Prime Minister's Literary Award Winners

The winner's of the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards were recently announced.

The winners were:

Fiction
Nam Le - The Boat

Non-Fiction
Evelyn Juers - House of Exile: the Life and Times of Heinrich Mann & Nelly Kroeger-Mann

Marilyn Lake & Henry Reynolds - Drawing the Global Colour Line

Starting School with Rockdale City Library

We would like to welcome all school starters and their parents or carers to join Rockdale City Library.

The Library has lots to offer to families and our programs and resources can help parents and children throughout their whole school career.

To make starting school easier for you and your child, Rockdale City Library has put together an information sheet of what the library can offer you.

Holiday Opening Hours 2009

Over the Christmas/New Year holidays, the Rockdale Library & Community Information Service will have changed opening hours. All branches will be closed on the public holidays.


Branches at Arncliffe, Bexley, Bexley North, Brighton-Le-Sands and Sans Souci will be closing at 1pm on 24 December until 2nd January 2010. Normal opening hours will resume on 2 January 2010.

The opening hours for the Rockdale Branch are as follows

24th December 2009 - closing at 1pm
25th December 2009 - Closed
26th December 2009 - Closed
28th December 2009 - Closed
29th December 2009 - 9 am - 5 pm
30th December 2009 - 9 am - 5 pm
31st December 2009 - 9 am - 5 pm
1st January 2010 - Closed
2nd January 2010 - Normal hours resume

Read on the Wild Side

Rockdale City Library's Summer Reading Programme is on again! If you are at primary school, from kindergarten to year 6 you can take part in our Reading Programme.

All you have to do is read lots of library books, fill in the reading log and return it to your local branch. The more books you read, and reading logs you fill in, the more chances you have of winning lots of prizes.

The Summer Reading Programme starts on Monday 30 November 2009 and finishes on Friday 15 January 2010.

You can find more information here and reading logs here

1st Wednesday book group

The next meeting of the 1st Wednesday book group will be on 2 December 2009 at 10.30 am. The group will be discussing Miss Ambar Regrets by Jon Cleary. If you have read this book please come along and join in the discussion.


The group will start again in March 2010.
If you are interested in joining the book group in 2010 please call Natalie on 9562 1821.

Rockdale Readers book group

The next meeting of the Rockdale Reader's book group will be on 20 November 2009. The group will be discussing Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.
If you have read this book, feel free to come and join the discussion.

The group meets on the 3rd Friday of the month at 5.30pm. This will be the last meeting of the Rockdale Readers group for 2009. The group will meet again on 19 February 2010.

If you would like to join the group in 2010 please contact Natalie on 9562 1821.

Big Storytime Christmas Party

Calling All Preschoolers!!!

Join us for the
Big Storytime Christmas Party
Tuesday 8 December 2009
at 11 am
Rockdale Town Hall
448 Princes Highway

Music, Crafts, Face Painting, Food and Santa



Parents and carers: Please bring a small present, with your child's name attached (from Santa)

1st Wednesday book group

The next meeting of the 1st Wednesday book group will be on 4 November 2009 at 10.30 am. The group will be discussing Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. If you have read this book please come along and join in the discussion.

The last meeting for 2009 is
2 December 2009 - Miss Ambar Regrets - Jon Cleary

The group will start again in March 2010.

If you are interested in joining the book group in 2010 please call Natalie on 9562 1821.

Man Booker Prize 2009

The winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize is

Hilary Mantel for her novel Wolf Hall

For more information please visit the Man Booker Prize website

Rockdale Readers book group

The next meeting of the Rockdale Readers book group will be on 23rd of October 2009. The group will be discussing Breaking the Bank by Carol Baxter. If you have read this book please come and join the discussion.

The last meeting for 2009 will be on 20 November 2009 and we will be discussing The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

The Rockdale Readers meet on the 3rd Friday of the month at 5.30pm, except for the next meeting. If you are interested in joining, please call Natalie on 9562 1821.

