The word 'libraries' with pictures of people in the letters

Issue 41, June 2024

Welcome

Welcome to the latest issue of In the Libraries. It’s a particularly colourful edition, with libraries glowing bright neon and providing fun, quirky and interactive programming across NSW. Libraries have hosted successful author talks and Sydney Writers’ Festival events to create a literary buzz in local communities. Nobody was left out of the fun with libraries holding workshops, educational programs and community celebrations for all audiences. NSW public library staff have once again demonstrated that the reputation of our public libraries as vibrant cultural and community hubs is well-founded.

In the Libraries is published quarterly and welcomes submissions from public libraries across NSW. Please submit your articles here (maximum of 150 words) and don’t forget to include a photo.

In the Libraries is a companion to the PLS eNews, which features short articles about the work of Public Library Services at the State Library.

Spark in the Dark: Hula hooping family fun at twilight

Spark in the Dark ignites twilight fun at Randwick Library

Since 2021, Randwick Library’s monthly outreach program Spark in the Park has attracted a loyal following of families with children aged 0–5 years, offering morning storytime, sing-alongs and play. In a spin on the beloved original, our outreach team took the Spark Truck out after hours, trialling night-time Spark in the Dark.

As part of our autumn school holiday program, Spark in the Dark encouraged families to arrive at dusk and enjoy a picnic, dancing, songs, games, and stories under the twilight sky. As the sun set, colourful LED hula hooping lit up the night.

‘The new 5 pm start made it possible for more family members to come along. We loved to see more dads joining in the fun’, said Children’s Librarian Holly Shortridge. Due to overwhelmingly positive feedback and requests to hold more twilight events, the team is planning another Spark in the Dark to coincide with Fathers’ Day.

Sandy Lange, Randwick City Library

Five people cutting a ribbon at an opening ceremony

Bat Night 2024 at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and Library

Blue Mountains celebrates Bat Night 2024

Nothing gets our library-goers more excited than bats! The delightful chaos that is the annual Bat Night took place on Saturday 11 March. Almost 1000 people flooded into the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and Katoomba Library to celebrate the wonder of bats in a fun and educational community event.

The Library hosted a range of bat-themed activities. The Batty Treasure Quest had kids and adults alike buzzing through the building to find the 12 hidden Blue Mountains bat species. Participants also enjoyed bat-themed Indigenous storytimes and a puppet show as well as badge-making and face painting. Many bat-aficionados went the extra yard with fabulous and outlandish bat costumes. The Cultural Centre held educational talks, craft and a chance to head out on the Bat Bus to hear real bats at Echo Point.

Theresa Lock, Blue Mountains Library

A staircase and bookshelves in a library

A participant creating a clay creature to go in her terrarium

Growing future green thumbs at Burwood Library

In Burwood Library’s Saturday Creative Kids Club, kids and their carers gathered in the Community Hub to make terrariums and clay creatures.

Participants learned how to roll and shape clay into tiny creatures that could be taken home and baked in the oven. Snails were a popular choice, while other attendees made worms, bees, rabbits, cats and even a snake! The kids then learned about terrariums — using gravel, pebbles, soil and succulents to make a little environment in a jar that they could take home and care for.

A fun-filled, creative time was had by all with lots of giggles and a suitable amount of mess! Parents and kids alike were very positive about the program and keen to attend more art workshops in the hub.

Elisha Schnell, Burwood Library

Hills Shire mayor Dr Peter Gangemi with students Ryan and Vincent at Castle Hill Library

Year One Reading Club at the Hills Shire Library turns 25

The Year One Reading Club is celebrating a quarter-century!

Starting out as the Year One Frog Club in 1999, the club has seen many revamps but the aim has always remained the same: helping children to develop a love of reading. The club has ignited the imaginations of over 17,000 year one students over the years. Current members receive a logbook when they join, then a sticker each time they visit to borrow, as well as rewards and fun activity sheets along the way.

The library also visits students at local schools to tell them all about the club, introduce our mascot Fribbit and invite them to join. It is wonderful to see excited children and their families visiting our libraries to sign up later!

