Tuesday 30 October 2012

Top 5 books from my childhood

I've been feeling quite nostalgic lately so I thought I would compile a list of my favourite books from my childhood. Here we go......


1: Noddy goes to school by Enid Blyton
I have a picture of me "reading" this when I was about three- I had the whole series and read them avidly
 
 
2: The Enchanted Wood
Any of the Faraway Tree series I loved - who wouldn't love to live near a magical tree that had a different land ( like the Land of Topsy Turvy) at the top every time you went up??
 
 
 3: Bony legs the witch by Joanna Cole
Both my sister and I loved this picture book which is based on a Russian folk tale.
 
 
 
4: Drina dances in Italy by Mabel Esther Allan
This was from my ballet phase!
 
 
 
 
 
5:Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
My most favourite teacher ever, read this to us at primary school and I lapped up every word of it!
 


I'd love to hear about your fave books, just leave me a comment here on the blog or tweet me @JuliadeRuiter. Also, please excuse the weird layout- the computer wasn't on my side today!

Julia


Monday 15 October 2012

Give the people what they want!

For these school holidays the library offered craft activities like scrapbooking and bookmaking and boy, were they a hit! We haven't offered activities like this for a while and I was so happy with how popular they were. For me personally, it was a great 'out of comfort zone' experience. I love craft but haven't really taught it to a group of people as such. After talking with my colleague who is also the youth librarian, I decided to keep it really simple. I figured that the children probably wouldn't be that interested in all the finicky details. I/we were right! I did a brief introduction of what scrapbooking is all about, a show and tell of how I put a page together and what materials were available. After that chaos reigns! I'll let these pictures tell the rest of the story :) I'd love to hear some more school holiday tales, either here or on Twitter @JuliadeRuiter

Introducing what scrapbooking is all about

He made a sweet card for his Mum :)


Getting into the complicated side of things!

Explaining how colours work together.








     









Tuesday 2 October 2012

My favourite libraries

Since libraries are all so different in layout, design and purpose ( academic, public etc) but so similar in that they are all places of knowledge and community,  I thought I would compile a list of my favourite libraries, big or small. 
Note: I haven't personally seen every one of  these libraries in person. Some I have come across in my virtual travels :)

1: Law Library of Munich, Germany.
Sci-fi/futuristic at it's best! Love the groovy chairs and modern lighting. Munich, here I come!















 2: Upper Riccarton Library, Children's area, Christchurch, NZ
This library has a great vibe. My colleague Fiona and I visited it after a conference and were blown away at the level of service offered and how resilient the librarians were after a period of really tough events. Some librarians at other Christchurch City Libraries had changed libraries nearly six times since the first earthquake! Props to everyone who works there- you do a fab job :)














3: Library from Beauty & the Beast, fictional France
I wish I could find a picture of it, but anyone who has seen the Disney movie 'Beauty and the Beast' will know how AWESOME the library is! Seriously, its about 5 stories high and has ladders to get up and across- the whole shebang. Oh, to be a millionaire beast! And, yes, I am a little kid at heart who stills likes revisiting my favourite Disney movies :)

4: Biblioteca Geral University of Coimbra, Portugal
 Wow, just wow. 














5: New York Public Library, USA
Any library with chandeliers and I'm so there! This part of the building is probably as big as our whole library!














6: Oamaru Public Library, New Zealand:
Lucky last- how could I leave out my fantastic local library + work place?! This picture is of some pupils from a local school performing kapa haka routines for Maori Language Week 2012- just some of the awesome things our library is involved in :)











Thanks for reading- I'd love to hear/see some other libraries that you think are pretty snazzy! Just leave a comment here or tweet me @JuliadeRuiter

Julia