Highlights of New Titles

• Failure is an option - How setbacks breed success. Check Availability

• Indigenous peoples and autonomy - Insights for a global age. Check Availability

• Class, race, gender, and crime - The social realities of justice in America. Check Availability

• Toys to tools - Connecting student mobile phones to education. Check Availability

• Clinical handbook for medical-surgical nursing - Preparation for practice. Check Availability

• No births on Monday - The story of midwifery services in rural and remote areas of Australia from the days before European settlement until the present. Check Availability

• Critical thinking for sports students - Provides the tools to assess, construct and present arguments and to analyse and evaluate material. Check Availability

• When colts ran - Australian fiction. Check Availability

• Moulin Rouge! - DVD Check Availability

• Design to thrive - Creating social networks and online communities that last. Check Availability

• An Introduction to early childhood studies - Provides students and practitioners with a broad introduction to the main theories and issues within the field of early childhood studies. Check Availability

• The making of Julia Gillard - This biography focuses on Gillard’s rise to power and her performance in parliment. Check Availability

• From Moree to Mabo : the Mary Gaudron story - The first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. Check Availability

• Improving students' web use and information literacy - A guide for teachers and teacher librarians. Check Availability

• Mosby's drug guide for nurses - Offers quick access to information on 50 drug classifications and more than 4,000 individual generic and trade name drugs. Check Availability

• Winemaking problems solved - Provides brief, quickly accessible solutions to more than one hundred issues of frequent concern to winemaking professionals. Check Availability

The complete list of new titles is available here

The mystery of the closet....

Imagine finding a walled-over closet while doing renovations in an old building. You break down the wall, uncertain of what you will find. As the dust settles, your eyes can scarcely believe it when they see valuable heritage materials sitting on the shelves.

For the library staff at San Antonio Public Library, this became the reality. The collection was discovered in the library's old building. In 2006, the building was leased to the National Western Art Foundation, which is retrofitting the building. Previously, it had housed the Harry Hertzberg Collection and Circus Museum.

The materials found include valuable artifacts such as letters and photographs from the Civil War, WWII posters and a 1615 edition of the King James bible. Read more detail on the findings, and their historical importance

The mystery of course is why the materials were placed in the closet and sealed tight in the first place... Library staff have begun reviewing library board meetings to try to find out. It is believed that it must have been closed off in the 1950's, the latest item found in the cupboard was a magazine from 1952. Find out more about the mystery of the cupboard here

Highlights of New Titles for 2011

• HTML and JavaScript basics - Provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step introduction to all aspects of HTML and JavaScript programming. Check Availability

• Why didn't anyone tell me? - Collective wisdom on creating a family from conception to birth and beyond. Check Availability

• Here on earth : an argument for hope - An extraordinary exploration of evolution and sustainability. Check Availability

• The Australian stockmarket - A guide for players, planners and procrastinators. Check Availability

• 
• Are natural disasters increasing? - This series includes a wide range of opinions on a single controversial subject. Check Availability

• Mosby's guide to physical examination - A comprehensive textbook of physical examination, history-taking, and health assessment. Check Availability

• Don't say the words / by Tom Holloway - Australian drama. Check Availability
  

• Codgers / Don Reid - Ageing, racism, sexual diversity, inclusion, acceptance - all wrapped up in peoples’ secrets. Check Availability

• Aboriginal Sydney - A guide to important places of the past and present. Check Availability

• Ask me if I'm happy / Peter Bowles - An actor's life. Check Availability

• Birds of the Middle East - The most field-ready and comprehensive guide to the fantastic birds of this region. Check Availability

• The making of Avatar - Check Availability

• The Librarians. Series 2 - DVD Check Availability

The complete list of new titles for this year can be accessed here

Best (overlooked) books 2010

Well, not all of them were entirely overlooked, but we definitely read them during 2010.

Inside Story asked their contributors to write a paragraph about a book they'd read during the year that might not have had the recognition it deserved, and immediately the question became more complicated than anticipated. They decided that the books didn't strictly need to have been published in 2010 - which opened up the field considerably but makes the headline a little misleading. More importantly, "overlooked" turned out to be harder to define than expected. So the selection includes books that might or might not have been overlooked by some or most of us but probably haven't received any literary awards, or not yet anyway.

Here is the list.

Innovation & Libraries

Right around the world libraries are creating amazing programs to encourage new users, and to inspire current patrons to new heights.

Here's some worldwide innovations:

• Sweden have individual ergonomic workstations
• Want to take your dog to the library with you? No problem, they are allowed in public libraries in Scandinavia
• Norway have book boats to bring the libraries to those living on islands
• Within selected Hong Kong libraries reside bookstores; so that you have the option to purchase the ones you like.
• More library innovations are available from here

Even in Australia our libraries are coming up with amazing new ideas and helpful new programs. Some of the winners from the ALIA Library Stars 2010 helped improve areas of children and early literacy, social inclusion, digital citizenship and health and aging. Find out some of the great programs being run here

Mount Gambier Library, South Australia have bikes for hire. The local council has included free bicycles in its sustainable transport plan; these are housed in the library and can be hired from the front desk. All that is needed to loan the bike is a credit card imprint.

All Things Aussie...

With Australia Day soon approaching its time to share some Aussie trivia.

Did you know?

• Australia is considered to have one of the highest concentrations of urban popularization in the world. Despite this urban concentration, Australia has an average of three people per square kilometre, making it one of the lowest population densities in the world.
• Australia is three times larger than the largest island (Greenland) in the world.
• The oldest skeleton to ever be found in Australia was believed to be 60,000 years old. It was that of an Aboriginal male.
• The average Australian will consume 18 beef cattle and 90 sheep in his or her lifetime.
• More of these fun facts are available from this site

We all know that the Australian coat of arms depicts the kangaroo and emu, but did you know why? The kangaroo and emu were chosen to represent a nation moving forwards since both animals are unable to move backwards.
Australian's have made a number of great inventions. Some include:

• bionic ear
• black box flight recorder (we were also the first country to enforce that every plane must have one on board)
• the car radio
• the notepad
• the plastic disposable syringe
• Read more inventions

Additional trivia:

• Australians eat 260 million meat pies every year, around 12 per head.
• Australia is the only continent occupied by just one nation.
• When the English first saw a platypus they thought it was a hoax.
• Visit here for more trivia

Our shortest serving Prime Minister, Francis Forde served term from 6th July 1945 to 13th July 1945 - only 8 days! When Curtin died, Forde took over as Prime Minister until Chifley was chosen. You can find out more about one of our least known Prime Minister's from this site

Library Support For Flood-Affected Students

The Division of Library Services supports all CSU staff and students affected by the recent floods. If you are experiencing difficulty with the delivery of requested library material or the return of library items, please call 1800 808 369.