Palmerston North City Library May 2024 news

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Kia ora! Welcome to the May newsletter from Palmerston North City Library.

The Library computer system is moving to a new server. To do this, the system will be down from 8pm on Wednesday 15 May, through all day Thursday 16 May. All going well, the system will be back up on Friday 17 May.

This means:

Most of Central Library will be closed on May 16, as there's no good way to handle the volume of issues at that location. Ground Floor and Mezzanine Floor will be open for computer use, and for activities which were already planned for that day,

Community Libraries will be open on May 16, but will only be able to issue items using a backup system. Please be patient with staff as they do their best with limited means!

It also means that during the downtime:
- You can expect all digital resources including Libby, Kanopy, Press Reader, etc. to be unavailable
- The Library catalogue and your library account will be unavailable
- The Library app will be unavailable

Returns bins are open as normal - yay!

Updates will be posted on the City Library website.

The engaging and encyclopaedic Jacob from MAVtech is giving a talk on May 28 about music and recordings in Aotearoa, as part of New Zealand Music Month. Find out about the quirkiest choir in history, explore the stories behind the early radio stations which brought New Zealand music to air- and find out just how difficult being a star singer was in the 1890s.

Jacob has also curated an exhibition of recording equipment for Music Month. This will be on display in the Sound & Vision Zone on the Mezzanine Floor of the Central Library. MAVtech displays always feature fascinating and quirky pieces of NZ history, so make sure you don’t miss that.

City Library is proud to present a melodious programme to help you celebrate NZ Music Month. Here are some of the other things on offer.

Palmy Vinyl Club returns, with DJ Antsman coming in to play some of his favourite 7-inch records. There’s a Celtic “Slow Session”, where you learn to play a tune very slowly. Musical performances from Showponi and Cece McMillan are on offer, and as a special treat, part of both Rotuman Language Week and NZ Music Month, enjoy the sweet sounds of Fiji and Rotuma in a choral performance from SGWesleyan Youth, Highbury.

Thanks to The Stomach, MPR, and Radio Control for helping make these things happen.

And as always, you can borrow CDs and Vinyl LPs from the City Library, if you’re looking for that old-school hands-on musical experience without the expense.

Music Month

The ‘Off the Page’ author series launched last month with the wonderful Charity Norman, and this month we’re treated to a visit from Vanya Insull, aka VJ Cooks. Vanya creates seriously good recipes that are easy to make, and she shares them via YouTube, a blog, an app, and that classic Kiwi bookshop staple: cookbooks! Come along for what promises to be a mouth-watering talk.

Another big author event that was mentioned last month is “Mysterious Manawatū”, which is part of the Mystery In The Library series. This session on May 3rd features local crime writers associated with the Ngaio Marsh Awards: Riley Chance, GB Ralph, Bing Turkby, and Gigi Fenster. You’re guaranteed a criminally good conversation at this one. Be sure to ask the authors how they did their research for their bookish crimes…

Off the Page Programme

The 2024 secondary school Pasifika Fusion festival takes place on July 3-4 at the Regent. It’s the 20th anniversary of the festival, which is a huge celebration of a multitude of Pacific cultures, and comprises performances, essay writing, poetry and a host of other cool things. Recently the Library was honoured with a donation of DVDs from past festivals, to go in the Archives. For the presentation, Pasifika Fusion committee members were joined by special guests Polynesian Panthers Dr Lupematasila Misatauveve Melani Anae, Rev. Alec Toeafoa and Tigilau Ness. Come and check out the Pasifika Fusion display at Central Library, running for the first half of May.

Pasifika Fusion

On May 9 the Library is proud to host Miriam Sharland’s book launch. ‘Heart Stood Still’ is an eco-memoir – a series of essays that combine reflections on life, family, and the environment around them. Written during a time when she was forced to stay in the country due to disrupted travel plans, Sharland surprised herself by coming to enjoy the beauty of the Manawatū landscape in a way she’d not taken notice of before. ‘Heart Stood Still’ is being published by Otago University Press. Copies will be available for purchase on the day.

Heart Stood Still

Have you tried out the Library's Use Value Calculator? Find out the value of your monthly library usage! If you're happy to share your number with us, we'd love to hear what it is - just use the link at the bottom of the calculator page.

Usage Calculator

At the Central Library there’s now a dedicated PressReader device set up in the newspaper area on Mezzanine Floor. PressReader gives you access to more than seven thousand newspapers and magazines from all around the globe, in more than sixty languages. Situated in a nice sunny spot, the touchscreen device is simple to use, and if you have any questions there is always a staff member nearby to assist. Never fear, papyrophiliacs, the Library still subscribes to many newspapers in physical form, but PressReader expands the offerings exponentially. Pop in and have a look! This happy customer says he is pleased he no longer has to pay for access himself - he can keep up with football and the stockmarket for free.

PressReader

Here's a great article from Christchurch Libraries titled 'Confessions of a Dyslexic Librarian' which is actually a celebration of the way that the advent of ebooks and e-audio means that this librarian went from not being able to read much at all, to becoming a reading fiend. Have you had trouble reading traditional physical books? Have you tried using ebooks with all the options for configuring the text (font size, spacing, background colour, etc.)? Or e-audiobooks, which allow you to listen anywhere, any time? Ask a librarian if you'd like to know more!

Dyslexic Librarian

Huia Publishers win Best Children's Publisher of the Year for Oceania at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

A cool article about Parliamentary Library in Wellington. It looks like an amazing place!

Fourteen teams competed at the Rangitāne Tangata Rau regional kapa haka competition on April 20. Congratulations to everyone who took part!

Meet Jamie Boorman, a metalhead librarian from Johnsonville Library.

Joggling: it's jogging plus juggling!

Entries for New Zealand’s richest short-story competition, the Sargeson Prize, are open and last year’s winner is encouraging others to “go for it".

Connect with us

Is there something you’d like to see in these newsletters? A question about the library? A suggestion? Let us know and we’ll see if we can help. You can email us at pncl@pncc.govt.nz, or use the phone number below.

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Palmerston North City Library
Palmerston North, Manawatu 4410
Phone: (06)3514100