Melbourne Cup Day

Time for the gee gees

We usually start late on the first Tuesday of the month. Not this week, though. This Tuesday, we're not opening at all!

We are duty bound to close for a horse race. The returns chutes will also be closed, at Frankston from 9pm and at Carrum Downs from 6pm, Monday.

Oh well. What can you do?

harps

Road closure near Frankston Library on Saturday

Sports Festival in Playne Street

Playne Street between Young and Thompsons Streets will be closed between 9AM and 7PM this Saturday due to the Victorian Adrenaline Sports Festival. As this is close to the Frankston Library, you may need to change your route.

harps

Short story winners

Read them here

Congratulations to our short story competition winners. Anabel Hayes took 1st prize with her life-affirming piece, Scruffy. 2nd prize went to Cadyn Morgan-McGregor for The Keeper of the Door, a fantasy about belief. Predator of the Jungle, a tale of illegal animal smuggling, won Zoe Crouch 3rd prize.
Thankyou to all the entrants.

harps

Opening hours survey

Should we change or stay the same?

We are currently reviewing library opening hours and your opinion is important to us.

To have your say, please complete the online survey or the paper ones available at our locations.

harps

The catalogue returns

With new toys

The catalogue updgrade is complete and all is returning to better than normal.

Navigation

There are two new features that customers will note. The most obvious is more navigation options. There's lots of them, but it's important to note that only the relevant ones are active (in blue). If they're not relevant, they are supressed (in grey).

Click on image to enlarge.

RSS
The other big thing is the addition of RSS feeds. RSS allows you to get updates on new additions to the library. All you have to do is search for what you want (an author, series, subject or collection) and subscribe to the feed to get updates. You can subscribe via your web browser (see Internet Explorer example below) or RSS reader. You access the feed by doing a search and clicking on the orange RSS logo above the navigation.

Click on image to enlarge.

If you're not sure what RSS is about, please watch this video.

If you have any questions or comments about the new features, please ask our staff.

harps

The Conversation

It's news, but not as you know it

I know there's plenty of websites for you to catch up on the daily news, but if you're a bit tired of the predictable knee-jerk op-eds, celebrities and fluff, now there's The Conversation. It's an article based news site written by Australian academics and researchers. The commentary and analysis tends to be calm and considered, more based on fact and a bit more sensitive to subtleties than you'll find elsewhere.

harps

Catalogue upgrade 25 October

Catalogue downtime

On Tuesday, 25 October, we'll be upgrading the Library's catalogue.

On the new system, you'll see a few navigational enhancements and we'll update you on those once it's online.

During the change over, the catalogue will be offline. This means that there will be no searching or payment of fines and you won't be able to login to make reservations, renewals etc. Fortunately, you'll still be able to come in and borrow. We hope to have the new system running during the afternoon.

harps

September customer feedback

Customer op eds

Improvements to the way CDs are shelved are balanced by poor public PC performance in the September customer feedback from Frankston and Carrum Downs.

harps

Our Story

Read and vote for fave Victorian book

As part of the National Year of Reading 2012, the State Library of Victoria is inviting you to read and vote for a favourite book with a Victorian flavour. The winning book will then compete against those from other states for the national title.

Here's the shortlist:

• Bearbrass – Robyn Annear
• Radical Melbourne – Jeff Sparrow and Jill Sparrow
• Sold – Brendan Gullifer
• The comfort of water – Maya Ward
• Unpolished gem – Alice Pung
• Well done, those men – Barry Heard

Voting starts 1 November (more info then) and the winning book will be announced at the launch of the National Year of Reading on 14 February.

harps

Book clubs

Share the joy of reading

Book clubs are a great way to socialise around your love of reading. Each month, people get together to discuss a book that they've all read, to tease out meanings, revelations and responses .

You can start your own book club or join an existing one. Groups can choose their books from the Library's book club collection, with titles ranging from prizewinners and contemporary fiction to the classics, biography and autobiography, history, and social issues.

For more information on book clubs at Frankston City Libraries, please see our website's book clubs page.
 
harps

And the 2011 Booker Prize goes to...

Julian Barnes

The London-based Julian Barnes has won the 2011 Booker Prize for Fiction with his novel The Sense of an Ending. In a year of judging marked by controversy as critics accused the judges of rating popularity over quality, a book that has been both a best seller and a critical success took out the prize.

Described as readable, subtle and keenly felt, several of the Booker judges have described The Sense of an Ending as having the hallmarks of a English classic.

You can reserve your copy of The Sense of an Ending and other books by Julian Barnes for free via our catalogue.

harps

The Nobel prize for literature goes to...

Congratulations to Tomas Tranströmer, the 2011 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Tomas Tranströmer (born 15 April 1931 in Stockholm) is a Swedish writer, poet and translator, whose poetry has been deeply influential in Sweden, as well as around the world.

The official press release states that he has been awarded the prize "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".  

Read a selection of his work here. 

Scott.

The King's Speech

Screening in the Library Long Room on Thursday 27th of October at 6:00pm. 

The King's Speech is the story of how the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) helped King George VI (Colin Firth) overcome his stutter and find his public speaking voice.

Nominated for 12 Oscars, The King's Speech won the directing, best picture, best leading actor and best original screenplay awards. Margaret and David both gave it 4 out of 5, but lots of cinema goers would have given it 5.

The King's Speech is rated M and bookings are required on 9784 1020 or via email.

New book alert services

Discover what's new

There's lots of ways to find out about new books. You can read reviews, keep a watch on what the Library has new for loan, receive author, bookshop or publisher updates or join social networking sites for readers like Shelfari, GoodReads and LibraryThing.

Another way is to sign up for regular emails from specialist new book release services. Here's 3 to get you started.

• Any New Books  - Rreceive weekly emails for new books from a list of fiction and non-fiction categories.
• Book Buzzes - Sign up for email updates for new books by author. Note that the author selection is small and has a bias towards sci-fi and fantasy writers.
• Track New Book - Get email updates for authors, subjects, keywords or a "seed" (which finds books similar books to the ones you already know).

harps

Sharing the love

Thanks Brodie.  It's always nice to have such positive feedback. 

Discussing Nevil Shute

Graham Fricke presents - Shute the messenger

Graham discusses his book Shute the Messenger, based on notable author Nevil Shute, best known for the novels On the Beach, A Town like Alice and No Highway.

The movie On the Beach was filmed in Frankston and Melbourne and starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins.

Books will be available for sale on the day.

When: Friday 14th October, 11:00am

Where: Frankston Library Long Room

Cost: FREE!

Technology - Where do I start?

As part of the seniors festival, the folks from Dick Smith Frankston will be joining us on Wednesday the 12th of October to give you advice and guidance when purchasing technology such as computers or mobile phones. Come on down for the FREE information session.

Frankston Library Long Room

10am - 11am

Wednesday 12th October.

FREE!

The prequel before the encore

Extra storytime at Carrum Downs

Due to overwhelming demand, we are introducing an additional storytime session on Wednesday at Carrum Downs.

The Wednesday session's book and activities will be the same as the Friday session, so you won't miss out anything if you just go to one.

The Wednesday storytimes at Carrum Downs start at 11AM, beginning Wednesday, 12 October..

harps

New graphic novel collections

Same stuff, new collection names

The Library's adult and teen graphic novels collections are now easier to browse on the catalogue. Each now has their own collection, either Adult Graphic Novel or Teen Graphic Novel.

You can find the collection names in the holdings fields; they're the bits under the title, author and publication info that tell you where to find the item and if it's on loan.

harps