Piha Library News June 2014

Working Bee- Sunday June 29th at 10 am

It's that time of year again! The windows need cleaning, the deck needs scrubbing, lightbulbs need replacing! So on Sunday June 29th at 10am we'll be holding our annual working bee.

Many hands make light work, and we would appreciate your help.  If you can lend a hand please email pihacommunitylibrary@gmail.com  to let us know.

 

July School Holidays at the Piha Library

Book Reading with Stacy Gregg- Saturday 12th July at 1.30 pm

We are very excited to announce that Stacy Gregg, author of popular series Pony Club Secrets and Pony Club Rivals, will be visiting the Piha Library on the second Saturday of the July School holidays to read from her latest book "The Princess and the Foal".  Don't miss this opportunity to meet a best-selling, award winning author.  Visit our website for more information.
 

Facepainting Workshop - Sunday 13th July at 10 am

We are looking at hosting a Basic Facepainting workshop with the awesome people from BodyFX at the Piha Library on Sunday 13th July. For this to go ahead we need 15+ people. Visit our websitefor more information.  If you or your children are interested in taking part please email pihacommunitylibrary@gmail.com by Monday 7th July.
 

Colouring Competition

Visit the library during the school holidays and take part in our colouring competition.  We are open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursday Afternoons and Saturdays.

New DVDs

Awesome DVDs have arrived in time for the holidays.  Visit our website to see them now. Remember, you can always ask our librarians to reserve DVDs for you if they are out when you visit the Library.

Volunteer Librarian Needed for Thursday Afternoons

Can you help?  We are looking for another lovely local to help out at the library one or two Thursdays a month.  If you would like to volunteer with us please send us an e-mail. 

Piha Library News May 2014

Piha Library Working Bee

It's that time of year again! The windows need cleaning, the deck needs scrubbing, lightbulbs need replacing! So on Sunday June 29th at 10am we'll be holding our annual working bee. It would be wonderful to have you there. If you can help in anyway please email us at pihacommunitylibrary@gmail.com to let us know.

Piha Kids art for Mother's Day

A big thank you to the kids of Piha Preschool for their fantastic portraits of their mums- visit the Piha Library to see these beautiful pictures by our budding young artists.

Car Boot Fair - thanks from the Library Trust

The Car Boot Fair went ahead on Easter Saturday even though the weather wasn't the best. There was a good turnout of hardy car boot sellers and treasure hunters who came along and braved the squalls. Despite the weather the event raised approximately $1400 towards the replacement roof and library running costs. A big thank you to everyone who helped our fundraising endeavour, and especially to Marilyn who ran the event for the Trust.

Piha Library Thursday after-school Session

Did you know that on Thursdays the library is open from 3.30-5.30 pm? We know how busy weekends can be, so this session was set up to make the library more accessible to children living in the Piha, Karekare and Anawhata area. It's also a good opportunity for those working out of Piha to pop in and get a book or a DVD for the weekend.

Piha Oral History Collection "Storybooth"

We want to expand our collection of local history on Piha and you can help. We have set up a 'Story Booth' at the library to collect your stories and anecdotes about Piha. We have postcards available for you to fill out with any story you would like to share relating to this area. You can fill these out at the library, or feel free to take a postcard home with you to ponder over your story. The postcards will be displayed in the library and later put together as a record of a piece of Piha history. Postcards will be available at the library during May and June. Please come and share your story with us.

Piha Library News March 2014

Book Fair a big success!

A big thank you to everyone who helped out, and made the Book Fair a great day for our community.  This fantastic event raised $2500 to go towards the running costs of the library.

A special thank you is due to our generous sponsors!  

Thanks to our local sponsors Blairs on the Beach, Piha Real Estate, Piha Cafe, and Black Sands Lodge.  And thanks also to those a bit further afield, Kings Plant Barn Henderson, Oratia Native Nursery, Blossom Flowers and Gifts Point Chev, and Amplifier design New Lynn.  And thank you to our wonderful publishers and bookshops for the high quality books they generously donated for the fair, Random House New Zealand, Scholastic New Zealand and University Bookshop Auckland.  

We really appreciate the support you showed our little community library!