Prime Minister's Literary Award Shortlist

The shortlist for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards was announced on 18 September.

The Fiction List is
Murray Bail - The Pages
Geraldine Brooks - The People of the Book
Richard Flanagan - Wanting
Peter Goldsworthy - Everything I Knew
Sofie Laguna - One Foot Wrong
Nam Le - The Boat
Joan London - The Good Parents

The Non-Fiction List is
James Boyle - Van Diemen's Land
Brian Dribble - Doing Life: a Biography of Elizabeth Jolley
Jenny Hocking - Gough Whitlam: a Moment in History
Chloe Hooper - The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island
Evelyn Juers - House of Exile: the Life and Times of Heinrich Mann & Nelly Kroeger-Mann
Marilyn Lake & Henry Reynolds - Drawing the Global Colour Line
David Marr - The Henson Case
Don Watson - American Journeys

For more information please visit the Prime Minister's Literary Awards website.

Grandparents Mornings at the Libraries

Calling all grandpas and grandmas to join us for
special Storytimes, celebrating grandparents.

We will be reading stories about grandparents and
grandchildren, enjoying a morning tea and doing a
wonderful craft. A facepainter will be visiting as well, so
be sure to mark these special occasions in your calendar.

Grandparents Mornings are being held on the following dates:

Tuesday 20 October 2009, Rockdale City Library
448 Princes Highway, 11am

Wednesday 21 October 2009, Rockdale City Library
448 Princes Highway, 11am

Thursday 29 October 2009, Bexley North Library
24 Shaw Street, Bexley North, 11am

Friday 6 November 2009, Arncliffe Library
11 Firth Street, Arncliffe, 11am

Friday 13 November 2009, Sans Souci Library
Cnr Clareville and Russell Avenues, Sans Souci, 11am

Wednesday 18 November 2009, Bexley Library
499 Forest Road Bexley, 11am

Annual Chinese Book Fair

Rockdale City Library

invites you to our

Annual Chinese Book Fair

to help us select Chinese books, CDs, DVDs and talking books for children and adults

Thursday 8 October 2009

11am - 5pm

Rockdale Town Hall

448 Princes Highway, Rockdale

If you would like more information please call Stephanie on 9562 1824

1st Wednesday book group

The next meeting of the 1st Wednesday book group will be on 7 October 2009 at 10.30am. The group will be discussing Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. If you have read this book please come along and join in the discussion.

The following meetings and books are
4 November 2009 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick
2 December 2009 - Miss Ambar Regrets - Jon Cleary

We will also be working on the list of books to read in 2010. If you are interested in joining the book group in 2010 please call Natalie on 9562 1821.

Public Holiday Closures

Rockdale Library and the branches at Arncliffe, Bexley, Bexley North and Sans Souci will be closed on Monday 5 October 2009 for the Labor DayLong Weekend.

Usual opening hours will resume on Tuesday 6 October 2009.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Man Booker Prize 2009

On 8 September 2009 the short list for the Man Booker prize was announced.
The list is

A. S. Byatt - The Children's book
J. M. Coetzee - Summertime
Adam Foulds - The Quickening Maze
Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall
Simon Mawer - The Glass Room
Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger

The winners will be drawn on 6 October 2009.
For more information visit the Man Booker Prize website

Book Chat Friday

The Rockdale Readers Group have recently started meeting to discuss books they've been reading through out the month. Book chat Fridays happen on the first Friday of the month at 5.30pm. It is an informal discussion about books and reading in general. We occasionally organise book swaps to introduce us to new authors.

Anyone who has an interest in books and talking about them is most welcome.

The next meeting will be on Friday 2 October at 5.30 in the Committee Room. We will discuss our favourite 19th Century classic.

If you are interested in joining please contact Natalie on 9562 1821

1st Wednesday book group

The next meeting of the 1st Wednesday book group will be on 2 September at 10.30am.
The group will be discussing Romulus, my father by Raimond Gaita.

