Author: Craig Johnston

Festival of cultures 

// What's on

Join us in celebrating the diverse cultures we have in the community! 

The mobile library will be at the Festival of Cultures World Food, Craft and Music Fair.  There will be Community Language books to discover and check out. Talk to us about the digital resources in different languages available through the library! 

From the 15th of February Global Parents Support have a Traditional Costumes around the World display at Central Library. View special traditional garments and pick up an entry to their colouring in competition. Entries will also be available at the Community Libraries.  

There will be some cultural immersion book displays at the libraries and you can watch World movies and documentries for free through  

Beamafilm | Watch movies, series and more … 

Kanopy – Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries 

Don’t forget you can share your photos from the Festival of Cultures on  Manawatū Heritage – Manawatū Heritage (pncc.govt.nz).   

Festival of Cultures 

Lantern Parade 

Friday 23rd February 

5pm-9.30pm 

Te Marae o Hine- The Square 

World Food, Craft and Music Fair  

Saturday 24 February 

10am-4pm 

Te Marae o Hine- The Square 

Festival of Cultures World Food, Craft and Music Fair 2018: Photo by Rob Edwards accessed on Manawatū Heritage. 

Lunar New Year 2024

// What's on

During Lunar New Year, communities all over the world participate in different celebrations. Lunar new year typically starts when the first new moon appears until the first full moon, the start date various between cultures. Lanterns, decorations, traditional food, fireworks and red envelopes are just a few traditions followed during this time hoping to bring prosperity for the new year.  

If you follow the Chinese zodiac you will know that the year 2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon. The characteristics of the Wood Dragon include confidence, creativity and determination and the Year of the Dragon is a symbol of strength, luck and success.   

This year Global Parents Support have a display about how the Lunar New Year is celebrated around the World! Come and see it on the First floor at the Central Library before the 12th Feb. 

Click on a book cover in the image below and it will take you to the Library catalogue record for that book. 

Lunar-new-year-books-blogDownload

Waitangi Day

// What's on

How much do you know about Te Tiriti? Do you know who translated Te Tiriti? Do you know how many copies were made? Come into the Central Library to test your knowledge.

We are running a quiz from Wednesday 31st Jan to Wednesday 7th Feb. Find the Tino Rangatiratanga flags spread out around the library to help find answers to the questions.

Once you’ve completed the quiz, you can enter the draw to win a prize.

Here are some useful websites to find information on Te Tiriti.

The Treaty of Waitangi – Archives New Zealand

Treaty Resource Centre – He Puna Mātauranga o Te Tiriti (trc.org.nz)

The Treaty in brief – The Treaty in brief | NZHistory, New Zealand history online

Waitangi Tribunal | Waitangi Tribunal

Kāinga – Wai 262, Protecting and Nurturing Taonga Māori

Activity Books from Te Papa

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/waitangi_activity_book_a4.pdf

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/waitangi-day-activity-book-maori-a4.pdf

Books Just Want To Be Held

// Library News

Like most of us, library books just want to be held. Holds are free at Palmerston North City Library, and it’s a great way to make sure you don’t miss a popular title. You can also place a hold on a book to bring it from another location. For example, if you’re at Ashhurst you can put a hold on a book that’s at Central, and it will be brought out to you.

Here are some ways to place a hold:

  • use the Place Hold button when you’re browsing the library catalogue. Just enter your card number and PIN, select the pickup library, click ‘Place Hold(s)’ and you’re done!
  • ask a librarian next time you’re at one of the library locations
  • contact us on 06 3514100 or at pncl@pncc.govt.nz

Whichever method you use, you’ll receive an email when the book is ready to be collected. Then you have 10 days to pick up the item.

Show a library book some love today!

Tips for using ‘My Account’

// Books

While the Library app is unavailable, here’s a reminder of some things you can do by logging into My Account on the City Library’s online catalogue.