 

April School Holidays- Activities at the Library

We aim to have a fun School Holiday Activity for our junior members during each term break.  For the past two years these activities have been coordinated by one of the local mums in a voluntary capacity, but as she has now returned to work we are asking the wider community if they can volunteer some time to help with this.  

If you can volunteer to help out with one activity, between us all we could put together an awesome programme for the rest of the year for our local kids.  

Please contact the Library Manager by email if you can help.

 

Fantastic New DVDs and Books have arrived!


Don't forget to visit our New Books and New DVDs pages on our website.  These pages are updated regularly as new items are added to our collection.

 

 

Piha Library News December 2013

Christmas Hamper Fundraiser- Raffle Tickets on sale next week

Many thanks to those who have already contributed generously to our Christmas Hamper- it is looking fabulous!  If you still have something you would like to donate there's still time to do so this weekend.  

Raffle tickets for this gorgeous hamper of goodies, and a beautiful gingerbread house, will be on sale from Monday next week.  Tickets will be $2 each or $3 for 5.

Don't miss out on a chance to win these fabulous raffle prizes.

 

Book Fair 2014

Planning for our annual Anniversary Weekend Book Fair is underway.  Mark the date of Saturday 25th January on your calendar!  

Fabulous new and second-hand books, DVDs and magazines for sale, as well as a free-range organic sausage sizzle, face-painting and more.

Help Needed

Donations of Raffle Prizes

Helpers and face-painters on the day 

If you would like to get involved or can help in any way please let us know.


Christmas Activity Hour at the Library

On Monday 23rd December at 11 am we will have a Christmas Activity Hour at the Piha Library.  

Get in the mood for Christmas with a Christmas themed storytime, songs, and a Christmas decoration craft session.  

All welcome.  We look forward to seeing you there.
 

Great new DVDs for Kids for the Christmas Holidays

We have some exciting new DVDs going out onto the shelves this Saturday, including two Christmas favourites. Visit our New Kids DVD page to see all our new DVDs for kids.
 

New DVDs for Adults

A range of fantastic New Release DVDs will be available at the Library from Saturday.  Visit our DVD page to see all our new release DVDs.  Make the most of our great DVD selection over the Summer holidays.  


 

 

Piha Library News November 2013

We Need Your Help with Our Fundraisers

Christmas Hamper Fundraiser

As Christmas approaches we are asking for donations of non-perishable grocery items for our Christmas hamper raffle. We have a lovely basket to fill with goodies, so if you have any items to donate please drop them off at the Library by December 8th.  Raffle tickets for the hamper and for a beautiful Gingerbread house will be on sale from December 9th.  Please help us make this a successful fundraiser.


Piha Library Book Fair Planning Meeting

We are also beginning our planning for our annual Anniversary Weekend Book Fair.  This is a wonderful community event, and the biggest contributor to raising much needed funds for the library.  Our first planning meeting will be on Wednesday 20th November at 7pm at the Piha Community Library.  Please come along if you would like to get involved, or contact us if you would like to help but can't make it to the meeting.
 

Other ways you can help:

- Odd Jobs - do you have a tall ladder?  We are looking for someone to change some very high lightbulbs!
- Christmas and Summer Holiday Activities at the Library - We are currently looking for someone to run a Christmas activity and another Summer holiday activity in January for our junior members.  

Let us know if you are interested in helping out.


Check out our Kids Reviews

Did you know that we have a page with book reviews by kids?  Our junior members can submit their own reviews and we will post them to the library website.  We'd love to receive your child's review of great books they have read from the Piha library, so visit our reviews page to find out more.
 

New DVDs

We've just added some fantastic new release DVDs to our collection, including Danny Boyle's "Trance" and the stunning "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". Visit our DVDs page to catch up with all the DVDs that have been added this month.  When you like us on Facebook, we will keep you up to date with when new Books and DVDs are added to the collection.  You can also post your own comments about Books and DVDs you've enjoyed.
 

Congratulations to the winner of our Rialto Cinemas Double pass giveaway

Congratulations to Mike Smith, winner of our October Film Festival promotion giveaway!  A double pass to Rialto Cinemas is on the way to you.

