire of Campaspe's commitment to the project.  President of the Friends of the Library Stella Moore spoke of how pleased the Friends were to see this day and that the new library facility will be highly valued and used by the community.  Stella joined Councillor Pankhurst and Paul Weller in the official duty of turning the sod.  The site was then formally handed over to representatives from Circon.  For regular updates please keep an eye on this blog, as well as Project Bulletins which will be available from the Shire of Campaspe website http://www.campaspe.vic.gov.au/ The first bulletin which outlines the key milestones of the project is available now.  All library branches will also have them available in hard copy. 

We thank the many people that attended yesterdays event and we look forward to the coming months as we see the site take on concrete, bricks, roof and glass.  The next step in the project is to prepare the site including some landscaping works.

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.