Havelock North Library looks very Christmassy with a new fireplace, complete with stockings on the mantlepiece. 
Christmas is by far my favourite time of year. Although my life is a frenzy of activity at the best of times, Christmas is the one occasion when the frenzy really comes through with the goods. Somehow the Christmas spirit of giving allows me to really unleash my creative side. Surrounded by burning festive candles, listening to good music, and sampling the Christmas sherry (just a little), I am one of Santa’s most enthusiastic helpers.
Ah, the Christmas gifts, the Christmas baking, the Christmas cards I have created in my whirlwind of goodwill and joy.
At Hastings District Libraries we have some great titles that will help you too unleash your inner Christmas elf.
Here is my recipe for a joyous pre-Christmas frenzy:
1. Set the scene with good Christmas music with -
Absolute Best Christmas Album in the World…ever!
Accents: Christmas harp with gentle accompaniment O Come All Ye Faithful – featuring
2. Sing while you gather inspiration from -
Tree top Decorations – Emma Hardy
Wreath making for the first time – Pat Poce & Deon Gooch
300 ways to make the best Christmas ever! – Mimi Tribble
Christmas cards: 100 fast & festive cards & tags – Elizabeth Moad
Christmas Details – Mary Norden
3. Pull out the baking tins and create with -
Christmas - Good Housekeeping Institute
Christmas – Australian Women’s Weekly
Classic and contemporary Christmas Cakes – Nadene
Christmas Made Easy – Mary Cadogan
Celebration: the Christmas Recipes you must have – Kitchen Classics
4. Take a compulsory stop to breath in the pine tree goodness, the baking smells, and admire your creations
5. Reach for the Christmas issue of your favourite magazine and/or add a good Christmas movie to the blend. Try -
It’s a wonderful World
Love Actually
The Family Man
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
The Christmas Specials from The Office & The Vicar of Dibley
6. Christmas is ready and wrapped. ENJOY!
You may have noticed library staff wearing unusual footwear on Friday. All three libraries took part in staff competitions for the best decorated jandals for National Jandal Day, with our gold coin donations going towards Surf Life Saving. More at http://www.nationaljandalday.co.nz/
Be a Super Reader these summer holidays! 
To mark Courage Day Hastings Library hosted the New Zealand premier of An Independent Mind, a 90 minutes documentary directed by Rex Bloomstein, featuring eight free speech heroes and villains from around the world, asserting their rights to express themselves. The telling of this documentary is designed to encourage people to reflect on the importance of freedom of expression with all its attendant complexities, challenges and limits.
At the Landmarks History Group on Tuesday 11 November Michael Fowler talked about "Moving pictures in the Hastings Municipal Theatre".
On Saturday 18 October the Friends of the Library held a MONSTER BOOK SALE in the courtyard of Havelock North Library. 
Photo: Some of the children at Flaxmere Library watching a magic show.
NZ Book Month finished on a high note with another Publisher's Road Show. This was held on 30/09/08 at Havelock North Library and was a great night enjoyed by 65 people. Reps from 5 publishing companies were present, plus staff filled in for one rep unable to attend because of illness.
I have vivid memories of being young, swaying backwards and forwards on my swing bellowing away, conjuring up in my mind a great crowd of admirers gathered to hear my song. I was (in my imagination at least) a famous singer – Tiffany or Cyndi Lauper – working the audience with my wacky hair and groovy clothes. Or, on other occasions, I was in front of the mirror practicing my arabesques wowed into paralysis by my own splendor – surely one day I would be Margot Fonteyn at the Winter Gardens. In my imagination I would be all sorts of things when I grew up, but never, ever in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself as a…..librarian.
Why, I wonder, when my childhood nickname quickly became Bookish Betsy, did it not occur to me that being around books all day would be my perfect vocation?
I guess I didn’t know then what I know now: that being a librarian is really good fun!!! That apart from all those amazing books, as a librarian I get a window into a rich, colourful world of art, culture and inspiration. That as a librarian I work alongside some of the most interesting, humorous, innovative people, with the most diverse array of hobbies. That as a librarian, everyday I meet interesting new people with stories to tell. And best of all, as a librarian my darling little polka dot mary-jane’s don’t look too out of place – in a library, I am free to just be myself. That’s something to sing about!
Next week is Library week and we are celebrating libraries and librarians, so do make sure you pop in and see us.
After all, myths and legends telling of times when supernatural beings lived among humans are read to us as children, and studied from primary school right through to university. We’ve all read or heard about the Olympic Gods ruled by Zeus, and Norse Gods like Thor and the mischievous Loki. Dracula and his undead kin have fascinated and repelled mankind for ages. The book industry cheered JK Rowling when her witches, wizards, house elves and griffins enthralled children and encouraged a whole new generation of readers.
So yes, I’m proud to say I enjoy reading about vampires, shape shifters and werewolves! Hold on to your inner child and let your imagination soar free….
Try these authors:
Kelley Armstrong
Holly Black
Jim Butcher
Charlaine Harris
Kim Harrison
Bill Willingham
Hastings Libraries are celebrating Te Reo this week. If you visit the Library you may hear Te Reo over the loud-speaker, waiata being sung, or you may see signs which have been translated into Māori. 
We’ve had it all go here at the Libraries! Music Month is over and we rolled straight into celebrating World Environment Day and Matariki. We’ve been sculpting, stargazing and harvesting.Next it’s time to celebrate the Montana Book awards and as you know Poetry Day. You will have seen the details of the Hastings District Libraries Poetry Competition and yes, the theme this year is sustainability. Something we should all be familiar with aye? Especially as we can't turn around without hearing about it.