A big thank you to Rialto Cinemas for their generous donation. And thank you to everyone else who borrows DVDs from us, it is one of our biggest fundraisers 

Piha Library News October 2013

Piha Library Film Festival and Rialto Cinema Double Pass Giveaway

We are excited to announce that all our wonderful Film Festival DVDs have now arrived.  If you borrow one of our specially marked film festival DVDs in the month of October you will go into the draw to win a double pass to Rialto Cinemas Newmarket.  Our thanks go to Rialto Cinemas for their generous donation. Winners announced in the first week of November.

Visit our website to see the wonderful arthouse and foreign language films on offer this month. 


October School Holidays

Create your own Monster Competition

These school holidays we are asking our junior members to create a Monster, and enter the draw to win a book prize.  All monsters will be on display in the library throughout the holidays.  One prize for each category (Under 6 years, and 6 years +).  Prize winners will be announced at the end of the school holidays.


Basic Weaving Workshop for Children

Monday 7th October 9-12.30 pm.  This Workshop is suitable for ages 7+.  Koha at the door.  Places are limited so please register by e-mail at pihacommunitylibrary@gmail.com.  

Visit our website

for more information.


Introductory Weaving Workshop for Adults

Sunday 27th October, 10-3pm.  This workshop is designed for beginners and covers the basics of traditional harvesting and raranga (weaving). Come along to the Piha Community Library, and learn to weave a beautiful, functional waikawa basket.   Investment is $50.00.  Places are limited so please register with Stephanie Tong, by phone: 0221409432 or e-mail: aotearoa.steph@gmail.com

For a full description of this workshop visit our website.
 

Piha Library Book Club

The next Book Club meeting is Tuesday 8th October at 7.30 pm at the Piha Library. 

Visit our website

 for more information. All welcome. We look forward to seeing you there.  


Open Forum at the Piha Library

Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions?  If so, come along to our next Open Forum, which will be on Saturday 5th October at 9 a.m.

 

Piha Library News September 2013

Piha Community Library Trust AGM this Saturday 7th September

From 3.30pm at the Piha Community Library.

All library members welcome.  Come along and have your say in things happening at the library.  It''s also a great opportunity to meet the incoming trust members, and say farewell to long- standing trustee Alberto Bonini.


October School Holidays- Activities at the Library

Weaving Workshop for Children- Monday 7th October from 10am.

More details available on the website shortly.


New DVDs

In the User Survey you asked for more foreign language and arthouse films, so this month we are holding our own International Film Festival.

These DVDs will be arriving shortly.  Check out the fantastic selection of new DVDs here.


Piha Community Library Book Club

Last month we had the first meeting of the Piha Library Book Club.  We decided that we will catch up monthly, for a fairly informal discussion of books that we have read and really enjoyed.  Anyone is welcome to come along.  We will be meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, at 7.30 at the Piha Library.. Please bring along a book you have read that you'd like to recommend.

Like us on Facebook, and you can keep up to date with things happening at the library, including reminders of when the Book Club is meeting.

Fundraiser- Mural Artwork Poster for Sale

A beautiful and colourful A3 poster with all the Mural Artworks created by our local children, in conjunction with local artist Beck Wheeler, is now for sale at the Piha Library.  

Only $10, all proceeds towards the materials for the beautiful mural in the Kids's Area of the library

 

 

Piha Library News August 2013

Readers and Writers Festival- Don't Miss the Last Event This Sunday

This Sunday 4th August the Piha Community Library presents widely published Maori Poet Robert Sullivan and Award-winning screenplay Writer and Director Stephen Sinclair in our final Readers and Writers Festival Event.  Acting as MC is two-times AFTA award-winning actor Mark Mitchinson, and respected current affairs and political journalist Rachel Smalley will be interviewing.

This promises to be another fascinating and entertaining event.  Don't miss out!.  From 2pm at the Piha Surf Life Saving Club.

Visit our website  for more information or like our Facebook page to go into the draw to win a ticket to Sunday's event.

Piha Community Library Trust AGM

On Saturday 7th September at 3.30pm we will be holding the Annual General Meeting of the Library Trust at the Piha Community Library.  All library members are welcome to come along and have their say.

We welcome registrations of interest in becoming a Trustee.  Visit our website for more information.

Open Forum

It’s your library and we welcome your comments and ideas, so on Saturday 10th August at 9am we will be holding an Open Forum at the Library. 

