Category Archives: Online resources

Free mags to read in Spring

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Spring is here, it’s time to get out in the garden, get growing and get crafty. There are a number of magazines relating to gardening and crafts that you can access for free online via the library.

gardening australia coverABC Gardening Australia is our nation’s number one monthly gardening resource, relating back to the popular TV program. The September edition is a bulb special – to lift or not to lift, that is the question! Experts also discuss the top 10 vegies to plant, how to lay turf, grow tasty tomatoes and gorgeous grevilleas.

Backyard and Garden Design Ideas is a good one to read if you are planning a backyard makeover. You can access back issues of this and other magazines so you are sure to find projects and ideas that will suit your needs.

good orgWhen are you ready to get your hands dirty, Good Organic Gardening is an earthy read, all about productive gardening, from seed to table. Find out what to plant when, explore new plant varieties, even learn about pesky pests and useful gardening tools.

 

homespunAustralian Homespun is a local craft magazine covering quiliting, knitting, sewing and all things stitching that come complete with patterns. A great read for some homegrown time with your sewing machine or needles.

 

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You can read all these magazines using Zinio, via the Online Resources page on our website.

 

There are also gardening magazines in hard copy to borrow, of course, including Better Homes and Gardens, Your Garden, Australian House and Garden.

Love magazines and documentaries? Read on…

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As a member of Tea Tree Gully Library you have 24/7 access to a variety of online resources, for both learning and leisure. All you need is your library card number and PIN.

A couple of really exciting resources the library subscribes to are; Zinio which allows you to download and read current, popular magazines and Beamafilm featuring streaming video of top quality Australian and overseas documentaries. Why pay for these things when you can get them free from the Library!

Zinio magazines onlineOur Zinio magazine collection covers a wide range of topics from entertainment, lifestyle, food and travel to sport, fitness, craft and technology. We’ve added new titles such as donna hay magazine, delicious, National Geographic, Inside Sport and Australian Country Style which are all available for you each month to download and read on your PC, tablet or smartphone.

beama
If you enjoy watching quality films and documentaries, Beamafilm is a resource you will love. There are many titles to choose from and new content is added regularly. Beamafilm’s catalogue has something for everyone with documentaries from Australia and around the world. Try it out today!

To access these fantastic resources and many more, visit the Online Resources page on our website, http://www.teatreegully.sa.gov.au/onlineresources.
Select your resource, login with your library barcode and PIN, select Tea Tree Gully Library and enjoy!

We are always happy to show you our full range of resources, so please ask us about them next time you’re in the Library.

Forwardit – learn all about using the Internet!

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The SA Government has created a great website for anyone who would like to learn how to use the Internet safely, securely and at their own pace.
Whether you’re a complete beginner, have dabbled a little bit or have some experience and are keen to learn more,  FowardIT will assist you to develop  the skills you need.

The site has three main sections with many self paced sessions for you to work through, featuring helpful videos and graphics to make learning easy and interesting.
The Basics
Features sessions on getting started on the Internet, Email, Online Safety, Facebook, Skype, how to use your tablet, even Online Dating, plus lots more.
For Employees
This section helps with skills required in today’s workplace such as basic word processing and spreadsheets, document management, creating presentations and Internet searching.
For Small Business
Assistance for small business with eCommerce, setting up a PayPal account, social media for small business, website development, as well as tools such as inventory and teleconferencing.

There really is something for everyone, so take a look and learn some new skills and remember to refer your friends and family to the site too.

Learning a language?

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If your answer is yes, then take a look at our new online resource Transparent Language Online. You can learn new languages quickly, easily, and effectively with this program, which is packed full of pronunciation, speech, grammar, writing and vocabulary building lessons for over 80 languages, including 17 ESL courses.
Just go to our website, login with your library barcode and click Logon to Transparent Language Online.

We’d love to hear what you think!

 

We’re on Facebook!

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The Library finally has a Facebook page!

By ‘Liking’ us you can keep up to date on all the Library happenings, events, new resources and other stuff we feel like posting. Click the button to get to our Facebook Page.

Our Off the Shelf Blog will also stream on our Facebook page so you can keep track of us here or there!

