This month Tea Tree Gully Library farewells Linda, our latest Work Experience student, who deserves a big thanks for her hard work and enthusiasm.

The lovely Linda, our latest work experience student at the Library.

During her time here, Linda authored a post for the blog – it seems she’s a big fan of libraries, including the Tea Tree Gully Library!

In Linda’s words:
The first impression I took away from Tea Tree Gully Library is the strong commitment staff bring to ensuring visitors to the library have what they need and enjoy their experience in the library. Fostering an environment where people feel welcome, valued and important is obviously core business in this library.

One of the areas where the library is preparing a fertile ground for the readers and learners of the future is their children’s program. The Storytime, Toddler Time and Baby Bounce sessions in the library are hugely popular. Parents and children arrive well before the session times and are clearly excited to be there. The children love being in the library and these regular visits to the library encourage a confident attitude to reading and the development of important relationships with library staff.

One of my favourites:
One of my current favourites for reading aloud with younger readers is “I’m a Dirty Dinosaur” written by Adelaide author Janeen Brian.

The illustrator, Ann James, used mud from the dam near her home to create the fabulous illustrations for this book. This video shows her creativity at work.

The cheeky little dinosaur in this story reminds me of people I know and the rhyming text leads the reader through an action-packed journey filled with the joys of stomping, splashing, sliding and rolling in glorious mud. This book is a real joy to read aloud and younger listeners can’t help but join in by chanting the refrains and miming the actions.

Children and adults alike will relate to the fun that just oozes from this book. “I’m a Dirty Dinosaur” has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year Award in the Early Childhood category.

Libraries make our lives better:
Libraries enrich our lives in so many ways, and Tea Tree Gully Library is a fine example of this.

It’s not just the wide range of resources and programs available that makes Tea Tree Gully Library such an important part of life for the local community. The friendly library team consistently foster a positive and welcoming atmosphere that reaches out to all. Thank you for the time and efforts devoted to ensuring I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and gained a greater understanding of the role of librarians in public libraries.

Ed’s note:
We’d also like to say a big thank you for bringing in two amazing cakes today to celebrate and share with staff. You’re the best Linda!

The amazing Fig Cake Linda brought in to share!

And then there was the lemon and ricotta…