These forums are held at the library on the first Saturday of the month on alternate months to give you the opportunity to have a say in things that are happening at the library.

For a full list of dates for our Open Forums visit our Upcoming Events Page.

Illustration Workshop at the Piha Community Library

As part of the Storylines festival of New Zealand Children's Writers and Illustrators Dylan Horrocks, New Zealand's most celebrated Graphic Novelist, will be taking an illustration workshop at the Piha Library on Saturday 10th August at 3pm. 

This workshop is suitable for children 8 years and over.  Tickets are only $25, and are available from the Storylines Website. 

This is an inspiring festival and we are very proud to be able to offer this opportunity to our younger members.  Find out more on our website.

Fabulous new Magazines at the Piha Library

Many thanks to our library members for the donations of fabulous magazines, such as Taste, NZ House and Garden, North and South and Metro.  Our magazines are next to the New Books stand.  Check them out when you are next in the library.

New Books and DVDs

We have added a large number of new books and DVDs to our collection.  You can find out what's been recently added on our website, or you can like our facebook page to receive regular updates with new additions, book and dvd reviews, and all our news.

Facebook Competition Details

Like our facebook page, and go in to the draw to win a ticket to our last Readers and Writers Event this coming Sunday. Winner will be contacted by Facebook message by 5pm on Saturday 3rd August.

 

Piha Library News July 2013

Readers and Writers Festival- First Event This Sunday 2pm

Local icon Bob Harvey interviews acclaimed New Zealand novelist and poet C.K. Stead and celebrated comic screenplay writer and newspaper columnist James Griffin at the Piha Surf Life Saving Club.

A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon on the wild West Coast.

See the Upcoming Events page on our website for more information.  


July School Holidays- Activities at the Library

Taking inspiration from the winners of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, there will be a Junior Fiction Storytime on Thursday 18th July and Picture Book Storytime and Activity hour on Wednesday 24th July at the Piha Library during the holidays.

See our website for more information.


New DVDs

We have added new DVDs to our collection.  

See our website to find out  our new release DVDs for this month. 

 

New Release DVDs - Take Part in our Facebook Poll

Visit our facebook page and tell us which of the selected DVDs you'd like to borrow from the Library - we will purchase the most popular DVDs for our collection in August.


Magazine Donations Wanted

In the User Feedback Survey conducted over the summer our members asked for more Home, Design, Gardening and Lifestyle magazines.  

We are looking for someone who holds a subscription to one of these types of magazines, who might be interested in donating older magazines to the library to add to our magazine collection.  If you can help, please email us at pihacommunitylibrary@gmail.com

 

Piha Library News June 2013

Saturday Librarian Urgently Needed

Our recent survey told us that Saturday is our most popular day, but without enough Librarians we may have to look at reducing our hours.

Are you interested in volunteering at the library, or know someone else who might be?

Visit our website for more information.  

Open Forum- This Saturday 1st June at 9am

It's your library and we welcome your comments and ideas, so on the first Saturday of every alternate month we make time to hear what you have to say.  

Come along this Saturday and let us know what you think.

Piha Readers and Writers Festival- Line Up Announced

This year is shaping up to be another exciting line-up for the annual fundraising Readers and Writers Festival.  Confirmed guest speakers are C.K.Stead, Robert Sullivan and Stephen Sinclair.  

Find out more information on our Upcoming Events page.

Library Facebook Page

Like us on Facebook, and keep up to date with when new Books and DVDs are added to the collection.  You can also post your own comments about Books and DVDs you've enjoyed.

Piha Library News May 2013

Working Bee this Sunday 5th May- Half an hour or half a day- any help appreciated!

There is a huge amount of work involved in the upkeep of the library. This autumn we are asking the community to lend a hand to help keep our library in good shape. The working bee will begin at 1pm and continue till 4pm when we will bring out the afternoon tea to say thank you to everyone who has helped out. Tasks that need to be done include cleaning the library interior, dusting, window washing, vegetation maintenance and scrubbing the library deck. Rain or shine, we will still be able to get stuck into many of these tasks. If you can help in any way we would love to hear from you by e-mail at pihacommunitylibrary@gmail.com.

