PressReader drop-in sessions at Blackhall Library

We’ll be running a drop-in session on Wednesdays from 2-3.30pm at Blackhall Library starting on the 10th October for 6 weeks. Come along and find out all about using PressReader and get access to over 6000 worldwide daily newspapers and magazines including most of the big UK papers. You can read daily newspapers such as the Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News and The Herald for free, delivered directly to your own device or within the library.

Bring along your tablet, phone or laptop and we’ll help you get set up. Or we’ll show you how to use it on library devices. Help will also be available for our other Library2go services too such as ebooks and audiobooks.

We also run regular Library2go drop-in sessions to get help with using downloadable ebook, audiobook, magazine and newspapers. Stop by the Mezzanine, Central Library  every Tuesday from 2-3.30pm or the first Thursday of the month from 10.30am – midday.

Dyslexia Chatterbooks Group

Calling all 8-11 year olds with dyslexia!

Come and join our fantastic Dyslexia Chatterbooks Group for children in Primary 4 – Primary 7, on Tuesday 25 September, 6-7.30pm in Central Children’s Library.

Group members working on book cover designs

 

We meet the last Tuesday of the month for an evening of fun reading games and book related crafts and activities. The group is run by library staff and supported by our fantastic volunteers, who tailor the programme to meet children’s interests and talents.

A typical session involves a story either told or read by a library member of staff/volunteer, some quick supported paired reading, drawing and story making games (e.g. reading bingo, word recognition, word searches). Acting out plays, poetry and riddle making are some of other popular activities with the group. There is also time for a snack and time at the end to choose a book for next time.

A visit from author Vivian French

 

We often have authors visiting the group meetings , most recently Lari Don and Vivian French, as well as other special events such as animal Zoolab workshops, magic shows and story making workshops etc which have all been popular.

 

For more information please contact:
childrenslibrary@edinburgh.gov.uk or 0131 242 8027.

It’s Read an eBook Day!

Love ebooks? Then today’s the day for you as its Read an eBook Day! Organised by OverDrive, our ebook supplier, the focus is on celebrating the importance of digital reading.

They want to hear what you are reading now or perhaps what ebook reading means to you. Have you been ill or find it difficult leaving the house and so our downloadable services are invaluable in keeping you supplied with reading material? Or did you first discover your favourite author via an ebook or just love the flexibility of using them on holiday? Use the hashtag #eBookLove today on social media and tell everyone your story (or even just your favourite ebook).

Best of all everyone who uses the hashtag #eBookLove today has the chance to win a Kobo Aura One ebook reader! Not tried ebooks before, then today’s the perfect day to start – find all the information you need on our OverDrive help pages. Then tweet that hashtag and win yourself an ebook reader!

Have you heard a good book recently?

Do you enjoy listening to books? Want to meet new people? Enjoy discussion? Why not join our new Audiobook Group!

This monthly group starts on Friday 21 September from 10.30-11.30 at Stockbridge Library. At our first meeting we’ll be choosing the titles we are going to listen to and getting an introduction to the RBdigital downloadable audiobook service that the group will be using. You’ll need a smartphone, tablet or computer to use this service.

For more information contact 0131 529 5665 or email Stockbridge.library@edinburgh.gov.uk

Flora’s Feast by Walter Crane

Our new exhibition on Capital Collections is ‘Flora’s Feast’ by Walter Crane. It offers a digitised view of the book ‘Flora’s Feast: A Masquerade of Flowers’, first published in 1889. The artist, Walter Crane (1848-1915), was a versatile creator as well as a theorist of art and its relationship with society.

Illustrated title page for ‘Flora’s Feast’ by Walter Crane

The exhibition’s accompanying text aims to provide historical and artistic context for the separate illustrations. You can though, simply browse the delightful pictures and enjoy the online rendering of this charming Victorian children’s book.

It tells the story of Queen Flora summoning the annual procession of flowers in her garden through short rhymes and fanciful illustrations that depict the individual flowers masquerading as humans and playing at roles from human society. Following the lead of the Aesthetic movement, Crane placed an importance on the value of beauty in art. This is clearly a central consideration throughout ‘Flora’s Feast’, resulting in a pleasing aesthetic. He thoughtfully balances his compositions and incorporates elegant curved forms based on nature that bring to mind the Art Nouveau approach to design. His linguistic and visual puns add an unexpected humour that can be appreciated by readers of all ages.

The book also provides an insight not only into the artist, but also to the time period it was created in. The illustrations can act as an alternative source of evidence for the Victorian fascination with nature and botanical illustrations, which is notably demonstrated elsewhere by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. Furthermore, the child audience that informs every image, from the lighter colours to the imaginative interpretation of flower names, affirms the increasing importance of the idea of childhood at the time which is demonstrated by Crane’s development of the child-in-garden motif shown in the image of the Buttercups below.

‘Flora’s Feast’, the Buttercups

From an artistic perspective the reader can enjoy identifying the numerous sources of inspiration that Crane incorporated into his visual style; ranging from the figures reminiscent of Botticelli’s paintings to the Medievalism of the pre-Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts movement. Overall the format, audience and artistic style of Crane’s creation come together to act as a subtle reminder to challenge fixed definitions of art, as well as preconceived notions of its inaccessibility and isolation from the external world.

Browse all the pages from this beautiful illustrated children’s book on Capital Collections.

 

The Teen Titles cycle never stops!

The minute we complete the final proof reads and edits of one issue of Teen Titles, we get right on to starting the process for the next issue, and the forthcoming issue number 73 is no different.

This July, we were delighted to visit the Publication Unit in their brand new home at Central Library on George IV Bridge where we found over 100 books representing the latest in Young Adult literature which had been kindly sent to us from a range of publishers across the UK and beyond.

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We quickly set to work weeding out books which we knew had been reviewed in issue 72, then we arranged the books by genre so that we could evenly distribute to the 8 sub editors of the Teen Titles Team.

That done, we fairly distributed the books to each team member, making sure that everyone had a range of genres and a similar number in their pile. Then, we take a note of what we are sending out to each person so that we can have an accurate record of what we have received.  Next steps are to parcel up the piles of books and mail them out to the team. This is what 106 titles look liked bagged up!

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The team gets 3 weeks to read their pile of books and prepare a short synopsis of the plot (no spoilers, obviously!) before distributing the books to the 2 or 3 schools in their sub group. It works like a no-strings attached pyramid scheme!

We all intentionally have a quick turnaround to make sure that students have at least 6 weeks to read their book and write their review… the next review deadline is the start of October. Yikes!

On top of this we organise approximately 3 interviews per issue. Interview opportunities present themselves at random times so we are regularly in touch with publicists and authors to make sure we get the best possible content!

Teen Titles is available in Edinburgh school and local libraries.

Teen Titles 71 cover

Teen Titles 71

To purchase your own subscription to Teen Titles, contact the Publication Unit  learning.publications@ea.edin.sch.uk.

 

Listen to your book group!

Are you part of a book group or maybe thinking of starting one up? Why not try something different and listen to an audiobook this month instead of reading a printed book?

Our audiobook service RBdigital, has over 1000 multi-access titles meaning unlimited people can listen at the same time.

   

 

 

 

 

You’ll find it a great talking point, discussing the effect that the narrator has on your understanding and enjoyment of the story.

  

 

 

 

 

Browse through our Excel list of multi-access audiobooks today, you’ll be spoilt for choice!
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