3 easy steps to e-books

September 11, 2015

Reading e-books is even easier with the new Axis 360 app!

Now iOS, Android and Windows desktop users can find, check out and read e-books or listen to digital audiobooks all in one app.

It’s just three easy steps –

  1. Enter your library card number
  2. Browse our e-book collection
  3. Check out and read or listen instantly.

Go to our website and get started!

18_L15715_allinone

Headlines like “US bookshop offering refunds for Go Set a Watchman” are at odds with its ranking as an international No 1 go-set-a-watchmanbestseller.

The US independent bookshop is offering refunds to its Go Set a Watchman customers, claiming that the work should be viewed as an “academic insight” into Harper Lee’s development as an author, rather than as a “nice summer novel”.

So, suffice it to say this book has received a mixed reaction.

The New York Times called it “a lumpy tale about a young woman’s grief over her discovery of her father’s bigoted views”.  This view has some parents regretting the choice of Atticus for their son’s name.

Others like novelist Ursula Le Guin defend the book saying it “asks some of the hard questions To Kill a Mockingbird evades”.

The novel, which features an adult Scout, was written by Harper Lee in the 1950s but was set aside when her editor advised her to focus on its flashbacks to childhood, which then went on to become To Kill a Mockingbird.

o-LEE-570Are Harper Lee readers who demand refunds expecting far too much from Go Set a Watchman?

You can answer this question yourself by picking up a copy at the libraries amongst the great selection of top bestsellers.

The Cover 2 Cover book club at Carnegie Library on 23 September from 7pm – 8pm and at Elsternwick Library on 13 November from 11am – 12pm will also be discussing this book if you would like to join in.

  1. Thousands of books are virtually at your fingertips. Imagine it! You can find a book whenever you feel like it.
  2. Save money instead of buying e-books yourself. Why buy when you can borrow?
  3. You don’t have to pack 10 or so books when you travel. You can take a choice of good reads with you and still keep your bags light.
  4. Zoom in and change text sizes. Sometimes the print in those old paperbacks is just too small to read easily, so being able to change the font size is a big help.
  5. Admit it, your wrists hurt when you hold a book open for hours on end. E-books stay open by themselves while you nurse your wrists back to health.

Books flying into tabletAnd if you don’t have your own device to read e-books, you can borrow a Kobo e-reader from the libraries. Too easy!

Remembering the Anzacs

April 24, 2015

ANZAC-FundThe ANZAC Centenary (from 2014 to 2018) commemorates Australia’s involvement in World War I and remembers anyone who has served in a war or conflict as well as those men and women still serving in the Defence Forces today.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as Anzacs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day. On 1 November 1914 the first convoy of Australian and New Zealand ships left Albany in Western Australia to transport the ANZACs to the battlefields of World War 1. Anzac Day – 25 April – is one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

In this time of reflection and commemoration of the Anzac Centenary and the landings at Gallipoli, communities all over Australia are remembering, recording and retelling some of the millions of stories and events that Australians experienced during World War 1. A vivid example of this is the Glen Eira Remembers Poppies Community Project Display, now on show at the Glen Eira Town Hall Gallery Annexe until 17 May.

Glen Eira Library and Learning Centres have created a Great War timeline to help you understand the major milestones and the significant Australian, international and local events of WW1.

We have built an extensive DVD and Blu-Ray collection of feature films and moving and intimate documentaries about the Great War and the personal stories of the Anzacs.

Our book and e-book collections include fictionalised accounts and true stories of the conflicts and impact of the war on the brave men and women who served and of the families they left behind. You can download our e-books anytime, anywhere to your tablet, smartphone or computer.

You can also interact with the WW1 and Anzac Apps at the iPad Centre at Caulfield Library which brings the stories and events graphically to life.

We have selected the best of the online resources and official websites about Australia’s involvement in the Great War. This is a great resource for students and anyone interested in the events and personal stories of those brave men and women who served.

The libraries will be closed on Anzac Day, Saturday 25 April. For your convenience the after-hours return chutes will be open.