If every adult member gave us one hour of their time this year, this would nearly total 1000 volunteer hours- just think what we can achieve if everyone does a little bit to help!

User Survey Now Closed- Congratulations to our Prize Winner

Many thanks to everyone who participated in our User Survey. The feedback we have received will help us manage the library collection, identify areas where we can improve the service we provide to the community, plan for the future and apply for funding.

Congratulations to our competition winner, Celia Ryan, who has won free DVD hire for one month.

New TV Series DVDs have arrived

We have had a huge order of DVDs arrive in the past month, with lots of excellent TV Series coming through.  Over winter you can now catch up on what has gone on in earlier episodes of popular series such as Game of Thrones, Revenge, Once Upon a Time, Dexter, Luther, The Wire, The Hour, Mad Men and more.  Check out our new arrivals here.

Remember that TV Series DVDs are now issued for 14 days to give you lots more time to get through all the episodes.

Piha Library News Easter 2013

Piha Library Closed on Public Holidays

Did you know that the Piha Library does not open on Public Holidays? This means that unfortunately the library will not be open on Easter Monday.

The great news is that we are open on Easter Saturday from 10am-3pm. So if you would like to get any books or DVDs for the long weekend make sure you do so during this time.

New DVDS have arrived

When you're next at the library please check out our fantastic selection of new DVDs, or you can browse new adult DVDs and new children's DVDs on our website.

Remember, if these DVDs are already on loan, you can reserve them, and we will call you when they are returned to the library.

Wishing you all a relaxing Easter weekend,

From everyone at the Piha Community Library

Piha Library News March 2013

It has been a busy and successful summer for the Piha Library.  The library has hosted a number of successful fundraising events including the fun and ever-popular annual Anniversary Weekend Book Fair, and an inspiring Creative Writing Workshop with author Brigid Lowry.  Funds raised at these events, and other fundraising endeavours, will go towards the mural soon to be mounted in the junior area of the library, and the upkeep and maintenance of the library building.  We will be holding our annual Readers and Writers Festival fundraising events in July and August and any funds raised from this will go towards the library roof, which will shortly need to be replaced.  We really appreciate the support of our community at all our fundraising events.

Maximum Borrowing Limits Increased

Over the summer we trialled increasing the maximum borrowing limits, and this has proved to be so popular that the decision has been made to make these changes permanent.  View our new maximum borrowing limits here.

DVD Hire - New and Improved Lending

Have you looked at our DVD section recently?  We have a fantastic range of all the new releases, and a wonderful selection of older movies and TV series.  You can view our recent releases here or visit the library and check out our collection yourself.

We have made a few changes recently to make borrowing DVDs from the Piha Library even better:

5 x $3 DVDs for $10

You can now take home any 5 of our $3 DVDs for just $10.  This includes all movies and TV series older than 6 months.

Our new release DVDs remain at $5, but remember that you can keep these new releases for 7 days.

TV Series DVDs 14 day hire

We have now extended our TV series to 14 day hire, so that you have enough time to watch all the episodes. (All other DVDs remain 7 Day Hire)  Keep an eye on our TV series section for some excellent series coming through, including Game of Thrones.

Survey Period Extended

In January we began gathering feedback from our members to plan for our future and apply for funding.  Many thanks to those of you who have already taken part in the survey.  Unfortunately participation has been slower than we had hoped, and we will therefore be continuing with the survey until we have received feedback from a greater proportion of our membership.  If you haven't done so already you can take part in our survey online, or alternatively you can fill out a hard copy when you are next at the library.  Thanks for your help with this.

April School Holidays

Looking ahead we have some exciting events lined up for the April School Holidays.  On Saturday 20th April we will open to the public the "Absurd Animal" mural artwork created by 20 of our younger library members in collaboration with local artist Beck Wheeler.  We would like to invite all members of the community to come along and see the wonderful artwork of our community's budding artists.  There will be a sausage sizzle, and the opportunity to purchase Beck's book "How Absurd", and also her fabulous art for children that has previously only been available through her website: www.kissykissykids.com

In the second week of the holidays on Thursday 2nd May at 4pm we will have a school holiday activity.  In conjunction with the National Primary Science week this activity will be all about SCIENCE!  See our upcoming events page for more information.

