Great news !! 50 cent rentals to be abolished from July 1st 2009
June 29, 2009 at 4:07 pm | Posted in Blueskin Bay, Bookbus, Books, Centenary, City Library, Fiction, Library_News, Mosgiel, Non-Fiction, Port Chalmers, Suggestions, Waikouaiti | 1 CommentFrom July 1st 2009 all books and magazines that currently cost 50 cents to borrow will be available at no charge.
We’ve prepared a frequently asked questions page that contains the info you will want to know.
100 Years Poetry Competition Winners
December 8, 2008 at 2:10 pm | Posted in Centenary, Events, Library_News | Leave a commentPrizes for our centennial competition were awarded on Friday November 28th 2008.
The winners were:
- 1st – Angelino in Dunedin, by Holly Painter
- 2nd – A Rollicking Yarn, by Richard Reeve
- 3rd – Ghost Story, by Jane Woodham
The winning entry appeared in the Otago Daily Times.
Angelino in Dunedin
In the July frosts my breath billows in the kitchen as I dawdle through the dishes
The sink just a hot bath for my hands before heading out with an icy skid on
Barely WOF-ed tyres to avoid the scamper of a creaturely shadow that’s just
A clankity rolling beer can not to mention the trolleys disastrously deserted
On Cumberland by drunken munters on a New World run between couch-fires
While the drink-drive wagon up Great King breathalyses my name and address
Under a blackness thick like saturated ink quite unlike an LA sky with its green-pink
Midnight never conjured before the downtown lights drained out the desert darkness.
When the gales of Northeast Valley give up shaking my drafty villa flat with earthquake
Aftershocks that rouse me through the night and pitch our rubbish into the waters of Leith
And the spring thaw finally finds the South, I strip off my grimy thermal leggings and
Reacquaint my pale shaggy knees with the cool roughness of denim jeans pulled on before
A V-fueled cram session with some mates who dart between the Public and Uni libraries
In search of textbooks they never purchased from the bookstore but skim through furiously
For two days before sitting the exam and then bugger off to the Refuel Halloween gig in
Fluorescent outfits nearly as skimpy as the extravagant costumes draped over goosepimply
Gay nudity at the all-night Halloween Carnival on Santa Monica Boulevard.
When Orion turns precarious cartwheels one-handed across the northern summer sky
The students scurry home to menial holiday jobs, Christmas barbeques with Nana and Grandad
And evenings glazed over at a certain automated hospital soap populated by a rotation
Of the nation’s top talent on their way overseas, a scrubbed stale half hour punctuated
By pseudo-scientific dental diagrams in bubbly toothpaste ads recycled once monthly
While on a Tuesday evening stroll home from the Public Library’s Centenary gala I meet
No one but the twelve teenage boys playing touch in the middle of the vacant intersection
At George and Albany scattering for boy racers only once or twice an hour.
In the Gardens’ dappled autumn shade, I perch on a bench with a bar-coded book
While my lockless bicycle leans against the Gothic iron gate near the lawn where a
Hunting party of sputtering ducks surrounds picnickers and hydrangea bushes bloom
Funny beta fish flowers, nature’s pH paper: neutral pink and cold acid blue
Like the pure South Pacific of St. Clair Beach where no gleaming musclemen
Or gold-painted entrepreneurs throng the sand but only two boys, a dog, and a Frisbee
Blot the picture postcard view and the water’s freshly melted from an iceberg
Positioned offshore where there ought to be at least a couple of oil rigs stalking
The horizon and spitting black tar to be peeled off the soles of your feet.
Film Competition
November 21, 2008 at 2:15 pm | Posted in Centenary, City Library, Events, Free Event, Library_News | Leave a commentAs part of our centenary celebrations we encouraged Dunedin secondary school film-makers to enter our recent film competition.
Here’s a taste of what came in – enjoy.
Library Alive! Day
November 20, 2008 at 4:55 pm | Posted in Centenary, City Library, Events, Free Event, Library_News | Leave a commentThe Library’s normal peace and quiet takes a back seat for a day as we enjoy our birthday with fun and activities on every floor.
Tuesday 2 December is our birthday – but visitors to the Library get the presents!
Come and celebrate with us as we remember a century of growth and achievement, and look forward to another century of serving the people of Dunedin.
- Sunday 30 November 11.00am – 4.00pm
- City Library
- Free
How to Read Art – especially for children & adults
November 20, 2008 at 4:52 pm | Posted in Centenary, City Library, Events, Free Event, Library_News | Leave a commentFor the kids….
Gregory O’Brien writes great art books for young people. He says that when you are looking at paintings and other art you should take your time and even look at things you find a bit strange, because you might find out something new and you might even start to like what you find.
Come on one of our How to Read Art tours with Lynda Cullen and you could learn some new ways of reading art. (Children under 7 years need parental supervision). Phone 474 3249 for bookings.
- Saturday 22 November 1.30pm – 2.30pm
- Dunedin Public Art Gallery
- Free
For the adults…
Read, look, think. Truly, sometimes a work of art just gives you nothing. Then, says the art writer Justin Paton, you can just walk away. But it is advisable to study the object or image hard, just in case you have missed the one thing that makes it understandable to you.
Come on one of our How to Read Art tours with John Neumegen and you could learn some new ways to read art. Phone 474 3249 for bookings.
- Saturday 22 November 3.00pm – 4.00pm
- Dunedin Public Art Gallery
- Free
Poetry Prize-Giving
November 20, 2008 at 4:49 pm | Posted in Centenary, City Library, Events, Free Event | Leave a commentOur Centennial poetry competition asks local poets to write a poem referring in some way to Dunedin Public Library and its Centenary. Judge Emma Neale will award prizes and winning entries will be read.
The poetry competition has been generously supported by the Library and Information Association of New Zealand.
- Friday 28 November 7.30pm
- 4th Floor
- City Library
- Free
Pre-school Storytime – Special Birthday Edition
November 20, 2008 at 4:45 pm | Posted in Centenary, Children's, City Library, Events, Free Event, Library_News | Leave a commentPre-school storytime is a well-established tradition at Dunedin Public Libraries, and is a sociable, entertaining way for children to be introduced to the wonderful world of books, language and the imagination.
Tots and their caregivers are welcomed to half an hour of stories and activities, with an emphasis on birthdays, celebration and fun.
- Wednesday 26 November 10.30am
- Children’s Library
- Free
Glowing Letters (for children)
November 20, 2008 at 4:43 pm | Posted in Centenary, Children's, City Library, Events, Free Event, Library_News | Leave a commentCreate your own superbly decorated alphabet letter in the style of the manuscripts of earlier centuries.
In our Glowing Letters session you’ll use a variety of materials and techniques as you discover the colourful art of illumination.
RSVP to 474 3690 or email library@dcc.govt.nz
- Sunday 23 November 2.00pm
- 4th Floor
- City Library
- Free
City Library: Floor Talk with Tim Heath
November 13, 2008 at 1:22 pm | Posted in Centenary, City Library, Events, Free Event, Library_News | Leave a commentThe City Library, opened in 1981, is both loved and loathed for its uncompromising, distinctive style.
Tim Heath, one of the building’s architects, introduces and explains its design and details.
- Sunday 23 November 2.00pm
- Starts Ground Floor
- City Library
- Free
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