If you have read the book and would like to join in the discussion, please come and join us at Rockdale Library.

For more information please call Natalie on 9562 1821 or see the webpage

Rockdale Readers book group

The next meeting of the Rockdale Reader's book group will be on 21 August 2009. The group will be discussing The Time Traveler's Wife.

If you have read this book, feel free to come and join the discussion.
The group meets on the 3rd Friday of the month at 5.30pm.

Book Chat Friday

The Rockdale Readers Group have recently started meeting to discuss books they've been reading through out the month. Book chat Fridays happen on the first Friday of the month at 5.30pm. It is an informal discussion about books and reading in general.

Anyone who has an interest in books and talking about them is most welcome.

If you are interested in joining please contact Natalie on 9562 1821.

Author Talk - Grace Karskens

Grace Karskens will introduce her book The Colony: A History of Early Sydney.

This book offers a fresh, vivid, highly readable account of early Sydney.

When: Thursday 27 August, 1.30 pm
Where: Rockdale Council Chambers
448 Princes Highway, Rockdale
Cost: Free entry with light refreshments provided
Call: Rockdale City Library 9562 1821, bookings essential

The Constant Reader bookshop will be providing copies of the book for sale.

Grace Karskens can sign your copy if you wish.

This talk has been rescheduled as Grace was unable to come on 9 July.

Author Talk - Denise Young

Denise Young will be introducing her book The Last Ride

The Last Ride is a fast-paced and profoundly moving story of a man who has lived defiantly outside the laws of society, the tough choices his son is forced to make, and the power and the price of love. (from http://www.deniseyoung.com.au/book.html)

When: Thursday 30 July, 1pm

Where: Rockdale Council Chambers

448 Princes Highway, Rockdale

Cost: Free entry with light refreshments provided

Call: Rockdale City Library 9562 1821, bookings essential

Books will be available for sale and signing.

The movie of this book was released in July and stars Hugo Weaving.

Rockdale Readers

The Rockdale Readers book club will be meeting this Friday 17 July 2009 at 5.30 pm.
We will be discussing Benang by Kim Scott.

If you have read Benang, feel free to come along.

If you would like more information or are interested in joining either of our bookclubs please call Natalie on 9562 1821

Author Talk - Cancelled

Due to the Author's ill health, the event which was advertised for Thursday 9 July is now cancelled.

It will be rescheduled later in the year.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

Miles Franklin Award Winner

On Thursday 18 June 2009 the winner of the Miles Franklin Award was announced.

The winner is Tim Winton for his novel Breath.

For more information, visit the Miles Franklin Award website

Author Talk - Grace Karskens

Grace Karskens will introduce her book The Colony: A History of Early Sydney.

This book offers a fresh, vivid, highly readable account of early Sydney.

When: Thursday 9 July, 1pm
Where: Rockdale Council Chambers
448 Princes Highway, Rockdale
Cost: Free entry with light refreshments provided
Call: Rockdale City Library 9562 1821, bookings essential

The Constant Reader bookshop will be providing copies of the book for sale.

Grace Karskens can sign your copy if you wish.

Author Talk - Karina Machado

Rockdale Library and Community Information Service
presents
A talk by Karina Macado introducing her book Spirit Sisters.

Spirit Sisters is a collection of stories of paranormal experiences gathered from women across Australia.

Monday 22 June 2009
1pm

Rockdale Council Chambers

448 Princes Highway, Rockdale NSW 2216

Books will be available for sale and signing.

Angus & Robertson Bankstown will be providing copies of the book for sale.

Free entry with light refreshments provided.

To book for this event please call 9562 1821

Review Your Items and Win

Congratulations to Iman Sayed and Robert Trisley who were the winners of Borders Gift Cards.
They have won a $25 Borders gift card for reviewing their items in May.

You can read all the reviews through the catalogue, under the Recently Available menu.

