Upcoming events

Our participation in the Monster Petition Project is continuing. The banner is currently at our Rushworth Branch and will be moving to Rochester next week and then Echuca in middle of September. Many signatures have been added, is yours there yet?

In September we also have some other special events taking place. The first are special Father's Day storytimes at our Echuca and Kyabram Branches on Saturday 6th September at 10.30am. We welcome all kids to bring along their dads for a very special morning.

On Thursday 18th we have a guest presenter talking about Reflexology, this will take place at the Echuca Function Room at 10.30am.

At the end of September we are supporting the Model T Ford Centenary Rally which will be coming through Echuca. John Duncan, expert and author on Model Ts will be running a very informative session and display on Wednesday 1st October at the Echuca Library from 7pm. We look forward to hearing from John and there will be a large range of books on the subject to view as well.

Fuel your mind - celebrating Children's Book Week

It will soon be Children's Book Week but here at Campaspe we celebrate the annual Children's Book Council event all month. Each branch is conducting Children's Book Week sessions which acknowledge the wonderful Children's authors and illustrators and the fantastic stories that have been produced by them. The Branch Librarians and Children's Services Coordinator Linda have developed some great activities for the children and teachers to undertake when they visit the library. We thank our friends at Zart Art that are always inspirational when it comes to ideas for art and craft activities. Please visit one of our branches to view the nominated books, the winning authors and illustrators will be announced later in the month.

A reminder also that we have a large range of Premier's Reading Challenge books that have recently been purchased through additional funding from the State Government. The books in the challenge are easily identifiable with PRC stickers on them. We thank our Local Member Paul Weller for officially launching the collection recently when guest author Leigh Hobbs visited Echuca.

Winter Blues Festival

Well, it was cold, it was wet and it was definitely winter! Echuca Branch hosted the band Forever Autumn who played from lunchtime till about 3.3opm yesterday. Due to the weather conditions the guys decided to play in the back room and open the doors out into the street - well at least they were a bit warmer! Thanks to the band members Tom, James, Mark and Jess for performing in the challenging conditions (Echuca reached 9 degrees) and to the great (but cold) parents and friends who came along and supported them. Thanks also to Leon from our Shire Arts and Culture team for providing the PA for the day. We wish the band well as they compete in the Bendigo Battle of the Bands next month.

Open Day Success

Thanks to the community of Echuca and surrounds for coming along and visiting the new library site on July 12th. Over 200 people ventured in and toured through the building. The project working group were able to capture some very valuable feedback from you and this has assisted them to continue to develop an exciting plan. The schematic design phase is about to be completed and then the process moves on into detailed design. Once this stage has been completed I will be able to post some plans up on the blog. We also welcome your ideas about the future use of the existing library building, there are forms available in the Echuca branch or you can send your thoughts into us.

Echuca Community Hub and Library Open Day

On Saturday July 12th from 11am-2pm another milestone will be reached in the planning towards the new library for Echuca. All residents are invited to come along to the new library site (old supermarket) at cnr Anstruther Street and High Street, Echuca and look through the building to get an idea what is planned for the development. You will able to walk around the building, plans in hand and stand in the spaces that have been allocated for the library, family history resource centre, toy library, maternal and child health, shops, small and large community meeting rooms, function area, staff work areas, baby care/change room and toilets. The architects Suters Prior Cheney have been working hard to provide artist impression sketches to help you visualise what could be! There will be feedback forms available on the day. There will also be forms available asking you your thoughts about the current library's use once we move to the new site. There will also be a free BBQ at lunchtime. So come along, we value your input and ideas.

Special events

Over the next month or so we have a few special things happening at our library service. As it is school holidays soon we have author Rhonda Tallnash visiting Echuca and Kyabram on Thursday July 3rd. Rhonda is a local author/illustrator, please contact our libraries for details.

We also joining in the the Village Roadsshow get smart @ your library campaign, more information in my next post.

Author Leigh Hobbs is visiting Echuca on July 23rd, there will be a special book signing at 2.45 at the Campaspe Shire Function Room, Heygarth St, Echuca.

We are also participating in the 2008 Monster Petition Project which is celebrating 100 years of women's right to vote. The aim is to collect 30,000 signatures in acknowledgment of the achievement of the original Monster Petition and as a commitment to pursuing equality for women in all aspects of Victorian life. The banners will be sewn together at the end of the year and displayed at the November Finale and Parliament House Open Day. The banner will be at our Tongala branch for a few weeks and then will be moving onto Kyabram, Rushworth, Rochester and Echuca. Please call us on 1300 666 535 if you would like to know any more details about the events that I have just mentioned.

Flyaway Showcase

I would like to mention and thank Ellen and the Flyaway Street Team for organising music sessions at our Kyabram Library. The first one was held during Youth Week in April and last Tuesday night saw the first of the monthly events kick off. A range of artists from across the region entertained a small and engaged crowd at the Kyabram Library. It was great to see what talent we have in the area and that this type of thing is happening in our libraries. Well done to our staff and Ellen from Flyaway for getting this off the ground, hope there are many more enjoyable nights to come. For more information you can contact the Flyaway street team fly_away_streetteam@hotmail.com