How can you write a poem about sustainability? Well the only limit is your imagination! Any interpretation of this theme is acceptable and here is a list of but a few topics:
Food sources, fuel, waste management, water, footprint, trees, cycling, power, ocean, keep it green, keep it natural, chemicals, environment, earth, climate change, recycling, rubbish, trash or treasure, life changes.
Here’s an old favourite from my childhood that I bet some of you remember well:
Nobody loves me anymore
I’m going down the garden to eat worms,
Long thin slimy ones
And big fat furry ones.
Long thin slimy ones go down easily,
Big fat furry ones don’t.
The big fat furry ones stick to your teeth,
And the juice goes slurp down your throat!
Let those literary juices flow!
Lucy Lit
Hastings District Libraries are again holding a Poetry Competition to celebrate Montana Poetry Day. 
Thursday 5 June was World Environment Day and your libraries helped celebrate this. 
Recycled Mosaic Mural - Flaxmere Library
Monday 26 May - Sunday 1 June
Well Rockers, Mods, Bodgies and all you cool groovers out there, NZ Music Month is underway and we’re boogying down in your Libraries! We love to support our local talent, young, old or in between, and have some seriously talented musicians entertaining us, oops, I mean you, this NZ May Music Month 2008. 
Regular Book Chat sessions are held at Flaxmere Library. Meets every second Tuesday at 10:30am. 
It was the most Spook-tacular holiday programme!
The teens saw library staff in a whole new light (torch light), and a pretty scary lot they can be. We are not sure who had the most fun. 
The Tea with my tapas : a
Italian joy / Carla Coulson.
Saha : a chef's journey through Lebanon and Syria / Greg and Lucy Malouf
It's not about the tapas : around Spain on two wheels / Polly Evans
Honeymoon in Purdah : an Iranian journey / Alison Wearing.
Hi folks, Lucy Lit here.I have only recently come to work in
It was encouraging to see a strong focus on sustainability and the future, with many winning costumes reflecting the designer’s thoughts on recycling, healthy foods and biodegradable materials. May I say, in my humble opinion, the overall winner was well deserved!
For those of you inspired to enter next year’s competition - don’t forget to check out our selection of books on fashion and design. Here are a couple of goodies;
Happy reading for now!
Lucy Lit
Havelock North Library will be holding sessions of songs, poems, stories and crafts for preschoolers from 10:30am - 11am.
Enliven Connect was launched in Hastings Library today. This is a web based information directory specifically for older people in Hawke's Bay. It is organised as a joint project, led by Enliven Positive Aging Services (Presbyterian Support East Coast), in association with local community groups and supported by project partners: Hawke's Bay District Health Board, ElderNet, Hastings District Council, Napier City Council.Enliven Connect gives older people details about a range of local groups including:
Health and disability support groups,
Community organisations,
Fitness and recreation groups,
Relationship and counselling services,
Church and religious groups,
Kaumatua groups,
Links to other relevant places of interest.
Sunday 2 March was New Zealand's Children's Day and a programme "Storytime & Rhyme" of stories and activities was held in Hastings Library. The key theme for 2008 was ‘New Experiences'.
Guest writers entertained an absorbed crowd of over 50 people at the WOW - Words on Wheels Literary Tour 2008, held at Havelock North Library on Tuesday 12th February. The hour long event was co-ordinated by the NZ Book Council and featured talks by five prominent New Zealand writers who each spoke about their latest works.
The speakers were novelist Louise Wareham Leonard, playwright Victor Rodger, oral historian Paul Diamond, poet Michele Amas and children’s writer Ken Catran. Those who attended the event described it as inspiring and dynamic, and the diverse range of speakers was greatly enjoyed by the crowd. Here’s hoping they will visit Hastings District Libraries again on the next Words on Wheels Literary Tour!!!
Click here to go to our Waitangi Day page of resources >>
We also have an excellent collection of books on Treaty of Waitangi topics. These are mainly held in the Maori Section in each of our libraries.
We are saddened to note the death yesterday of acclaimed New Zealand poet Hone Tuwhare.
Sir Edmund Hillary, first to summit Mt Everest with Sherpa Tensing, died in Auckland on Friday 11 January 2008, aged 88. Our deepest sympathy goes to Sir Edmund Hillary's family. A condolence book was available for signing in Hastings Central Library and filled with tributes.
"‘He took Everest by foot; the world by storm; the South Pole by Massey Ferguson’, proclaimed banners advertising a 2002–03 museum exhibition on the life of Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008). The legendary mountaineer, adventurer and philanthropist – whose familiar, craggy face beams out from the $5 note – is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. His 1953 ascent of Mt Everest, the planet’s highest peak, brought him worldwide fame – literally overnight. Dozens of daring adventures followed, including the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1957–58 and a 1977 jet-boat journey up the Ganges River. International lecture tours, books and TV documentaries cemented Hillary’s status as a global celebrity.
Of greater significance, perhaps, was his humanitarian contribution to the Sherpa people of the Himalayas." ...Read more on New Zealand History Online >>
"Before and During Art Deco Times"
The Summer Reading Programme has now finished. These we wonderfully supported in all three of our libraries. Congratulations to all the children who completed the programme and also to the librarians and helpers who organised this awesome event. 
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