An ambitious project from the National Library of Australia and State Libraries of Australia, brings us the Australian Newspaper Digitisation Project. From the website:
“The Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program will initially be digitising approximately 3 million pages over 4 years, starting in July 2007. These pages will cover a range of titles from every state and territory, from the earliest newspaper published in Australia in 1803 through to the mid 1950’s. A further million pages from the Sydney Morning Herald 1831-1954 will also be digitised.”
So far they have digitised over a million pages.
From Victoria, the project is digitising the Argus and Melbourne Argus - the great Melbourne newspaper which closed down in the 1950’s. So far they have digitised 1915 to 1945. You can search all of the papers digitised thus far on the Australian Newspapers Beta website.
As the digitisation is being done using optical character recognition (OCR), viewers are invited to correct errors on the website as you go.
I did a quick search and found a car struck a wagonette in Narre Warren in October 1924, Airdrie won the Cranbourne Cup in 1923 and a cool store was planned for Pakenham in 1915.
Why not take some time and find out some interesting facts from our local history for yourself!
The building works are progressing well at Doveton Library. The internal work is 95% complete with painting and floor-coverings the next trades due. The electrical installation has commenced and the plumber will begin work on the new disabled toilet area within the next week.
As can be seen in the photo, the external veranda canopies are well advanced and they will be completed shortly.
External paving works and stormwater / sewerage connection is yet to occur.
All being well the project should be completed by the end of August / early September with an early to mid September handover back to the Library Corporation for full operation.
After a successful launch in May, the State Library of Victoria will be holding their second Bedside Book Club on Tuesday 8th July at 6.00pm in the State Library’s Mr Tulk Cafe.
Guest readers this month include El Dorado author Dorothy Porter, Andrew Webster from Victoria University and Mary Dalmau from Reader’s Feast Bookstore.
“The Bedside Books Club invites your discussion on these and other important bedside reading matters at its quarterly get-togethers. Bring a book you would like to share with fellow readers and join us for good wine, company and reads.”
Great news for those time poor people or those who like to do things themselves! At Endeavour Hills and Cranbourne libraries you can now pick up your own holds. Imagine the flexibility of being able to sit at home or work, look up the books you have heard about at your local book chat, book discussion group or even on Oprah that afternoon and place a hold for free on the item to pick up at your nearest library.
There are many ways to check to see if your hold is in. Login to the library catalogue and see if it is available for you to collect, wait for the letter to be sent to you or rock up at your library, go straight to the self serve holds shelf and collect your item.
You then have the choice to take the held item with your other selections to the circulation desk and “talk to a person” OR you can take it to the self checkout machine and do it yourself*.
Now you can make your experience to the library as personal or as quick as you want it to be.
Only books, videos and talking books are able to be used at the self serve checkout machines. You will also need to bring in the library card you used to place the hold.
Libraries struggle with promotion. How do you manage to tell people all about what the library can do for them, with a message that reaches them, that they will remember, that will make them want to visit. Something like this maybe?
Which makes me wonder, what do you say to your family or friends, that makes them want to come to the library? What do you like most about your library? What should our message be focussing on and how should we say it? Your comments on this subject would be much appreciated!
Author Ilsa Evans visited the Emerald Library for a talk sponsored by the Friends of the Emerald Library.
On a cool April evening over 30 avid readers of Ilsa’s Laundry series of books gathered to hear her speak about her life, writing, and her journey from writing light fiction to a novel on the darker topic of domestic violence.
It was wonderful to hear an author give so much of herself through stories of past relationships, family and their impact on her writing. Despite being a successful author in Australia, Ilsa still maintains her “ordinariness” in her comparisons to the audience and to other women who lead busy lives as mothers, wives, and in the workplace.
Feedback from our audience reflect the interest in listening to Ilsa talk about writing and the publishing process, when she began writing, and her motivation for writing.
Some quotes from the night were…
“I loved meeting the creator of the books, and feeling as though I now know her as a person”
“Ilsa’s talk was fantastic”
“So enjoyed hearing how she learnt her craft and also her struggles with writing as a career.”
“I loved meeting the author and being able to purchase her books. A fabulous speaker who humanises everyday events to make them fun.”
I would recommend Ilsa as a speaker to anyone who reads this. Her humour and insights make her worth taking time from your busy schedule to listen to.
Would you like to talk about books with someone famous? Here’s your chance!
The State Library of Victoria has started the Bedside Book Club, for people to get together and discuss what books they have on their bedside table (best place to have your reading material after all). To sweeten the deal, they will have special guest readers, as well as a good bottle of wine (or two).
Although its held at the State Library and is a bit of a drive for us outer suburban mob, it would be well worth it to get to the next Club meeting, as guest speakers include Max Barry - award winning author of Company and Mary Dalmau of Reader’s Feast Bookstore.
