Library News

It’s November, my favourite month of the year (no gold stars for guessing why!).  The only downside is that it signifies that Christmas is not far away.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas but lack of organisation and planning leave me unprepared and frantic on the 24^th of December.  

This year will probably be no different.  The children’s Christmas books will be set free into the library on 2^nd December, however if you do want them earlier then please ask your friendly neighbourhood librarian who will hoick them out for you.  Hoick is a great word expressing such a lot – it comes from ‘hike’ and seems to originate in the early 1800s.  

We love words in the library and usually have a Daily Word.  As I write this today’s word is Caterwaul – another great descriptive word, almost onomatopoeic  – it did start its life as a description of a cat’s wailing.  Still, I digress.  

Library news – I suspect many of you will want news of the move.  I suggest keeping an eye on the Waihinga Centre Facebook site as there are some stunning photos there taken recently.  I myself check it to see what is happening.   There will, no doubt, be something in this month’s Star which will be much more informative than anything I can tell you.  

Of interest to all will be the opening hours for Christmas.  Our hallowed leader is being kind to us this year and we will be closed from midday on Saturday 22^nd December, reopening on Thursday 3^rd January at 9.30.  I suggest you stock up for those lazy, sunny days with lots of books, magazines or DVDs (in case of rain).  If you are travelling then it is an idea to stock up on the sale books and then you can leave them suggestively lying about for others to read when you have finished with them.  It also means less baggage on the return trip although it does means you can go shopping to fill up that space previously taken by books – one always needs more shoes.  Our sale books are so cheap (50c paperback, $1 hardback) that you can afford to take more than you think you need.  

The Summer Reading Programme for children aged 2 to 14 will be kicking off early in December.  This is a proven way to keep up the reading level during the long holiday break.  We only have 100 spaces so pop your child’s name down as soon as you can.  The lovely Ali Lintern is running it this year and as she ran the very first one in Martinborough Library many years ago, she is really on top of it.  

Hopefully we will also be able to run some craft/activity sessions as well but that will be dependent on where we are and what is happening.  We will keep you updated on our Facebook site with news of the move and activities.  

However meanwhile you can also see some of the new books which are coming out.  Our Facebook page has 472 followers with the most popular postings being funny cartoons.  We still have a way to go to beat the 45,100 views we got for the librarians Game of Tomes photo.   I have started recording a series of short readings from some of my favourite authors.  These are on the Facebook page so feel free to have a look.  I am hoping to persuade staff and customers to do the same, so if you would like to do a short video reading aloud passages from your favourite books please ask me.  

Finally a reminder that Book Club takes place on the second Friday of the month at 10am and Book Babies is on Tuesdays also at 10am.  See you soon and enjoy November.