The 20 most borrowed fiction books at Glen Eira’s libraries in 2014 naturally featured lots of bestsellers, no doubt helped along by the libraries now having multiple copies of these titles. Many of these books also featured in our Cover2Cover book club lists in 2014.

Check these off your list if you’ve read them. Jot them down and pick up a copy at the libraries if you haven’t yet caught up with them. Some titles are also available as e-books.

  1. The cuckoo’s calling by Robert Galbraith
  2. Burial rites by Hannah Kent
  3. Eyrie by Tim Winton
  4. The English girl by Daniel Silva
  5. Gone girl by Gillian Flynn
  6. And the mountains echoed by Khaled Hosseini
  7. Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas
  8. The book thief by Markus Zusak
  9. The gods of guilt by Michael Connelly
  10. The winter sea by Di Morrissey
  11. Sycamore Row by John Grisham
  12. Never go back: a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child
  13. Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough
  14. Elianne by Judy Nunn
  15. Be careful what you wish for by Jeffrey Archer
  16. Wrongful death by Lynda La Plante
  17. Missing you by Harlan Coben
  18. Questions of travel by Michelle De Kretser
  19. The longest ride by Nicholas Sparks
  20. The Rosie project by Graeme C. Simsion

Check out our Bestseller lists to keep up with what new and hot this year.

Eric HillThe creator of one of the world’s most loved and iconic children’s book characters has died at age 86.

Author and illustrator Eric Hill topped the bestseller lists with his simple but charming series of Spot the Dog books for preschool children.Spot 04

Spot, a playful puppy, was created in the 1970s while Hill was working in London as a freelance designer and illustrator. “I was experimenting with a flap idea and my son Christopher, who was then about two, came in and I showed him a funny drawing of a man with a bowler hat on, but the arms were the flaps so he could actually remove the hat from his head,” Hill recalled. “A great big smile appeared on Christopher’s face and he said, ‘Do it again!’”

With its then pioneering “lift-the-flap” format, and simple, humorous story told in just a few words, the first book Where’s Spot? (1980), became an instant bestseller. Many more books in the series followed with over 60 million copies sold worldwide. An award-winning animated TV series followed as well as DVDs, toys and other merchandise.

The Spot books remain a hit with children at our BabyTime and StoryTime sessions, and the books and DVDs are always a popular choice for borrowing and bedtime reading.

 

Brada photoWe’ve been busy getting our winter library programs ready – so it’s exciting to announce that they are ready to go!

There are so many fun activities to try and lots to learn and do! Meet others in your community too. We can also help you feel more confident with technology – from computer basics to email and iPads to social media – we are there to help.

Pick up a copy of the ‘What’s On’ brochure at the libraries or get it on online at library.gleneira.vic.gov.au

We’ve also added to our great selection of online e-stories for kids – Story Box Library is an online reading room showcasing the wonderful world of Australian children’s literature to primary school aged children.

It features an amazing array of Australian storytellers from sportspeople, musicians, grandparents, teenagers, comedians, actors, stay at-home parents, people with disabilities, with varying accents and from different cultures. My favourites include master storyteller Boori Monty Pryor reading his own book Shake a leg and the spooky The Ghost Of Miss Annabel Spoon read by legendary musician Nick Cave.

Take a look at all our interactive stories and activities for children available 24/7.

 

 

 

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 30 other followers
http://libraryblog.gleneira.vic.gov.au/
libraryblog.gleneira.vic.gov.au
crawl=CC-MAIN-2015-40
50339
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:GCBATYNYDQZ3H53DNI36TLXDEM4MTZ6Z
<urn:uuid:c32e54ce-3c90-4127-9894-11baef43a2d1>
2015-10-04T23:40:23Z
192.0.78.13
sha1:ADQF7GEKTAAWPEZ7KD4SZGFBMLJGNOH5
<urn:uuid:3faeccf2-9063-4d80-96e7-874beee93eea>
http://libraryblog.gleneira.vic.gov.au/
length
response
<urn:uuid:eb875b0e-d9a8-4457-a7ff-e2ec9c3688e1>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2015-40
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for September 2015
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf