Want to know what's been happening at your library? Library news has the scoop on events, prize winners and what's new at Auckland City Libraries.
For upcoming events and regular activities see our events pages.
Auckland City Libraries media releases are published on the Auckland City website.
Active Movement a runaway success
Regular free sessions of Active Movement began at ten Auckland City libraries in February. The sessions now have an enthusiastic following, attracting upwards of 50 parents and caregivers with their babies at most sessions.
Active Movement is a Sport and Recreation NZ (SPARC) initiative which aims to provide positive movement experiences for pre-schoolers, to stimulate both the brain and the body.
Sessions are now held weekly at many libraries, fortnightly at others. While the activities are aimed at children under two years of age, older pre-schoolers are also welcome to attend and will benefit from the free sessions.
Pasifika at Libraries
Last month the city celebrated Pasifika. As always, our libraries hosted a variety of community events.
Pacific outreach librarian Leitu Tufuga says the month of festivities was a huge success.
“We started with our annual Celebrate Pasifika Storytelling event on Wednesday, 5 March at the Central library. This year’s guests included author Andrew Fiu (Purple Heart), children’s author Tulia Thompson (Josefa and the Vu), Pasifika Poets, Rev Mua Strickson-Pua, Doug Poole, Serie Barford and Kila Kokonut Krew Entertainment. NiuFM’s Sela & Te’eva hosted the event.
“We also presented an original collection of children’s Pasifika stories. We selected 30 stories written and illustrated by children themselves. The theme of the collection was ‘festivities that express their Pacific Island culture and their up-bringing in New Zealand, Aotearoa’.
“This was the first year we’ve done this project and something we would like to continue to expand as an annual contribution to Pasifika.
“We also had special Pasifika storytimes at our community libraries throughout March and songs and stories presented by special friends and Pacific staff at Auckland City Libraries.
“Glen Innes Library celebrated by having free lei-making workshops and performances. They were all made possible by generous support from local community sponsors.”
What is coming up?
The library is in the process of having the children’s Pasifika stories collection bound into a book. And they’re beginning planning for next year’s Pasifika exciting events at Auckland City Libraries.
Libraries support New Zealand Post Book Awards 2008
Libraries throughout the country are taking part in these annual awards 12 - 21 May, aimed at encouraging children to read and enjoy books.
Auckland City Libraries are organising a wide range of events including a visit to several local schools where awards finalist Brigid Lowry will talk to teens about her book Tomorrow all will be beautiful.
Young readers are already working their way happily through the Read-the-Lot list of books that have reached the finals of the New Zealand Post Book Awards. These lists are available from libraries and schools.
Panmure Community Library plans a big interactive celebration on Wednesday 14 May at 10am. Also during the festival, libraries will set up Spot-the-Kiwi competitions in libraries and bookstores, invite young people to contribute to Imagination trees, and run special storytimes for preschoolers. Ask at your local library for programmes.
Browsing music in the basement
As part of New Zealand Music Month celebrations in May, Central City Library will offer customers a rare opportunity - browsing the sheet music collections in the basement.
The library's collection of sheet music is so comprehensive, a large part of it is stored in the basement at the Lorne Street Library.
Staff will escort people to the 'stack' for a booked half-hour, where they can discover wonderful musical treasures and borrow any scores of interest.
Bookings essential, phone 09 307 7761 or book online.
Filipino book collection moved to Central City Library
About 70 books in Tagalog (Filipino) have this month been transferred from Otahuhu Community Library to the Central City Library.
The shift was prompted by analysis of the latest census data which shows 132 Filipino speakers in the central city area - more than in Otahuhu.
The collection is primarily popular fiction, with some non-fiction and childrens' titles too.
Library use increases
4 April: Auckland City Libraries have seen an increase in use during the past three months, going against the trend of visitor numbers falling over summer.
The high visitor numbers are attributed to increases in opening hours, free internet access and improved collections across all libraries.
To date there have been over 2,500,000 walk-in visits and more than 3,400,000 items issued across Auckland City Council’s 17 libraries this financial year (July 2007 to June 2008).
This compares to 2,200,000 walk-in visits and 3,300,000 items issued for the same period last financial year.
Library events are also proving popular, with the Real Gold exhibition of collection treasures attracting a record attendance of over 9500 people to the Central City Library.
Chairperson of the Community Services Committee, Councillor Paul Goldsmith, says these figures demonstrate that libraries are still continuing to enrich Aucklanders’ quality of life through reading, learning and discovering information.
“The environment that Auckland City Libraries is providing its customers is changing rapidly. We are constantly looking for new opportunities to engage and connect with the community, and these results are positive,” says Mr Goldsmith.
Over the next three months, Auckland City Libraries will continue to develop the services it provides, with a number of initiatives currently underway.