Review your loans via our catalogue in the library or on our website at http://library.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/.

Public Holiday Closures

Rockdale Library and the branches at Arncliffe, Bexley, Bexley North and Sans Souci will be closed on Monday 8 June 2009 for the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend.

Usual opening hours will resume on Tuesday 9 June 2009.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Library Week Face Painting and National Simultaneous Storytime

Preschoolers and their carers are invited to celebrate Library Week at our Storytime sessions at the following branches:

Tuesday 26May - Rockdale Library, 448 Princes Highway, 11am
Wednesday 27 May - Rockdale Library, 448 Princes Highway, 11am
Wednesday 27 May - Bexley Library, 499 Forest Road Bexley, 11am
Thursday 28 May - Bexley North Library, 24 Shaw Street, Bexley North, 11am
Friday 29 May - Arncliffe Library, 11 Firth Street, Arncliffe, 11am
Friday 29 May - Sans Souci Library, Cnr Clarevill and Russell Avenues, Sans Souci, 11am

Storytime is always lots of fun and during Library Week face painters will be visiting our Storytime sessions. If you'll be visiting any of our Wednesday sessions, you will also be part of National Simultaneous Storytime where libraries all across Australia will be reading "Pete the Sheep" by Jackie French at 11am. See you there.

NSW Premier's Literary Award Winners

The winners of the NSW Premier's Literary Awards were announced on Monday 18 May 2009.

The winners are:

The People's Choice Award - Steve Toltz - A fraction of the whole
2008 Book of the Year - The Boat - Nam Le
Christina Stead Prize - Joan London - The good parents
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non Fiction - Chloe Hooper - The tall man: death and life on Palm Island

For the winners of the poetry, children and youth prizes and judges comments please visit the Premier's Literary Awards website

Scribblers WA Literary Competition

Scribblers - the Mandurah Murray Writers group based in Western Australia have announced the opening of the 2009 Literary Competition. Entries close 31 August 2009.

There are 2 categories - Prose and Poetry. The competition is open to Australian writers.

For more information and the entry form please visit the website

Rockdale Readers book group

The Rockdale Readers book club will be meeting this Friday 15 May 2009 at 5.30 pm. We will be discussing The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

We had an interesting discussion at our last meeting on the 17 April about Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom.

If you have read The Lovely Bones, feel free to come along.

If you would like more information or are interested in joining either of our bookclubs please call Natalie on 9562 1821

Biggest Morning Tea at Arncliffe Library

Thank you to everyone who came to morning tea at Arncliffe Library on 7 May 2009.

The day was a great success, with tea/coffee and cakes served all day and money being raised for the Cancer Council.

Thank you to Rachel, Donna and Carolyn for organising the day and providing the cakes.

Law Week 11 - 17 May 2009

Law Week is 11 - 17 May 2009

Rockdale Library and Community Services

Presents a talk by
Roger Harkin from Owen Hodge Lawyers,
on

Neighbours, Householders and the Law
Thursday 14 May 2009 at 1pm
At Rockdale City Library
448 Princes Highway
Rockdale, NSW 2216

Free entry with light refreshments provided
Bookings essential, phone 9562 1821

Miles Franklin Award

The shortlist for the Miles Franklin Award was announced on 16 April 2009.

The short listed books are:

The Pages - Murray Bail
Breath - Tim Winton
Ice - Louis Nowra
The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas
Wanting - Richard Flanagan

The Award will be drawn on 18 June 2009.
For more information, or the Award long list visit the Miles Franklin Award website.

Online Catalogue Issues

If you are using Firefox as your browser, you may experience problems using our Online Catalogue. In particular, there are problems with renewing and reserving items.

For the time being, please open Internet Explorer and use the catalogue in that browser. If you use Internet Explorer as your browser when renewing or reserving items there should be no problems.

The problem is being worked on and we will let you know when it is fixed.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Review Your Books and Win!