We even have adult members come in and say they were members of the club when they were young!

Erica Mellen, The Hills Shire Library Service

Literature Live event at East Maitland Library

Maitland Libraries bringing stories to life

Maitland Libraries recently hosted a series of invigorating literary events for the community. Following a series of livestreamed sessions at our libraries, the Town Hall was chock-a-block for our major Saturday event featuring the Sydney Writers’ Festival: Live & Local livestream. The schedule was packed: the day featured a local author talk, literary trivia and more, bringing the excitement of Australia’s premier literary event directly to local residents.

The younger crowd was not forgotten as nearly 200 children engaged in the reading of Bowerbird Blues for National Simultaneous Storytime across our libraries, nurturing a passion for reading and storytelling among the younger generation.

The launch of Literature Live, our new series of author talks, proved highly successful at East Maitland Library, attracting enthusiastic attendees eager to connect with acclaimed writers firsthand.

Erin Pascall, Maitland Libraries

A person dressed as a frog in front of a library self-check station

Sulari Gentill with Sarah Kynaston from Batlow Library

Sulari Gentill launches latest mystery at Batlow Library

Batlow Library had a fantastic book launch with local crime author, Sulari Gentill. Sulari has been fighting cancer for the past 18 months and had to delay the launch of her latest book, The Mystery Writer, due to treatment. In that context, it made sense to combine her belated book launch with a Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for the Cancer Council and thank the local community for their support.

Sulari shared how much she appreciated the ‘quiet family’ experienced in a small town: people turned up with meals, drove her to appointments and helped in her garden. She also talked about her writing process, her beloved dogs and that final moment when she sends off a new manuscript to her publisher. Our library knitting group also provided beanies for oncology patients.

The event was a roaring success and raised close to $2000 for the Cancer Council.

Katrina Roe, Batlow Library

Miller Library Cushion Concert

Cushion Concerts at Liverpool City Library

Cushion Concerts have been a valuable programming addition to Miller and Green Valley Libraries, part of Liverpool City Libraries. Funded by Mission Australia for ‘2168’ communities and delivered in partnership with Play Matters Australia, these free concerts for children are performed by skilled musicians, introducing kids and caregivers in the 2168 postcode to classical and family favourite tunes.

Focusing on families with kids aged 0–5, the program fosters literacy, builds social capital and strengthens community with participants enjoying morning tea and a chat after each concert. The value of the program is evident in community participation. The first session at Miller Library was attended by 19 caregivers and kids, subsequent sessions held at Miller and Green Valley Libraries both garnered over 20 participants.

The program recognises the socio-economic disadvantages of the 2168 community, with the library effectively collaborating in a partnership model to deliver a sustainable community service.

Pamela Smith, Liverpool City Library

New high-visibility, forward-facing shelving

Collection makeover at Hawkesbury

Historically, Hawkesbury Library has interfiled junior and adult non-fiction collections to support access to subject-based materials regardless of reading level. When our junior collection was largely for homework support and located via the catalogue, this worked well. However, now our collections are more leisure focused and our young borrowers prefer to browse the shelves. With low turnover rates, we worried that interfiling wasn’t working anymore.

We looked for alternative shelving to retain the benefits of interfiling while increasing visibility and accessibility, and a trial of easy-to-browse shelving was begun. A few high-interest but under-performing topics were selected, and the new shelving was interspersed among the standard shelving. This maintained proximity to adult collection items of the same subject while preventing the junior books becoming ‘lost’ in the larger collection.

The project seems successful with enthusiastic browsing and loans on the rise: total JNF stock-on-loan up from 9% to 14.5%, targeted areas up to 17.25%.

Robyn Menzies, Hawkesbury Library Service

People gathered around a table with birthday cake

Shorelink Libraries 40th anniversary celebrations

The Shorelink Libraries recognised 40 years of the network with a series of celebrations at each library service, a dedicated promotional campaign and membership drive. Celebrations culminated in an anniversary event in December at St Leonards Library featuring past and present library staff, councillors and council staff from all three councils.

