Free online tutoring for school students

Did you know that anyone with a Gilgandra library card can log in to a free online tutoring service? It is called yourtutor, and the Library pays an annual subscription fee which allows all library members free access to the service.

How does it work?

*It operates Monday to Friday, from 4pm-8pm.

*It is designed to help students from Years 4-12.

*You log in with a particular question you need help with, and a tutor will work with you to find the answer, via instant messaging, an online whiteboard, and links.

* Do you have a library card? If not, call in at the Library to join, or get a new card. Those under 18 need to be enrolled by a parent or guardian.

* Go to http://nwls.spydus.com/
*Scroll down until you see the yourtutor logo, as above.

*Click on the word "here".

* Where it says GILGANDRA borrowers click here, click "here".

*Type in your library card number.

*Select your year level.

*Select your subject.

*You will be connected with a tutor, whom you can talk to via instant messaging on the screen.

We hope you like this service!

Treasures left in libraries in Edinburgh

Just felt I had to pass on this link for these amazing paper sculptures, left as gifts in libraries in Edinburgh. There is an Ian Rankin link to them, too...

The first of these sculptures bore a tag that read, in part:
"We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books....a book is so much more than pages full of words....."

The blog these sculptures appeared on is pretty inspiring too: Central Station.

Reading in someone else's shoes

One of the wonderful things about reading is that it enables you to walk in someone else’s shoes for a little while. Sometimes those shoes take you to places and lives radically different to your own. “Tamil Tigress” by Niromi de Soyza is an example of just such a story. Two days before Christmas in 1987, at the age of 17, Niromi de Soyza found herself in an ambush as part of a small platoon of militant Tamil Tigers fighting government forces in the bloody civil war that was to engulf Sri Lanka for decades. With her was her lifelong friend, Ajanthi, also aged 17. Leaving behind them their shocked middle-class families, the teenagers had become part of the Tamil Tigers' first female contingent. Equipped with little more than a rifle and a cyanide capsule, Niromi's group managed to survive on their wits in the jungle, facing not only the perils of war but starvation, illness and growing internal tensions among the militant Tigers. Today, Niromi de Soyza lives with her husband and children in Sydney. Walter Mason reviewed this book for “Good Reading” magazine (September 2011) and he said “This is a book about suffering, resilience and personal strength that I found ultimately unsettling and uniquely insightful”.

We hope you enjoy whatever you are reading this week. To find out what other books the Library has, visit http://nwls.spydus.com.