NOOSA LIBRARIES – 50th birthday celebration
To coincide with Noosa Libraries 50th birthday celebrations this year, new commemorative library membership cards and library bags are now available. Both the library card and bags feature artwork by proud 13 year old Kabi Kabi and Wakka Wakka woman Alkirah Bell. The artwork theme of community, connection, learning or storytelling was chosen as these have strong First Nation’s links that are central to libraries as well. Showcasing a Kabi Kabi image on the Library Service’s 50th birthday memorabilia has provided an opportunity for the Library Service to show our respect to the traditional custodians of the land.
Cooroy Library’s new children’s outdoor area
New, beautiful, cantilevered shade structures and soft, synthetic grass were recently installed in Cooroy Library’s children’s outdoor area – it didn’t take long for the community to find and love this new space!
Digital loans soaring
Digital loans exceeded 100,000 for the first time in 2022/23.
GYMPIE REGIONAL LIBRARIES – Children’s Book Week 2023 Wrap Up – READ, GROW, INSPIRE
During the last week of August book characters came to life with library staff dressing up for a week of Children’s Book Week celebrations. Gympie Regional Libraries staff visited schools across the region and welcomed groups to our libraries. Over 350 children took part in library Book Week activities, with special guest authors Alison McLennan, Shannon Horsfall and Kerri Day helping to ensure that it was a Book Week to remember. Staff also visited four schools and kindergartens, reading to over 400 children and sharing the shortlisted and notable books of this year’s Children Book Council of Australia awards.
Readapalooza 2023
Gympie Regional Libraries held their inaugural Readapalooza in June 2023. More than 200 under 5s and their parents, carers and teachers took part in a mini-festival of stories, rhymes, songs and dance. Australian children’s authors and performers Kate and Jol Temple, Nadia Sunde and Red Rocket 3 kept our families dancing, singing and laughing for more than one and a half hours. They read from books, sang songs and had the children and their carers on their feet. The event was an opportunity to promote the importance of early literacy and language development, demonstrating that this can be achieved through fun and engaging activities. The program was funded and supported by Gympie Regional Council, First 5 Forever and State Library of Queensland.
Library Programs
Gympie Regional Libraries offered a wide range of events between June and August. These ranged from activities for children to sustainability sessions for the adults. Some of the highlights included the following:
Armchair Travellers – The British Library (working in Partnership with staff from the British Library Tours and Visitation Team)
Sophie Green Author Talk
Keeping Native bees by Dr Tim Heard
Children’s Book Week Authors
Last Friday Social Club – CPR Awareness
Last Friday Social Club – Organic Gardening 101 with Claire Bickle
National Science week activities and outreach
Protect yourself from Cybercrime presented by IDCARE (working in Partnership with staff from the Sunshine Coast IDCARE team)
Library and Information Week programming centred around the theme “What is the Source”.
LOCKYER VALLEY LIBRARIES – Library Strategy 2023-2026 adopted
Lockyer Valley Regional Council adopted the Library Strategy 2023-2026 in September. This strategy will provide guidance for realising our vision for a service that creates safe spaces that engage the community to learn and thrive through collections, events, and activities. Staff, when drafting this document, referred to the Customer Service Survey of 2022 and the State Library of Queensland Strategic Plan 2023-2027 to help determine the priorities.
Agents of Discovery app
Libraries have partnered with Councils Tourism and Planning, Policy and Community Wellbeing departments to support the Agents of Discovery App. This app transforms local stories and content into an interactive augmented reality (AR) experience. Library staff use the app to create ‘missions’ and ‘challenges’ around our region. Launched in September, we have seen more than 264 people walk more than 50km to complete the missions. This is a deeply local outcome and extends our reach by connecting us with other departments within Council and the extended community.
Human books
Our quarterly ‘Human books’ – the East Coast Paranormal husband and wife team engaged attendees with great conversations about paranormal behaviour and experiences with attendees able to play with some ghostly items.
Children’s activities
Children’s activities continue to be well received by our community and staff are creating some great themed events including a Bluey funday, Talk like a Pirate Day and Stomp Dinosaur Stomp.
Annual report card
Loans both physical and digital increased in 2022/23 along with event attendance reaching over 10,000 people participating in library events and activities.
CITY OF MORETON BAY LIBRARIES
City of Moreton Bay were joint winners of the Local Government category of the Resilient Australia Awards, for their Places of Refuge initiative. THE 2023 QUEENSLAND RESILIENT AUSTRALIA AWARDS | Get Ready Queensland
Pictured are Lisa Bateman from City of Moreton Bay’s Library Services with Beth Bickford from City of Moreton Bay’s Disaster Management team.]
SUNSHINE COAST LIBRARIES
Rhymes with Ryan videos Auslan translation
Addition of Auslan translation videos to 10 Rhymes with Ryan videos on the library website. The addition of Auslan translation allows these resources to be accessed by a diverse range of community members, helping to make Libraries more inclusive.
Implementation of Spydus Collections
Successfully created full suite of reports needed for the Collections team to help assist Branches weed, transfer and promote collections across our eight branches and two mobile libraries.
Horizon Festival. Dear Reader : a celebration of readers, writers and libraries
Dear Reader: a celebration of readers, writers and libraries attracted around 300 people to the all ages event. 264 tickets were sold to the workshops with 103 unique attendees. 26 vendors participated in the Book Emporium located in Beerwah Hall with local authors. Two storytime sessions were held throughout the day, Gregg Dreise conducted a special session and passive programming including a Random Acts of Poetry magnetic board and a Literary Scavenger hunt.