To celebrate Library and Information Week, 25 - 29 May 2009, Rockdale Library is giving 2 library members the chance to win a $25 Borders gift card.

All you have to do is share your thoughts about an item you’ve enjoyed to go into the draw to win. The winners will be drawn on 29 May 2009.

Find the item you’d like to review in the Library's catalogue
Click on Add your review in the the full item record
Enter your ID and PIN
Your library card barcode is your ID
Your PIN is your date of birth in the form dd/mm/yyyy
Rate the item out of 10 stars
Write your review - the review must conform to the guidelines below to be published and entered in the draw for the prize.

Guidelines
When Adding a Review:
*Use complete sentences, with proper punctuation and capitalization.
*Do not use ALL CAPS
*Use appropriate language
*Don’t use multiple punctuation marks …!!!
*Check your spelling and grammar
*Tell us why you liked or didn’t like the item you are reviewing
For more guidelines please see How to Add a Review

Terms and Conditions
Competition closes at midnight 28 May 2009
Promotion closed to Rockdale City Library staff and relations
Two winners will be drawn randomly by computer
Each winner will receive one Borders gift card to the value of $25. A total of 2 winners will be drawn
Prize not redeemable for cash or other products
Prize can be collected from the branch library of your choice within 28 days of the draw
Library card and ID required to collect the prize
Winners will be notified via phone or email within 24 hours of the draw & results will be displayed at each branch library

1st Wednesday book group

The next meeting of the 1st Wednesday book group will be on 6 May 2009 at 10.30am. The group will be discussing A fortunate life by A. B. Facey.

If you have read this book, feel free to come along and join the discussion.

For more information please call Natalie on 9562 1821

Morning Tea at Arncliffe Library on 7th May

Please join us at Arncliffe Library on 7th May for Australia's biggest morning tea!
This event is to raise awareness and money for the Cancer Council.

There will be cakes and tea and coffee available.
A booksale will also be running all day.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea
Thursday 7 May 2009
10am - 5pm
Arncliffe Library
11 Firth Street
Arncliffe

For more details please phone Arncliffe Library 9562 1816

Public Holiday Closures

Rockdale Library and the libraries at Arncilffe, Sans Souci and Bexley North will be closed on Saturday 25th of April 2009 for the ANZAC Day Public Holiday.

The libraries will reopen at their usual hours on Monday 27th April 2009.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

NSW Premier's Literary Awards

On Tuesday 24th of March the Premier of NSW , Nathan Rees, announced the short list for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and introduced a new prize - The People's Choice Award.
The Awards will be announced on Tuesday 18th May 2009.

The shortlisted Authors are:
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction & People's Choice Award
Helen Garner - The Spare Room
Kate Grenville - The Lieutenant
Julia Leigh - Disquiet
Joan London - The Good Parents
Steve Toltz - A fraction of the Whole
Tim Winton - Breath

The People's Choice Award is voted on by the residents of NSW. You can vote on you choice of the above titles by going to the Premier's Literary Awards website. You have until midnight on 11th May to vote.

For more information or short listed titles for the other categories please go to the Premier's Literary Prize website.

Barbara Jefferis Literary Award

The winner of the Barbara Jefferis Literary Award was announced on Friday 27th of March 2009.

The winner of the award for 2009 is Helen Garner, The Spare Room

The shortlisted novels for the prize were:
Geraldine Brooks, People of the Book
Helen Garner, The Spare Room
Zacharey Jane, The Lifeboat
Toni Jordan, Addition
Joan London, The Good Parents
Alice Nelson, The Last Sky

The award is offered annually for “the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society” (from Barbara Jefferis Award on Australian Society of Authors website)

1st Wednesday book group

The next meeting of the 1st Wednesday book group will be on April 1 at 10.30am. The group will be discussing All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

If you have read the book and would like to join in the discussion, please come and join us at Rockdale Library.

