Don Tate author visit

Vietnam veteran Don Tate will visit HJ Daley Library on Tuesday April 21 2009 to discuss his recent memoir “The War Within”. “The War Within” has been variously described as a brutally honest and a gritty insight into the life of a soldier at war. Don will also screen rare footage of his service in Vietnam during his presentation. Don has appeared on both Channel 9's "RPA programme and the ABC's 7.30 Report.

Don's memoir is ambitious in its scope and a very powerful read. Covering sixty years, from life in Ellen Grove, an impoverished suburb of Brisbane where outlaw behaviour was the norm , to child abuse within the state and private school systems, about being an infantryman in Vietnam - one of the most unpopular wars this nation ever fought- of blatant army incompetence, and medal-grabbing by officers, and then, after being badly wounded, life as a disabled veteran.
Reviewers are saying it is the “voice of a generation, stilled for forty years”.

You can find out more about Don and his book at his website http://www.dontate.info/

Bookings can be made on 46454444

Holiday Lending

During the Holiday period double loans and double loan periods are in operation. The Holiday loans will continue until January 26th 2009. If you have any questions pelase call the library on 4645 4436

Have a safe and happy holidays!

Movember

A few of the team are participating in Movember. And together are growing library Mo's

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Did you know:

• Depression affects 1 in 6 men....most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.



• Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who will die from breast cancer annually.

You can make a donation to the cause here

And come back each week to check out the progress.

So far we look like this:

Knit In

Congratulations to the knitters of Campbelltown who easily surpassed last years knit in record to complete 41 blankets for Wrap with love. You can find out more about Wrap with love at there website here http://www.artsandcraftsnsw.com.au/Wrap.htm .

Library team out and about

While we provide a lot of great services in our branch and central libraries, we also get out and about to promote our services at events like Naidoc Week, Ingleburn Alive & the Fisher's Ghost Festival.

Recently some of the team went to the Riverfest event to launch our new Living Library service. The Living library is a library made up of people. You can borrow a living book for a short time to learn about their life and experiences. We are planning to start lending soon, but if you are interested in joining the collection please let us know.

One of the highlights of the day is the dry riverboat race. This year we entered for the first time in the SS Living Library. We had fun!

Toys of Yesteryear

Our Heritage Festival exhibition this year was all about toys. Toys are really important - they help us develop, exercise our imagination and bring back happy memories.

If you can't make it to the library to see the exibition, check out the video of the toys in action below.

We want your feedback on the new Web Catalogue

Late last year we implemented a new web catalogue whihc introduced a whole lot of new functionality and tools that we will be rolling out over the next few months.

We've had a lot of informal feedback about the new catalogue and invite you to give us your opinion through an online survey we are running.

You feedback is confidential and it will help us to improve and develop the system so that it meets your needs.

You can access the survey here at the survey page