These include digitisation of Chinese newspapers, an updated library website, Click and Learn programmes in English, Mandarin and Hindi, and the Overdrive Downloadable Audio service, which provides a range of books in audio format for direct download by customers.
Central City Library evacuated
April 3: A small fire in the air-conditioning system at the Central City Library caused the evacuation and closure of the library at 5pm.
The fire was confined to the air conditioning system and no collections were damaged.
For any further information, contact Alison Bremner, 09 377 0209.
Tagalog language collection
31 March: The Tagalog language collection has moved from Otahuhu Community Library and can now be found at Central City Library.
Pinball Lanterns down for maintenance
25 March: The pinball lantern artwork that usually resides in the lantern space of Real café has been removed so that it can be repaired. As yet we do not have a date when the work will be returned.
New e-newsletter
Pataka Korero is the new Te Rōpu Ratonga Māori e-newsletter launching in April. It will provide you and your whanau with a link to highlights from Auckland City Libraries Māori collections and to events and projects happening in the community. The theme for the inaugural edition is the 30th anniversary of the Bastion Point occupation. Inside Pataka Korero you'll find information relating to the upcoming Libraries exhibition "Bastion Point – Reconciliation" as well as interesting links to the resources we have available here. Whakarau mai ki tenei kaupapa - sign up to Pataka Korero now!
Easter Hours
Central City Library and Community Libraries
Friday 21 March: closed
Saturday 22 March: open usual hours.
Sunday 23 March: closed
Monday 24 March: closed
Mobile Library
Friday 21 March: will not run
Monday 24 March: will not run
System maintenance
16 February: Our online catalogue will be unavailable Saturday February 16 between 5.30pm and 6.30pm for urgent maintenance.
System maintenance
8 February: Our online catalogue will be unavailable Saturday February 9 between 5.30pm and 6.30pm for urgent maintenance.
Hot Summer Cool Books
7 February: Auckland City Libraries' free summer reading programme is now finished. We had more than 1,000 young people taking part, most of whom completed the programme successfully, there were plenty of names in the hat when the draw was made for eight iPod Shuffles.
Congratulations to the winners:
- Rosemary Monroe - Glen Innes Community Library
- Daiysun Ravindran - Remuera Community Library
- Max Ferguson - Epsom Community Library
- Miranda Hing - Panmure Community Library
- Baileigh Togiatau - Onehunga Community Library
- Aditya Khandrika - Mt Roskill Community Library
- Veronica Floka - St Heliers Community Library
- Isabella Finan-Jenkins - Mt Albert Community Library
Watch for the next Hot Summer Cool Books early December, 2008. It is free, and open to children aged between 5 and 12 years. Simply register at any Auckland City Council library when registrations open again next summer, then report in once a week on what you are reading
Waitangi Day: All of our libraries are closed on Waitangi Day, February 6.
Flood closes Central City Library
25 January: A burst pipe in the plant room forced the closure of Central City Library in Lorne Street on Thursday, 24 January. Read more about the flood.
Pinball Lanterns a new local landmark
 An intriguing new artwork is lighting up real cafe on Central City Library's ground floor, on the corner of Wellesley and Lorne streets.
The Pinball Lanterns, created by artist Eddie Clemens, consists of three hanging lanterns with 'pinballs' that run within their frames.
Eddie's design for a kinetic light installation was chosen from more than 60 proposals entered in a competition run by Auckland City Libraries in 2006, to to develop an artwork for the newly completed glass-walled extension to the café. He describes the work as a cross between a Chinese capsule lantern and a pinball machine. The lanterns are attention grabbers at the cafe with eyes drawn to the mini light shows, the loud clack of the mechanical 'flippers' and scudding sound of the pinballs themselves.
Hokianga rocks competition
18 December: Thank you so much to everyone that entered we appreciate how much work has been put in and have enjoyed reading the wonderful entries.
Melissa Leef from Te Kura Taumata o Panguru, Hokianga, who has won the 5-6 years Hokianga Rocks artwork section.
Delan Li from Cornwall Park District School your English language poem titled “Hokianga” is the winning entry for the 7-12 age group.
Rangimārie Pōmare from Auckland Girls Grammar School for your winning entry “Ko te kāinga te puna mā te tinana me te wairua e whakangā” taking out the 13–18 age group.
Hot Summer Cool Books
Register now at your local Auckland City Library for Hot Summer, Cool Books, a free and fun holiday reading programme for young people aged 5 to 12 years.
It is really easy to get started, just sign up and get your Hot Summer Cool Books passport - then begin reading. You have till 20 January 2008 to make four report-ins to the library to get your passport stamped and chat about your reading.
There are regular prize draws and a BIG draw in the final week, when we will be giving away eight iPod Shuffles. To round it all off, prize giving parties will be held in parks, with goodies and fun for all who have taken part in the programme.