For more information please call Natalie on 9562 1821 or see the webpage

Public Holiday Closures

Rockdale Library and the branches at Arncliffe, Bexley North and Sans Souci will be closed on 10, 11 and 13th April 2009 for the Easter long weekend. The branch at Bexley will be closed on Monday 13 April.

The libraries will reopen at their usual time on Tuesday 14 April 2009.

We apologise for any inconvenience and hope everyone has a nice long weekend.

Rockdale Readers book group

The next meeting of the Rockdale Readers book group will be on
Friday 20th March at 5.30pm at Rockdale Library.
The group will be discussing A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry.

If you have read this book please feel free to come along and join in the discussion. In April the group will discuss Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.

Rockdale Readers is a book group who meet on the 3rd Friday of the month at Rockdale Library. We read a variety of books throughout the year and welcome new members.
For more information, please call Natalie on 9562 1821

Author Talk - Don Tate

Rockdale Library and Community Information Service presents

A talk by Don Tate introducing his book The War Within

This book details Don's life growing up on the outskirts of Brisbane, to his experience as a soldier in Vietnam and recovery from horrific war injuries.

Thursday 26 March 2009

1pm
Rockdale Council Chambers
448 Princes Highway
Rockdale NSW 2216
Books will be available for sale and signing
Free entry with light refreshments provided.
To book for this event please call 9562 1821

Seniors Week

Seniors Week is from the 15th to the 22nd of March 2009.
Rockdale Library has a program of free events during this week.

Computer Classes - Email
Join us on Monday 16th or Wednesday 18th March in the Rockdale Council Chambers at 2pm for a class on using email. We will set up an email address if you don't already have one, send an email, attach a file to our email and look at other uses for our email address. The class will go for 2 hours, some computer experience essential. To book your place, please call Natalie on 9562 1824

Details
Monday 16th March or Wednesday 18th March
2 -4pm
Rockdale Council Chambers
448 Bryant Street
Rockdale NSW 2216

Talk on Wills
Please join us on Thursday 19th March at 1pm for a talk on Wills by a Public Trustee Officer at Rockdale Council Chambers. This will be a talk covering why you should prepare a will. To book a place, please call Natalie on 9562 1824

Details
Thursday 19th March
1pm
Rockdale Council Chambers
448 Bryant Street
Rockdale NSW 2216

Wills Day
The talk on Wills will be followed by a Wills Day. An officer of the Public Trustee will be available to talk to you about the preparation of your will on March 25th. You will have a one on one session with the Public Trustee officer. Sessions run for half an hour. Bookings are essential.
If you are interested in booking your place, please call Natalie on 9562 1824.

Details
Wednesday 25th March 2009
10am - 4pm
Rockdale City Library
448 Princes Highway
Rockdale NSW 2216

1st Wednesday book group

The first meeting for 2009 of the 1st Wednesday book group is on 4th March at 10.30 am. We will be discussing The No. 1 ladies detective agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

If you have read this book and are interested in joining the group please come along. The book for April is All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and will be available after the meeting from the Circulation desk at Rockdale.

For more information please contact Natalie on 9562 1821.

Victorian Bushfire Appeal

Our thoughts go out to the victims of the Victorian Bushfires and their families and friends.

If you wish to donate to one of the various appeals, there are details below.
Official website for Bushfire Appeal is www.redcross.org.au for donations of clothing or money. They can also be called on toll free 1800 811 700
Donations of money can be made to the Commonwealth Bank - www.commbank.com.au

Other organisations taking donations:
Salvation Army - 137 258 or www.salvos.org.au
National Australia Bank bushfire relief appeal - 136 622 or www.nab.com.au
Bendigo Bank www.bendigobank.com.au - Fire and Flood funds
Westpac - bushfire relief appeal www.westpac.com.au

Triple M radio station is holding an appeal from 10am - 6pm today for details go to www.triplem.com.au
Also Channel 9 is hosting telethon Australia Unites: The Victorian Bushfire Appeal from 8.30pm Thursday 12th February

Chinese New Year Celebrations

Kong Hay Fat Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!