The next meeting is on Tuesday 12th May, from 6.45-8.15pm. It is free, but bookings are essential. All the details are at the Bedside Book Club website.
If travelling into the city is not an option for you, come and join us for one of our Book Chats for a great discussion, or join others in a more informal setting with our New Book Cafe - where you can enjoy a cuppa, a chat and browse through some of the library’s new books.
If you are already a member of a book group, we can help you with books, discussion notes and more for every meeting with our Book Group service.
As Invisible Ink approaches its 2nd birthday, we are exanding our team of bloggers to continue to give you insights into library happenings, but with a more personal voice and from many sets of eyes. So here we are:
Hi, I’m Michelle and I’ve been posting on the Invisible Ink blog from the start. I blog outside the library as well as here and love books, music, movies and the Internet.
I work on the many different aspects of the library website and am always interested in hearing about what we can do for our virtual users. Please feel free to use the comments facility on the blog to tell us what we can be doing extra or better.
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Hi, I’m Deb, CCLC’s journalist and graphic designer and I create all those posters, flyers and newsletters you read (I hope!).
I’m a happy Aquarian … When I can’t be on, in or under water, I’ve done the next best thing by living beside it. I’ve performed synchronised swimming, dived with seals and dolphins, enjoyed snorkelling and boating, and love beach combing. On the weekends I morph into a gourmet foodie and spend hours cooking up wonderful recipes.
Yes, I do read books other than culinary ones and always have a talking book on the go – they are the best invention ever! My most precious book of all time is Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses as it is a hand-me-down from my grandparents and carries with it many wonderful memories, but a glimpse at my fave more recent reads are by The Time Traveller’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger, Tomorrow When the War Began series by John Marsden, Winter Fire by William Trotter, and the amazing non-fiction book: Mr God This Is Anna, by Fynn.
Happy reading everyone
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Hi I’m Cen and I have the great job of organising public programs, whether it’s an author talk, a life long learning seminar, or the school holiday program for kids and young adults. So in my 18 months at CCLC I have hosted events with authors, including Stephanie Laurens, Ilsa Evans, and Andrew Rule, talks on Feng Shui, de cluttering your home, and parenting seminars, and holiday fun including Wild Action animal discoveries, magicians and puppet shows!.
Work is always busy, and as a mother of 3 girls life is always busy. I’m looking forwarded to sharing some of the exciting events that we have to offer at CCLC on Invisible Ink.
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Hi, I’m Monique. I am the branch manager at Endeavour Hills Library and have worked at CCLC for over 10 years (minus 2 years to have my 2 gorgeous children). During this time I have had the privilege of working in Youth Services, co-ordinating Adult Programs and being in contact with thousands of lovely people I would not have had the pleasure of meeting if I had have worked in a different profession. Many of the kids I have had in my children’s programs when I first started here are revisiting the library as Uni students….didn’t think I was that old!
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Hi, I’m Linda, I’m a librarian and the stereotype of librarians as “shushers” bothers me. I’ve loved books and reading for as long as I can remember and I think the Internet is one of the best things to have ever happened to libraries. I’d like to live in an environmentally friendly house and learn to take great photographs. I could be more organized, pay more attention to detail and clean up my desk… but I probably won’t.
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You will also get to read posts from our Senior Managers Peter and Pru. As always, please feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or using our online feedback form, we really would like to hear from you.
Pakenham Library will be moving into temporary accommodation to make way for a new Library as part of a retail complex, being built on the corner of John and Henry Streets.
A self-contained portable unit, approximately 250 to 300 square metres, placed on stumps and with conveniences, will be installed next to the Pakenham Hall, at PB Ronald Reserve, on the opposite corner of John and Henry Streets.
Pakenham Library’s current collection will need to be dramatically downsized, to suit the temporary space. Library staff will be reviewing needs during the coming weeks, to ensure that library users have ready access to the best collection. Stock not available in this temporary facility, will still be accessible by library staff in a closed stack area, but it will not be immediately available. As always, titles can also be obtained through other branches of the library service.
Public computers will still be available in the temporary library, but activities such as storytimes, school holiday programs etc will be held in the Pakenham Hall next door, so that the library building can be fully utilised for the collection and PCs.
It is anticipated that Pakenham Library will move to its temporary building sometime in mid-May and sometime after that, the building on John Street will be demolished to enable construction on the new facilities to start. The new building will take between 18 months and 2 years to complete.
An ambitious project from the National Library of Australia and State Libraries of Australia, brings us the Australian Newspaper Digitisation Project. From the website:
After a successful launch in May, the State Library of Victoria will be holding their second 
Michelle
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Author 
The 
Although its held at the State Library and is a bit of a drive for us outer suburban mob, it would be well worth it to get to the next Club meeting, as guest speakers include 
Hi, I’m Deb, CCLC’s journalist and graphic designer and I create all those posters, flyers and newsletters you read (I hope!).
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