Winners of the fast lane, self-check and win promotion
10 December : Congratulations to the following people who used our new self check units and won.
Draw 1: Winner of a $250 travel voucher - Lina Yuan (Mt Roskill Community Library)
Draw 2: Winner of a $250 travel voucher - Maya Field (Grey Lynn Community Library)
Draw 3: Winner of a $250 travel voucher - Christopher Armitage (Blockhouse Bay Community Library)
Draw 4: Winner of the 3M X20 Digital Projector - Dorothy (Waiheke Community Library)
Server maintenance
Saturday 1 December 5:30pm - Sunday 2 December 11am
Due to maintenance on our servers, the telephone renewal service and online catalogue will be unavailable from 5:30pm December 1 until midnight. Access will be restored after that time but the telephone renewal service may be intermittent until the full maintenance procedure is completed by 11am Sunday 2 December. If you are trying to renew books on Sunday morning please try again about 10 minutes later if you cannot get through on the first attempt.
Celebrating Whanau Trees
Friday 7 December - Sunday 6 January 2008
Schools around Auckland City have participated in designing and creating decorations for their very own tree that will be displayed throughout the school holidays in the Aotea Centre Foyers - the Celebrating Whanau trees 2007. The Central City Library previews three trees from 26 November.
Aotea Centre Foyers, THE EDGE®
FREE
Armageddon
8 November: The winner of our inaugural Armageddon Expo and Auckland City Libraries short story competition was Stephen Saville with the story, Roger Super Hero.
Queen - Life in Pictures winners
5 November: The following people visited the Queen - Life in Pictures photo exhibition and have each won a double pass to We Will Rock You. Congratulations.
Nardia Hutt - Onehunga
Tina Whittaker - Te Atatu South
Robert Eruera - Papatoetoe
Karen Bell - Royal Heights
Amanda Taylor - St Heliers
Life in Pictures
24 October: A stunning exhibition of 66 historic photos offering a rare and intimate peek into the life of rock band Queen hits Auckland for a limited time in late October and early November. From Tuesday 23 October to Sunday 4 November, Queen – Life In Pictures will be on display on Level 1 and 2 (Heritage Floor) of the Central City Library.
Labour Day
15 October: All of our libraries are closed on Monday 22 October - normal hours resume Tuesday 23 October
Fast lane for issues
27 September: State-of-the-art self check units (SCUs) are being installed progressively at all Auckland City Libraries throughout October. The units will be operational from the time they are installed and library customers encouraged to start ‘self-checking’ right away. Benefits of using the clever new SCUs include that they de-sensitise items more reliably, offer instructions in up to four different languages, and because you scan and remove the card rather than insert it in the machine, there is less chance of leaving it behind. So introduce yourself to the new SCU when it arrives in your library; it very easy to use and our librarians will be on hand to help too if required. We plan a big promotion once all libraries have their SCUs, starting 1 November with a ‘get in the fast lane’ lucky draw offering great prizes to all SCU users.
Lock-in success at Central City Library
26 September: Another successful ‘Library Lock-In’ was held at Central City Library on Friday 21 September with more than 40 amateur genealogists taking over the second floor research resources overnight. Organised by family history librarian Karen Kalopulu, this annual event is so popular it books out within days of registrations opening. For people researching a family history, the opportunity to immerse themselves in the records and resources at Central for an uninterrupted 12 hours is not to be missed. These resources include old newspapers, immigration records, electoral rolls, births, deaths and marriages indexes and the ancestry library-edition database. Do you wish you too could have stayed on overnight at the library, tracking your family tree? Then make a note for 2008, that registrations open early June.
Catalogue and eresource server maintenance
12 September: Our online catalogue and eresources will be unavailable, from 5:30pm on Saturday 15 September until the morning of Sunday 16 September, for important maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Mobile Library
4 September: Due to urgent repairs the Mobile Library will be off the road until Thursday 13 September. If you have any questions and require requested items to be sent to a library instead please call (09) 373 6294. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
Sunday opening
27 August: A further three libraries - Blockhouse Bay, Onehunga and Remuera - will be open Sunday afternoons from later this month. They join Mt Albert, Mt Roskill, Panmure and St Helier libraries in opening from noon to 4pm on Sundays. All three libraries will hold a family fun day on Sunday 23 September to celebrate the start of the new hours.
Library closures
9 August: Mt Albert Community Library and Panmure Community Library are installing new service counters and will be closed over the following days.
Mt Albert: closed Sunday 26 August, Monday 27 August, Tuesday 28 August
During this time your nearest libraries are Mt Roskill and Pt Chevalier.
Panmure: closed Monday 20 August and Tuesday 21 August
During this time your nearest libraries are Glen Innes and Otahuhu.