The Join Up, Join In membership drive was initiated to promote the benefits of being a member of the Shorelink Libraries. As an incentive to join, each week from July to September 2023 one new member was randomly chosen to receive a $100 gift voucher.

The promotion was advertised through street decals at key bus stops, bus shelter advertising, council email signatures and digital signage at the Hayden Orpheum Cinemas on Military Road.

Family Fun Days were held at each Library in September featuring science and technology workshops, face painting and other activities.

Karen Mitchell, Lane Cove Library

Teenagers with balloons and neon lights in dark room

Teens transform Sutherland Library into a neon wonderland for Youth Week

Teens glow wild at Sutherland Library

As night fell on Saturday 20 April at Sutherland Library, teens flocked to the library’s event space in their best and brightest neon fits for our After Dark Glow Party. The space was transformed by blacklights, which illuminated the teens’ artworks and ensembles with their neon glow. Teens had a blast playing glow-in-the-dark Twister and table tennis, getting arty with neon textas, and glowing wild with body paint and temporary tattoos. Once the glowsticks found their way around the necks, arms and shoes of attendees, it was time to hit the dance floor, before enjoying a slice of pizza and testing their trivia knowledge.

Everyone had so much fun transforming the library into a neon wonderland! There were especially big grins from those who won the best dressed and lucky door prizes. The event was a success, with 28 teens joining us to light up the night for Youth Week.

Maureen Flynn, Sutherland Shire Libraries

Children from Girrawong Preschool attending MidCoast Libraries National Simultaneous Storytime event

Midcoast Libraries connecting with community

MidCoast Libraries has been working with the Biripi community to facilitate family history workshops for Elders. The workshops have empowered our Elders to utilise resources available to them in the community.

The Elders family history group meet monthly at Taree Library to share stories, access online databases and other resources, share information and simply connect with each other. Our Elders feel welcomed in the library space and have formed lovely relationships with the team. The program is delivered in partnership with historians from MidCoast Stories.

MidCoast Libraries works with local preschool, Girrawong to deliver an outreach program. Outreach team members deliver storytime programs at the centre with a bulk loan, and the children visit Taree Library and borrow. The program has fostered the building of relationships with the children, families, and centre staff, and it’s great to see that the the children feel comfortable in their local library.

Danielle Donnelly, Midcoast Libraries

Library Connections exhibition at Wagga Wagga City Library

Library Connections exhibition at Wagga Wagga

Wagga Wagga City Library launched the Library Connections exhibition in 2023 as part of our ongoing commitment to fostering connections and building an inclusive community. Our aim is to highlight the positive impact of library services and collections on our members’ lives.

Through a display of documents, photographs, textiles, and significant objects, we share the unique journeys of individuals who have chosen Wagga Wagga as their home. In doing so, we also recognise the vital role our library plays in facilitating this transition.

To date, we have celebrated the stories of six community members, including a young dentist from Pakistan who credits library programs for helping her overcome the isolation of parenthood, a Vietnamese artisan baker, a Chinese mother and daughter who enjoyed our Learn English & Play program, an author who traded bustling city life for a tree change, and an LGBTQIA+ member who found support at the library.

Leila Davandeh, Wagga Wagga City Library

Women in library holding paper quilting artwork

Quilling artist Leigh Wong with the participants displaying their artwork after the workshop at Eastwood Library

Sparking community creativity at City of Ryde Libraries

City of Ryde Libraries launched a successful paper quilling workshop series in May, led by Chinese quilling artist Leigh Wong at Eastwood Library, fostering lifelong learning and community creativity.

Featuring a special Mother’s Day workshop and two sessions for beginners over 16 years of age, the series explores quilling, an art form involving rolling, pinching, and gluing paper strips into decorative shapes. Presented in Mandarin and Cantonese, each two-hour session offers comprehensive quilling techniques and provides all the tools and materials required for participants to explore their creative potential. Attendees enjoyed crafting Mother’s Day Cards with carnations, symbolising motherhood’s virtues, and learned to create vibrant bouquets and tulips.

