Preschool visits Library for National Simultaneous Storytime

On Wednesday 23rd May at 11am, in schools, libraries and bookshops all over the country, children were listening to a special reading of "The Very Cranky Bear" by Nick Bland.  In Gilgandra, students from Gilgandra Preschool came to the Library to hear this story, and to help the bear ROAR!

It was so much fun!  Thank you to Gilgandra Preschool teachers and students for sharing this day with us.  You made our day!

Making up our bear and cave pictures

National Simultaneous storytime and e-security week

It has been an exciting week at the Library. National Simultaneous Storytime was held on Wednesday 27th May at 11am. About 60 children and their parents and carers came to hear “Pete the Sheep” by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. Ian McCutcheon was our special guest reader, and we want to thank him for sharing this fun story with the children.

Next week, from 5- 12 June, is National E-security Awareness Week. The aim of this week is to inform everyone about the simple steps they can take to protect themselves, their families and their businesses online. The Australian government website http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/ states that there are five key things we can do to improve our e-security. They are: 1.Get a better, stronger password and change it at least twice a year. 2.Get security software, and update and patch it regularly. 3.Stop and think before you click on links or attachments from unknown sources. 4.Information is valuable. Be careful about what you give away about yourself and others online. 5.Log on to http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/ for further information and to sign up for the email alert service.

The Smallest room, Spydus and Simultaneous Storytime!

It’s all happening at the Library this week! The builders have started work on the new project at the Library. A disabled toilet including baby change facilities will be constructed in the space where the existing toilets are, thanks to Federal Infrastructure funding. However, this means that the Library won’t have any toilet facilities until the project is completed. The nearest public toilets are in Hunter Park, or behind Target, in the carpark.

Our computer software upgrade took place last week, and we’re gradually finding our way with the new version of our library management program, Spydus. For our customers, the biggest change is to the catalogue website. The website has a new look, but it is still under construction. Please bear with us while the links and information are completed. For customers who have already set up a PIN number at the Library, so that they can reserve books from home; the place to login is the Log In box on the top left hand corner of the page.

And finally, this is Library and Information Week, and to celebrate, we’re participating in National Simultaneous Storytime. On Wednesday 27 May at 11am, we will join organisations from Broome to Hobart, reading the picture book “Pete the sheep” to more than a quarter of a million Australian children. Our special guest reader is Mr Ian McCutcheon, who, along with his wife, Dianne, has done some great work with youth in Gilgandra over many years. Mr McCutcheon is also a farmer and grazier, and may have to forget his knowledge of the wool industry and suspend his disbelief considerably to read this story to our children!

“Pete the sheep” was written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley. It tells the story of Shaun, a new shearer in town, who has a sheep sheep instead of a sheep dog- Pete. Pete wears an Akubra and the sheep really like him. Instead of the conventional short back and sides, Shaun creates some wonderful new “dos” for the sheep he shears. Eventually, even the sheep dogs get in on the act!

So you can see that we are looking forward to a fun week at the Library. Hope you are enjoying whatever you are reading this week, as much as we enjoy “Pete the sheep”. As the book’s author, Jackie French, said recently: “Just think, at a certain moment hundreds of thousands of people all over Australia are going to be saying 'Baa! Baa!' How can life ever be the same?”