When you’re logged in, you can search for items, and it’s free to place holds on them. Once you receive a message to say an item is available, you have 10 days to pick it up.

Here are few other hold-related things you might find useful:

  • Going on holiday or have a long wish list?  You can ‘suspend holds’ so that they don’t arrive while you’re away.
  • If you don’t want to place a hold, but simply want to keep track of cool things you’ve spotted, try using My Lists. You can have several different lists with different themes, and then easily go back to place holds later if you desire.
  • If you no longer require a hold, you can cancel it. (Unless you’ve already been notified it’s available, in which case please contact the Library to cancel it for you.) Cancelling an unwanted hold speeds the process up for other people in the queue.

Did you know the system keeps a history of two years’ worth of titles you’ve borrowed? Look for ‘Checkout History’ in the Checkouts tab. You can use this literary time machine to travel back through all the cool books you’ve read!

While we wait for a replacement library app, you can still do all this via My Account.  Save it as a short cut on your computer or device for quick access.

Versions Tuarima – creative writing project

// Library News

Versions is back! Each year we throw open the invitation to local writers to be part of an anthology. We provide the prompt (which you’re welcome to ignore if you don’t need it) and you can submit anything from a poem to a short story to a play. Actually, anything creative – music, visual art, sculpture, dance, anything – we’ll figure out how to include it.

Library staff do the editing and formatting, and then the anthology is published later in the year. All writers get a hard copy of the book, and are invited to bring their friends and family to the launch.

All submissions are accepted (unless they are offensive or plagiaristic). So if you’ve ever wanted to write something and have it published, here’s your chance!

This year’s prompt is as brief as it is broad: earth. This ties in with this year’s Heritage Month theme, so if you’re short on ideas, you could attend some of the Heritage talks and see if they spark something.

You might want to write a poem about Planet Earth. Or a short story where the protagonist builds a rammed-earth house. Go wild with it, and write whatever comes to mind.

As this is the fifth instalment of Versions, it will be called Versions Tuarima. (Rima = five.)

Keep an eye on the City Library website as we get closer to March, and we’ll release details of the submission dates and process.

Until then, start conjuring up ideas!

Blue Smoke

// What's on

On Thursday 8 February, there’s a talk about the 75th Anniversary of the “Blue Smoke” recording release, and 28 Maori Battalion in the Second World War. This talk will be presented by Ruma Karaitiana, Rangitāne Kaumatua and Chair, Rangitāne o Manawatu Commercial Arm.

The talk is co-hosted by RNZE CT/ECMC and Palmerston North City Library.


Central Library, Heritage area (2nd Floor), 12:00pm-1:00pm.

Image: Ruru Karaitiana (songwriter and composer) and Pixie Williams (vocalist)

Library Survey

// Library News

We’re seeking feedback to find out if your library is giving you what you need. Your opinion means a lot to us, and we’ve crafted a survey that’s nice and short, so we won’t take up too much of your time.

Tell us what you like, what you love, and what you’d like to see more of. Any constructive feedback!

Please take a couple of minutes to fill out this quick survey, even if you don’t currently use the Library – we’d really appreciate it.

Random Poetry Generator!

// What's on

The next time you’re in the Library and think ‘I could really use a quick, randomly generated poem right now’, we’ve got you covered!

The Poetry Machine has been coded to randomly select and print a poem from submissions received after we put out a call on Facebook. The ‘machine’ is a repurposed receipt printer linked to a Raspberry Pi and a giant red button (just because). It is housed in a gorgeous old record player box. It’s designed to be ‘plug and play’ so wherever we put it, people will be able to print themselves a random poem to enjoy. 

At present, we have about 60 poems from a range of submitters (newbies through to experienced poets, school children to more mature folk).

The Poetry Machine will be at the Central Library from Wednesday 13th December for about a month (excluding our closed period for the holidays).

Thanks to the poets who submitted. We’re sure your words will delight and inspire!