A complementary exhibition at Eastwood Library showcased quilling art by Leigh, promoting both the artform and workshop experiences to the community. Attendees have thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and learning new skills, with each session of 25 participants selling out.

Kathy Yang, City of Ryde Libraries

Chris Hammer with author talk attendees

Hammer time at Macquarie Regional Library

Chris Hammer delighted audiences at Macquarie Regional Library in May.

Almost 200 people across four library branches were treated to an insight into Chris’s political journalism background and his writing process as he promoted his latest novel The Seven during his regional tour.

This event stems from Macquarie Regional Library’s renewed focus on providing high quality programs in line with core library services to ensure our regional communities have access to events that are comparable to metropolitan library offerings.

Attendee feedback was very positive, with customers pleased to see such a high-calibre author visit our region.

Sarah Tilbrook, Macquarie Regional Library

Bad Movie Club attendees

Bad Movie Club at Waverley Library

This year we launched a very successful program called the Bad Movie Club. Once a month on a Friday evening, we stream the very best of the very worst films every created. Members are encouraged to chat, laugh at and boo these masterpieces of cinematic tragedy, and appreciate such classics as Birdemic, Miami Connection and Hercules in New York.

The club has been so successful that we are seeing up to 70 members on a Friday evening in a library. With regular members returning each month, we have seen an increase in a younger audience. To complement the films, we offer snacks, comfortable seating and wine to boost the revelry. We encourage all libraries to appreciate the beauty of terrible acting and poor special effects.

Simon Welsh, Waverley Library

Hornsby’s popular Lego Zone

Mega Drop-in & Discover at Hornsby Library

In the April school holidays, the programs team organised a Mega Drop-in & Discover session for school aged children and their families. Bookings were not required for the session, which ran from 10 am to 12 noon on Monday 22 April.

All attendees received a passport and were challenged to visit each of our activity zones. In the Craft Zone you could choose a great craft and make something to take home; and the Construction Zone allowed you to build something great with our Octons and Magformers. In the Lego Zone you could create something magical out of Lego; and in the Tech Zone, you could play with our awesome robotics. The session was designed to showcase many of the materials available to borrow in our Discovery Kits collection. We also enticed new members, with a prize draw for those library members who filled in the passport.

The morning was a great success and will be repeated in future school holiday periods.

Kirsty Plumridge, Hornsby Shire Libraries

Bryan Brown on stage with Dinuka McKenzie at the Bryan Brown Theatre

Dinuka McKenzie in conversation with Bryan Brown

An evening with Bryan Brown in Bankstown

On Friday 24 May 2024 a very special event took place in the Bryan Brown Theatre in Bankstown. Bryan Brown himself spoke with fellow author, Dinuka McKenzie, about his latest novel The Drowning, an unpredictable mystery with unforgettable characters. This event was organised by Canterbury Bankstown Libraries as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival and it was the first time a festival event has been held in Canterbury-Bankstown.

Eloquent and with a great sense of humour, Bryan entertained the crowd of 230 people sharing stories of his upbringing in Panania (yes, he is a local legend) and discussing his transition from actor and producer to author.
After the talk, Bryan and Dinuka stayed to sign books and chat with audience members who were delighted to see both authors in person. A cold evening in Western Sydney certainly turned into a memorable one!

Renata Rekiel, Canterbury Bankstown Libraries

Participant Michael Ruppe at Fab Lab

Lake Mac Libraries Fab Academy

Lake Macquarie is hosting Australia’s first Fab Academy, drawing on a global network of knowledge to teach digital fabrication. Using the Fab Lab, our first 20-week Fab Academy course is underway, with a curriculum developed by academics from the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Fab Academy branches already operate across the world, but Lake Macquarie is the first site in Australia.

