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You are being called on to love your library this Valentine’s Day, February 14.
The traditional day for lovers has been declared Library Lovers’ Day and Wimmera Regional Library will be celebrating.
Some Wimmera branches will be offering ‘blind dates’ with books, wrapping up a book to be sent home as a surprise borrowing, while others will be making ‘perfect matches’, pairing non-fiction and fiction books to offer people a different reading experience.
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Wimmera Regional Library librarian Leanda Elliott said the day offered a chance for people to reconnect with their local libraries and for the libraries to thank their users.
“Libraries offer recreational material, educational material and social opportunities for people who may not get out to other events,” she said.
“We are one of the only services that people can use from birth to old age, and in a lot of smaller communities, we are the only remaining service coming out.”
The Library Lovers’ Day initiative, coordinated by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and launched in 2006, aims to raise the profile of the services which libraries offer. Wimmera branches have participated for the last five years.
Libraries around the Wimmera have events scheduled for February 14, so save the date:
- Dimboola Library will be holding an afternoon tea from 3pm-4pm with a display of romance books.
- Nhill Library and Warracknabeal Library invite everyone to enjoy afternoon tea with staff while discovering some great new books and other resources.
- Horsham Library will hold afternoon tea with special entertainment at 2.30pm.
- Stawell Library will host afternoon tea at 2.30pm.
- Edenhope Library will be encouraging people to discover a ‘Perfect Match’ with a paired fiction and non-fiction book
- Kaniva, St Arnaud and Warracknabeal libraries will have a ‘Blind Date with a Book’. Borrow a gift-wrapped book and discover a new author or genre.
Your libraries at a glance:
- There is one public library service point for every 15 000 people
- More than 171 million items were lent to 8.6 million members of Australia’s public libraries.
- There were more than 112 million customer visits annually, or more than 9 million per month;
In the Wimmera last year:
- 230,168 people visited the library – that’s 4,500 people per week
- 265,114 items were borrowed or 5,100 items a week
- 17,104 people attending a program at the library from Storytime sessions to visiting authors and performers
- Library PCs were used 15,206 times while there were 11,790 free Wifi sessions
- People have access to over 2.5 million items in the SWIFT library consortium collection, and can use their Wimmera Regional Library card to borrow at over 100 libraries across Victoria
- 14,392 items were added to the Wimmera Regional Library collection in 2015/16
- The Wimmera Regional Library Corporation provides library services for Hindmarsh Shire, Horsham Rural City Council, Northern Grampians Shire, West Wimmera Shire, Yarriambiack Shire, and part of Buloke Shire, with 11 branches and a mobile library
- The area serviced is approximately 42,000 square kilometres and the population is approximately 50,000.
Your local library provides free access to information and resources which have been carefully chosen because they are high quality and meet a range of needs.
Not everyone can afford to buy all the books or resources they need and want – that’s why library resources are free to borrow – whether it’s an ebook, an audio book, a DVD, CD or some other resource.
The library has also evolved into a social space to meet, learn, share and relax. At the library you can join a Book Chat group, get resources for a BookClub, hone your skills in a writing group or play scrabble; there are Storytime and Rhymetime sessions and special library programs with visiting authors, speakers and performers - or people can just come in and spend time enjoying the library space and resources.
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