Author Archives: bgw

Happiness is a clean carpet.

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clean library carpet

The lovely clean carpet in the Children's Storytime area. But how long will it last?

Borrowers leaving the Library as we closed yesterday would have noticed staff hurriedly stacking chairs, moving tables, and clearing the entire space of its furniture. The disruption was to make way for the carpet to be cleaned overnight. The Library averages more than 1,000 borrowers per day, and over time their millions of footsteps take a serious toll on our carpets! Not to mention coffee spills in the cafe and relaxed reading areas, and the inevitable stains left after the Baby-Bounce, Toddler Time and Storytime sessions that we hold many times each week.

Meanwhile, if you want sound advice on removing stubborn stains in your own home, can we suggest the books of domestic cleaner extraordinaire Shannon Lush. But for the time being we’re a bit over moving furniture.

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency

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Fan’s of Alexander McCall-Smith’s unique and endearing novels about the “only lady private detective in the whole of Botswana” will be pleased to see that ABC1 is now screening a TV Series based on the books. But as we often say in Library-land, “Why watch the movies when you can read the books?”, as many of these titles and others by McCall-Smith are available from Tea Tree Gully Library! If nothing else, it is a perfect time to revisit these modern classics.

Overdue Library books? Go straight to jail!

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According to a recent newspaper article an Iowa man was jailed for 10 days for failing to return $770 worth of items to his local library. Luckily, here at Tea Tree Gully Library we have a far more relaxed approach to late fees! Since July 1st 2011 we only issue a single $2.50 fee per overdue notice that we send you (no matter how many items are listed on that notice). Having said that, lost or damaged items still need to be paid for or replaced with brand new substitutes. Importantly, items incur fees once they are 2 weeks late and we no longer send reminder notices, so it is essential to keep your Check-Out receipt or check your account online. And even if you do collect a late fee, you must admit that $2.50 is better than a stint in gaol!

A feast for the eyes!

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Library Folk are always suckers for photos of beautiful Libraries, but this 360 degree 40 gigapixel photo of Strahov Library is one of the best we’ve seen. Brought to you by the awesome “360 Cities” website, the interactive photo is endlessly fascinating, as you can use the on-screen controls to navigate the panorama.

To view the photo click on the link below. Its worth it!

http://www.360cities.net/gigapixel/strahov-library.html

A busy start to the New Year

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Please be kind to Library staff if they are looking a bit bedraggled! Recovering from the New Year’s break has been made all the more difficult by our conscientious patrons who returned more than 7,000 items on the first day of the year. At 9am, 4th January 2011, staff were greeted by the following sight in the after-hours returns chute …. and it made for one of our busiest days yet.

Have you ever wondered what a pile of several hundred books looks like?

The Magic Million

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In 2010 thbookse Library lent out more than one million items … 1,134,217 to be precise. Of these we checked out 230,000 Adult Fiction novels, 220,000 DVDs, 165,000 Adult Non-Fiction books, 76,000 magazines and 21,000 graphic novels.

And then 1,133,780 items were returned to us … all of which had to be placed back in the right spot on the shelf.  Over a quarter of a million items (266,650) came back late.

And yet, we don’t always have the item you want when you visit us. And so, patrons placed 106,234 reservations/holds on books that were already checked out and we also ordered approx 2,500 InterLibrary Loans from other libraries … and supplied about the same number.

The Spirit of Christmas

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One very happy Library Officer with some Amnesty Donations.

Why is the person in this photo so happy? Because the spirit of Christmas is alive and well! The Library Amnesty 2010 is in full swing and we’ve had over 250 items donated to the Tea Tree Gully Salvation Army.

So, if you would like to have your Late Fees or Damaged Item Fees waived then you can do so before 14th January 2011. (For every $5 that you owe the Library, one non-perishable food-stuff or unwrapped personal grooming item must be donated).

Donations are not just for those with late fees however … we’ll take them regardless.

Our most popular item.

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Black Hawk Down DVD CoverWe were recently fossicking around in the back-end of our Library System and discovered the identity of the Library’s most popular item. It happens to be a DVD copy of Black Hawk Down and it has been borrowed a whopping 367 times! That is not to say that some very popular books and DVD’s with multiple items haven’t been borrowed twice this much, but this individual copy of Black Hawk Down is our hardest working item.

Remarkable in a way, that a $35 DVD has been reused 367 times … that is quite an investment. It’s a good movie too!

Zombies in the Library

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Earlier this year a small group of staff from Tea Tree Gully and other Libraries volunteered their after-hours time towards the creation of a calendar, entitled “Zombies in the Library.” Coordinated through the South Australian Library & Information Network (SALIN), the project created a professional development and networking opportunity with a difference!

Shot entirely out-of-hours, the calendar aimed to celebrate libraries in a completely new way, through addressing topics as the role of the Zombie at the Information Desk, the frustrations faced when the Undead hog the photocopier, and for cataloguers, poses the eternal question: Dewey Number 299.675 or 398.21? You might recognise some of the faces next time you pay us a visit!

The calendar can be previewed here:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/salin/calendars/6062484-15-zombies-in-the-library

Zombie hand reaching up from a pile of books.

The Zombrarians are rising!

A snapshot of the Library for 2009.

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In 2009

… the Library welcomed 399,176 people through the door …
… including 5,154 new borrowers.

We checked out 1,168,694 items …
… and checked-in (and reshelved) 1,171,228 items.

Patrons placed 108,702 reservations/holds.

Our cataloguers added 27,892 new items to the collection …
… and we deleted 26,118 old, warn out and damaged ones.

We ordered approx 2,500 InterLibrary Loans from other libraries …

… and 23,835 people attended Library Programs.

Yep, that felt like a really busy year … take a deep breath though, because its all about to start once again.