Participants will rotate through the Fab Lab’s diverse range of machines and technology, working on a series of assessments and a final project to present at the end of the course. An international faculty of academics deliver video lectures, supervise academic content and guide student research. There is a big emphasis on networking and cross-collaboration, including live weekly hook-ups online with other Fab Academy participants across the globe.

Gillian Wilson, Lake Mac Libraries

Author Brenda Matthews (second from left) with library Admin Assistant Alison Ward, Outreach and Programs Librarian Amanda Gitzel, and Brenda’s husband Mark Matthews

Authors share their stories at Penrith City Library

Penrith City Library staff have been busy this month, with four author events in the month of May!

Meg Keneally joined us to discuss her latest title Free, a historical fiction tale about Molly Darrow, a feisty, intelligent teenager who is transported to Sydney in 1789. Jasmine Seymour entertained children aged 3–10 and their families with a special storytime, sharing her beautiful picture books Coo-ee Mittigar and Open Your Heart to Country and teaching families some Dharug words. We also celebrated Sydney Writers’ Festival by hosting Jane Harrison, who discussed her new book The Visitors, and we observed National Sorry Day by hosting Brenda Matthews, who shared her unmissable book The Last Daughter, a story of love, heartbreak, loss, forgiveness and reconnection.

We look forward to hosting more amazing authors in the coming months!

Marisa Seeley, Penrith City Libraries

Sip & Paint @ Raymond Terrace Library

Sip & Paint @ Port Stephens Libraries

Port Stephens Libraries celebrated Youth Week 2024 with a Sip and Paint event at our Raymond Terrace and Tomaree Library branches. Two enthusiastic groups of young people spent the afternoon sipping on mocktails, enjoying some snacks and painting island sunsets.

Participants worked on blending methods and learnt the technique of ‘feathering’, to produce their picturesque palm leaves. There was a great sense of satisfaction in being able to produce their own individual masterpieces and to experience the joy of creating something beautiful to take home and display.

Katie Barham, Port Stephens Libraries

Princess Leia and BB-8 at Star Wars Trivia

Star Wars Trivia at Queanbeyan Library

Queanbeyan Library held a special trivia event to celebrate May the 4th. The all-ages event had it all including Darth Vader, a Wookiee, Yoda, Princess Leia, BB-8, and a heated discussion about ‘who shot first?’! The winning table walked away with some pretty cool Star Wars Pop Vinyls and everyone enjoyed delicious locally baked Star Wars-themed cookies.

Emma Ciechan, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Libraries

Happy poppy painters

Art for Anzacs at Kiama Library

Kiama Libraries hosted a series of Paint-a-Poppy workshops in commemoration of Anzac Day. Led by local artist Kylie Morrison, the workshops were held at Kiama and Gerringong Libraries and were open to all age groups and any skill-level or experience.

In addition to the painting component, we invited members from the Kiama/Jamberoo RSL sub-branch to tell a soldier story and share the symbolic significance of the poppy flower to the participants. This informed and inspired the group and set the context for the painting session. The completed 28 artworks were then showcased as part of a group exhibition within the Kiama Council Chambers. Participants were thrilled to have their artwork hung not only for public viewing and appreciation but for remembrance.

This initiative was funded by the Anzac Community Grants Program.

Carmelina Nunnari, Kiama Library Service

International Mother Language Day celebrations at Cumberland Library

Cumberland Library celebrates International Mother Language Day

Cumberland is home to a vibrant and diverse community where more than half the population speaks a language other than English at home. International Mother Language Day celebrations took place in Wentworthville in February and reflected our rich linguistic and cultural tapestry.

More than 60 students and 200 adults from local preschools, schools, and local communities came to celebrate diversity on the day. Stalls featured cultural art, weaving, language learning, iPad demonstrations and fun activities for everyone.

The event was particularly enjoyed by the children in attendance. They discovered First Nations languages and culture, new technology, basket weaving and Chinese calligraphy. Their enthusiasm created an atmosphere of learning and exploration, showcasing the power of languages in shaping and preserving cultural origin and identity.

Programs and Information Team, Cumberland City Council Library Services