Free entry to Auckland Research Centre
3 July: Auckland City Libraries now offers free entry to the Auckland Research Centre for non-members. With increasing customer demand and interest in family and local history, free entry to the Auckland Research Centre is part of Auckland City Libraries’ ongoing commitment to reduce barriers to information, and to help people connect and engage with their heritage.
The Auckland Research Centre is located on level 2 at the Central City Library.
 Bollywood comes to Mt Albert!
8 June: Mt Albert Community Library has a great selection of 180 new and popular Bollywood DVDs. You can borrow these for just $5 each per week. New and popular titles include the Johny Lever DVDs, Salaam/Namaste and Dil to Pagal Hai.
Beware email scam
9 May: An email is currently circulating from a person or persons using the name Jason Adams, Co-Ordinator IT Department at Auckland Library. The email is being forwarded from the address hansfriterman@hotmail.com. The email asks for your personal details including library card number, date of birth, contact details and bank account number in order to go into a draw for $1500. Please note that this is a scam email and has not been issued from Auckland City Libraries. Under no circumstances reply to this email with any details.
 Who's afraid of a bookclub?
4 May: The Central City Library is starting its very own book club! If you'd like to join, call us on 307 7764.
FREE internet is here!
From Thursday 26 April, free internet is available at all 17 Auckland City Libraries' branches.
The free internet service will allow people to freely access information and knowledge, create opportunities for communities of interest to engage online, and enable greater participation in online e-government and e-democracy resources.
Read the media release for more details.
The great bargain book sale!
18 April: Central, Avondale, Leys Institute, Mt Albert, Panmure and Pt Chevalier are participating in a book sale that runs from 16 to 29 April. Central will also be selling children's 'nostalgia fiction'. Prices are as low as 20 cents for magazines and 50 cents for some books - So come in and grab yourself a bargain!
Autumn Take 5 at Pt Chevalier Community Library!
Simply take out 5 items between 16 April and 13 May at Pt Chevalier Community Library and be in to win a hamper of goodies!
Longer Central City Library hours meet customer demand
Customers will soon be able to enjoy the services and resources of the Central City Library for longer starting from 1 April.The library will open half an hour earlier on weekdays (9am) Monday to Friday, and two hours earlier (10am) Sundays.
Free internet coming soon!
Watch this space for more details.
Chinese lantern competition winners!
 Congratulations to the below winners:
1st prize for under 13 - Daniel Sik who won a $50 Whitcoulls voucher
2nd prize for under 13 - Alex Lee who won a $30 Whitcoulls voucher
3rd Prize for under 13 - Kerry Smith who won a $20 Whitcoulls voucher
Gayoung OH and Jang Ho OH each won a $10 voucher in the under 13 as highly recommended entries
The over 13 winners Peter Tau and Tracy Chen each won a $30 voucher.
Weta sculpture stolen from Epsom
 A much-admired public artwork located in the grounds of Epsom Community Library has been reported stolen. A library customer discovered the theft of the weta sculpture by artist Jonathan Campbell on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 January at 3.30pm. The date and time of the actual theft is unknown. Both library staff and customers are upset and angry about the theft. The sculpture was located on a pillar outside the library where it has been situated since 1997. It is 1500mm in length from front to back foot and made from bronze. Police are currently investigating.
A new space at the Central City Library
 In January 2007, the Central City Library will be 290 square metres bigger, due to the development of previously unused balcony on the first floor. The space will be a welcome addition to the many people who surge through the building looking for a quiet place to study, research or immerse themselves in our fantastic collections. In the New Year, we will move collections on the first floor to take advantage of the small amount of extra space created by moving the majority of our study areas into the balcony.
Borrow magazines and language courses longer over Xmas
You can now borrow magazines and language courses for 31 days for the holidays. The charge for renting language courses is still $2.00.
Rutland Street closure extended
There has been a two week extension to the temporary Central City Library access as part of the Queen Street Upgrade. The entrance to Rutland Street (between Wakefield and Lorne Street) is closed to vehicles from 6am Friday 17 November and will reopen for vehicles from 5pm Friday 20 December. Alternative entrance: Vehicle access to this area will be via the northbound slip road off Mayoral Drive coming onto Lorne Street. To exit, vehicles can continue down Lorne Street and join Wellesley Street.
Computer classes in Mandarin at Mt Albert
Mt Albert Community Library has started offering computer classes in Mandarin. The classes teach basic mouse, keyboard skills and introduce students to the library catalogue, online newspapers and Dragonsource database which is an online database of Chinese magazines. The idea for the classes began after a visit by Mt Albert Library staff to a local Chinese community group who expressed an interest in accessing online resources in Chinese. The classes have proved extremely popular with on going enrolments via word of mouth from patrons who have completed the course.
If you would like to join a class, please contact the library phone (09) 374 1316 or by email
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