Being Connected - Libraries and Autism

It is very exciting to see the first key component of the Being Connected - Libraries and Autism project commence this coming week.  This innovative project has been funded through the Pierre Gorman Award, State Library of Victoria   Con Livanos from Think Access will be coming up this Wednesday to meet with parents, children and older adults who have Autism Spectrum Disorder.  After this Con will undertake a sensory audit of all of our library branches across the Shire to help us to prepare a plan to improve our buildings for people with ASD.  Con has undertaken a great deal of research in preparation of the audit and we are still keen to hear from people who would like to let us know what sensory issues they encounter within our libraries. 
A report will be completed after the audit which will direct further planning and improvements for an enhanced user experience.
Other components of the project will include staff training, programming, assistive technology and working towards the communication access symbol.

Children's Book Week and Community Reading Days to celebrate the National Reading Hour

It has been a fantastic week full of lots of wonderful reading activities.  Together in partnership with Campaspe Cohuna Local Learning Education Network, Community Reading Days have been held in Cohuna (Gannawarra Shire), Echuca, Kyabram, Rushworth, Rochester and Tongala.  Over 300 students from local schools have visited a range of School Friendly Businesses who have read a selection of Children's Book Week shortlisted titles.  Thanks to all the schools and businesses that have supported this great community event and for sharing your love of reading with the children.

5000 poppies project

Our library service is an official collection point for the 5000 poppies project.  It is actually lovely to say that the target of 5000 has easily been surpassed already and it is likely the end result will be close to 100,000.  We recently held a poppy making afternoon and it was just lovely at our Echuca Branch.  We will certainly run some more over the next few months, as well as include them in the school holiday activities. 
People are encouraged to make poppies from the patterns provided which we have available at the library branches.  They can also be downloaded from http://5000poppies.wordpress.com
There is also a very active 5000 poppies Facebook group with nearly 1000 members. 
We encourage you to take part in this amazing community tribute of respect and remembrance.  It is a Victorian Government endorsed commemoration project which will culminate in a stunning display at Federation Square on Anzac Day 2015. 
So get knitting, crochet, felting or lace-making and participate in this wonderful project.

Winter Blues Magic

Please join us for two special events during the Winter Blues Festival from the 25-27 July.  We are very proud to be hosting two fantastic artists at our Echuca Branch over this amazing weekend.
Ali Penney will be performing Saturday morning from 11am and Phil Manning will be back for a second year performing on the Sunday afternoon from 2.30pm. 
We are an official supporter of the festival, it looks like a wonderful line-up again with heaps of artists performing at a variety of venues.  For more information about the festival please head to
http://winterblues.com.au/

It's school holiday time again!

Out libraries are jammed packed with activities to keep your children occupied during the July School Holidays.  Might be cold outside but there are lots of creative sessions over the next two weeks and hopefully something for everyone.  Please check our website for all the details.  The emphasis is definitely on learning something new.  There is opportunity to contribute to a national project through the Neural Knitworks, making music using the Sound Fusion website and helping to illustrate a book by local author Kaye Baillie.  Wool crafts, movie afternoons, pizza and games nights and special storytimes are in there too. 
Thanks to parents for their support, we hope it helps you out too by providing free and low cost activities.
See you soon, please contact our branches for more information 1300 666 535

Thank you for your support

Just a quick note to all of our wonderful library customers for voting for us as Australia's Favourite Library.  We pass on our congratulations to the winners Sandringham (Bayside) who actually one the overall title and to Hume Library Service for the Victorian title.  It was wonderful to part of this promotion.  We also had a great week last week for Library and Information Week and we feature in the www.alia.org.au wrap up of 2014 events.  Thanks to everyone for coming along and attending our special events.
This coming week we have our final High Road to Reading session with James Phelan on Thursday at Echuca at 2pm.  Everyone is welcome, please check our website for booking details.
We have also started planning activities for the next school holidays with the theme 'get creative @ your library' so keep an eye out for the details.
On a sad note we will farewell our respected colleague Valerie Hansen this week who passed away last Tuesday.  Valerie was our Home Based Services Coordinator and she made a wonderful contribution to this important part of our library service.  She will be sadly missed by colleagues and the many volunteers who assist with home deliveries and the words on wheels program.

Victoria on Record

During May and June our library service is hosting a touring exhibition from the Public Records Office of Victoria.  We are very pleased to offer our visitors the opportunity to view this interesting banner display which promotes and highlights the many interesting and diverse things that the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) keeps. At the moment the exhibition is at Rochester Branch until Saturday and then head to Rushworth, Echuca, Kyabram and then finishes at Tongala.
Well worth a personal visit to the PROV in North Melbourne and take in a tour.  For details about the Victoria on Record exhibition, when and where it will be please head to our library website.  For more information about the exhibition itself please go to http://prov.vic.gov.au/whats-on/touring-exhibitions/victoria-on-record
Look forward to seeing you at one of our branches.  In conjunction with the display being held at Echuca we will also have a session about the PROV which will be conducted by one of our library staff.  Again details are on the library website.
On Sunday 25 May we are also hosting a Sunday afternoon session about collecting your own oral history which will be bought to us by Heather Rendle from the Echuca Historical Society.