“One World, Many Stories”

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City of Tea Tree Gully Library's Book Week 2011 display

The City of Tea Tree Gully Library celebrated Book Week last week, 20th-26th August!
What is Book Week? Founded by the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 1945, Book Week is a volunteer run, not-for-profit organisation.

 

Book Week is the longest running children’s festival in Australia, celebrating its 65th birthday in 2010.
Each year, schools and public libraries from all over Australia spend Book Week celebrating books, especially those by Australian authors and illustrators.

To help celebrate Book Week this year, the City of Tea Tree Gully Library’s Children’s and Youth team presented workshops to various school groups based on this year’s theme, ‘One World, Many Stories’.
The workshops highlighted the ways in which cultural differences can be expressed and celebrated through literature.

“Big Rain Coming” by Katrina Germein, “Immi” by Karin Littlewood and “Anna Hibiscus’ Song” by Lauren Tobia Atinuke were just a few of the beautiful books read aloud to local primary school students, ranging from Reception to Year 7. Students were also delighted to view several of the books nominated for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2011 Awards.
In addition, students actively participated in singing rhymes, making a fun craft, and taking a tour around the library.
To view the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2011 Book of the Year shortlist, go to http://cbca.org.au/shortlist_2011.htm or take a look at the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s 2011 Book of the Year Winners, http://cbca.org.au/winners2011.htm

See a ‘One World, Many Stories’ Book Week book you like? All of this year’s nominees are available at the City of Tea Tree Gully Library.

Reading about reading (and bookshops)

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Most book lovers in Australia would be aware of the closing of Borders Book stores and Angus and Robertson stores. I have read a number of articles in various newspapers and magazines about the current state of the bookselling and publishing industries, and the fear that the book industry is facing its worst threat yet, with online book sales and ebooks taking over.

One of the most balanced articles on this topic was in the Weekend Australian recently, discussing the reasons behind the book store closures, and the positive side of the rise of Australian online bookstores. I also really enjoyed a piece in Bookseller and Publisher (see page 15), with author Max Barry describing how ebooks help you find your next good read and how the paper book and ebook can co-exist. Philip Adams also had a point in a recent column, that we love the old ways as well as the new. What do you think? Will the internet and ebooks be the death of the book (and libraries)?

The way of the future?

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Most of you have probably heard of two-dimensional (2D) barcodes. The regular 1D barcodes, like you find on supermarket items can only record 20 characters, usually numbers that correspond to a record in a database to provide further information. 2D barcodes can record up to 7089 characters and thus can record much more information in themselves generally negating the need for an outside database to access.  They are becoming more popular as ways to describe web addresses and also to provide  brief biographies of people, businesses and services. Any smart phone has an application either built-in or readily available that can scan these barcodes. 

This is the 2D barcode for the City of Tea Tree Gully Council's website

So what happens when you turn a book into 2D barcodes?
Well it looks like this page does: This is a 2D barcode record of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Probably not the easiest way to read this book, but it’s a great demonstration of the technology.

Reading a book using a smart phone and 2D barcodes

Confused about technology?

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ABC Technology Explained

 

Don’t know your iPad from your iView?

Well help is at hand from the ABC via the new Technology Explained page on their website.

 

Explanations and information about the digital world including topics such as streaming vs downloading, mobile phone technology, Facebook and Twitter, as well as podcasting and digital TV plus much more are all there for your demystification!

Aussie Etiquette

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I was looking through the oft first resource for high school students, Wikipedia*, and came across a series of pages devoted to etiquette in particular countries. Browsing the Australian and New Zealand pages, it led me to realise that generally Aussies are pretty polite folk. Did you know than on the whole, Aussies thank the bus driver when exiting a bus, but most other nationalities do not? And flashing your headlights to warn oncoming drivers of speed cameras or road hazards is a uniquely Aussie thing too. Wikipedia certainly is becoming the real life ‘Encyclopaedia Galactica.’

The library also has several resources on etiquette in general, and etiquette when travelling.

*Due to Wikipedia’s user generated content, it’s not actually accepted as a reliable source for most study.