Monday 9 February 2009 is the day of the Chinese Lantern Festival. It is also Chinese Valentine's Day.

Celebrations for Chinese New Year and the Chinese Lantern Festival will be held in Rockdale Town Hall on Monday 9 February from 10am to 1pm.

Activities include:

Lion Dance
Calligraphy demonstrations
Lantern riddle competition and draws for prizes
Beijing pancake, noodle & sweet dumpling making demonstrations
Origami of 12 Chinese animals
Gu Zeng (Zither), Yang Qin (Dulcimer) and Er Hu performance
Singing of traditional Chinese New Year songs
Tai Chi performance
Free show bags and lots of lucky draws
Free admission

A traditional Chinese New Year Lion Dance will open the celebrations in front of Council's Administration Building. The Lion Dance will also be performed at King Street Place at 10.30am

For more information contact:
Rockdale City Council Customer Service Centre 9562 1666
St George Migrant Centre 9597 5455

1st Wednesday book group

The 1st Wednesday book group will be resuming at 10.30am on 4 March 2009. The group will be meeting to discuss The No. 1 ladies detective agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Copies of the book will be available in early February.

If you are interested in joining, please call Natalie on 9562 1821 to ensure a copy of the book is available for you.

This group meets at Rockdale Library on the first Wednesday of the month at 10.30am.

Baby Rhymetime

Babies and toddlers from 6 months to 18 months and their carers are invited for weekly half-hour sessions of songs, finger plays & rhymes, starting 2nd February 2009.

These sessions are on:

10.30 am Mondays at Bexley and Rockdale Branch Libraries

10.30 am Wednesdays at Arncliffe, Bexley North & Sans Souci Branch Libraries.

For more information please see the Baby Rhymetime Flyer .

Australia Day

Rockdale Library and the branches at Arncliffe, Bexley, Bexley North and Sans Souci will be closed on Monday 26 January 2009 for the Australia Day long weekend.

We apologise for any inconvenience and hope everyone has a nice long weekend.

The libraries will reopen at their usual time on Tuesday 27 January.

December winners

Congratulations to Christine Jenkins, Lifeng He & Wahida Rahman who are our December winners of the Borders book vouchers. They have won a $25 borders gift card for renewing their loans on the web during December 2008.

Renew your loans via our catalogue in the library or on our website at http://library.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/.

World Book Online

These World Book Online products are available for use in the library and from home


World Book Advanced - More than 1.3 million pages of primary source documents–books, documents, selections–fully integrated with the encyclopaedia content. Research and teaching tools include timelines, citation builder, and saved research.


World Book Student - The premier online reference source. With thousands of articles, state-of-the art multimedia, editor-reviewed Web sites, periodical content, and more!


World Book Kids - With content from the award winning World Book Student Discovery Encyclopaedia, the site offers simpler navigation, thousands of colourful illustrations, diagrams, and maps, and dozens of activities tied to national curriculum standards.


World Book Discover - World Book's differentiated instruction site features read-aloud and translation capabilities, more video, and clear, easy-to-read articles.

To Access World Book Online
Log into your Library Account at http://library.rockdale.nsw.gov.au
Enter:
Your library card number in the ID box
Your date of birth entered as dd/mm/yyyy in the PIN box
Click on Login
Click on My Database to view World Book Online products
Click on the icon of the product you wish to access.

Rockdale Readers book club

The Friday night book club will be starting again on 16th January 2009 at 5.30pm with a discussion of The Secret River by Kate Grenville.

The group meets at Rockdale Library on the 3rd Friday of the month at 5.30pm.

If you would like more information or to join the book club please phone Natalie on 9562 1821.

Happy New Year

The staff at Rockdale Library & Community Information Service would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2009.
We look forward to seeing you in the library during 2009.