Piha Library Working Bee

There is a huge amount of work involved in the upkeep of the the library so this autumn we are asking the community to lend a hand with a working bee.  This will take place on Sunday May 5th.  There is lots to do , and we would love to hear from you by e-mail if you can help in any way.

Piha Library News February 2013

Creative Writing Workshop with Brigid Lowry

On February 14th from 7.30 - 9 pm we will be holding a Creative Writing Workshop with award-winning author, poet and short story writer Brigid Lowry.  Brigid teaches creative writing and she will share her writing process and techniques from her book "Juicy Writing".  This is a great opportunity for would-be writers to get inspiration and tips from someone experienced in the creative writing process.

This is a fundraiser for the Piha Community Library.  Tickets are $20 per person.

Please call Glenda on 8128834 to confirm a place, or for further information.

Book Fair 2013 - A Big Success 

Last weekend we held our annual Book Fair fundraiser on the deck of the Library.  The Fair was a huge success, raising over $2000 for the library.  Part of these funds will go towards the new mural that is being constructed for the Junior area of the Library, and also towards the many costs involved in the running of the library.

Many thanks to everyone who helped and who came along and supported the library.

You can view images of the Book Fair and of many of our other past events on our past events page.


Piha Library News January 2013

Piha Library Book Fair

Saturday 26th January 2013 - 10 am -3 pm

Following on the success of last year, we will be holding another Piha Community Library Anniversary Weekend Book Fair in January 2013.  

Once again we will be selling quality new and second-hand Books, DVDs and Magazines, and have more fabulous raffle prizes up for grabs.  There will be face-painting for the children, an organic free-range sausage sizzle, with drinks and delicious fresh berry ice cream for sale.

This is a wonderful community event.  We hope to see you there.

New Website Launched

We are very proud to bring to you our brand new website.  This has been a real community effort, with contributions from many members of our community, and beautiful photos and artwork supplied by talented locals Craig Levers, Steve King and Beck Wheeler.  Huge thanks to the very talented Piha-based web-developer Michael Dunstan from Ely Technology (www.elyt.com) for helping us pull together the fabulous new website. 

User Feedback Survey

With the launch of our new website, we are also launching a new User Feedback Survey.  Take part in the survey online and enter the draw to win free DVD hire for one month.  

It's easy to do, and won't take very much of your time.  You will also be helping us provide a better library service to the community.

New DVDs have arrived

Just in time for the holidays we have a wide selection of New Releases.  Browse DVD titles recently added to our collection.

Mural Creation Workshop with Beck Wheeler

This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for our younger members to work with local artist Beck Wheeler to create a mural for the Junior Section of the Piha Community Library on Sunday 20th January.  There are still a few places left so hurry to confirm a place now.

Fundraising Raffle Winners Announced

Congratulations to our Raffle winners Tegan Molony and Poppy McGrath.  And a big thanks to all the community for supporting this Library Fundraiser.

Piha Library News December 2012

Fundraising Raffles at the Library

An amazing Gingerbread House and a Christmas Hamper full of goodies are now up for grabs in two Library fundraising raffles this holiday season.  

Tickets for these wonderful raffles are just $2 and are on sale now.  Tickets are going fast, so don't miss out!

The Gingerbread House Raffle will be drawn on Saturday 15th December and the Christmas Hamper Raffle will be drawn on Saturday 22nd December.


Make sure to bring some change next time you visit the library to go into the draw to win these fabulous prizes to take home for Christmas.

Summer Holiday Activities for Kids

We are delighted to be able to offer two events for our younger members at the Library during the Summer Holidays:

Christmas Activity Session

Thursday 20th December - 3.30 pm

Storytime, singalong and Christmas Decoration Activity Session at the Piha Library.  Come along and get in the mood for Christmas!

Cartoon Character Design Workshop and Mural Creation with Local Artist Beck Wheeler

Sunday 20th January 2013 - 10 am - 3pm

Beck will read from her Children's Book "How Absurd".  Following this from 10am-12pm she will run a workshop where children will design and draw their own character.  From 1pm-3pm Children will help Beck paint their characters and these will be incorporated into a mural mounted in the children's section of the Library.  (This activity is suitable for children aged 4-12 years old)

Registration for this is essential.  Find out more here.