Unfortunately the Macmillan Brown Library has closed as there is no water to the kitchen and most importantly, the toilets. We hope to be up and running again by 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Jill

The water supply to the Macmillan Brown Library has been turned off in order to fix a major leak in the building. It may not be turned back on until 4:30 or thereabouts. This affects the toilets and kitchen.

Jill

There is maintenance occuring on water connections in the Te Ao Marama complex tomorrow morning, starting at 8am. For H & S reasons (there will be no water to the building between 8am and 12 noon), the Library will not open until 12 noon.

Jill

Anais (pronounced Anna-iss) Jousserand-Shirley is currently working in the Macmillan Brown Library for two days per week as part of the MLIS Practicum (INFO 538). The Practicum is a programme in which a student in one of the LIM programmes at Victoria University of Wellington and an experienced practitioner work together for a specific time period, in this case until Christmas. During this time Anais must produce a Journal and a Portfolio and a Practicum Project Report.

We have hosted 2 previous MLIS students on their Practicum: George Fudge who is currently on a fixed term contract with us cataloguing the architectural drawings collection, and Jeff Carr who is now employed at Archives New Zealand in Wellington as an Arrangement and Description Archivist. It is an excellent way for people lacking hands-on experience in a library or archive to gain some practical experience and a ‘feel’ for the work we do.

Anais is in MB all day Monday and Friday, so please make her welcome should your paths cross.

Jill

Hello to those of you currently working away in the Library Warehouse. If you come over to the Macmillan Brown Centre for morning or afternoon tea, can you please make sure that you wash your own tea and coffee cups etc. There is no tea lady over here and I have received a complaint from staff in the Centre regarding dishes left in the sink for ? to wash.

Many thanks!

Jill

In the past few weeks there has been a fault with the buzzer alarm in the library warehouse that activates just before the lights automatically turn off. This has been particularly problematic for staff working in the MB side who might be halfway up a ladder when the lights suddenly go out without warning. The electricians have been over to investigate and think that the problem is human – individuals actually physically turning the lights out as they leave the warehouse. So please don’t turn the lights off as you leave, they will go off all on their own, but in doing so sound an alarm which enable staff in there to get to a switch before total darkness descends.

many thanks

Jill

I am pleased to announce that Gwen Parsons has been appointed to the recently advertised position of Library Assistant (Wed – Friday, continuing) in the Macmillan Brown Library. Gwen has been working in MB since February 2008 in the capacity of academic year only Library Assistant. Gwen takes up the new appointment on Wednesday, 10 June.

Jill

Some of you may remember the survey that Terri undertook last year as part of her Diploma in Tertiary Teaching which looked at the use of primary resources materials in teaching and learning. An article she wrote as part of that project has now been published in the latest
issue of LIANZA’s New Zealand Library and Information Management Journal – Vol 51 issue 2, April 2009: http://www.lianza.org.nz/publications/journal/index.html

The article is really interesting and insightful. Have a read!

Plates from the New Zealand section of Bank’s Florilegium are currently on display in the Robert McDougall Art Gallery as part the Festival of Flowers. The Library purchased the New Zealand and Society Islands sections of the Florilegium with money donated by the late artist William Sutton. The plates are beautiful and look just fantastic in the setting of the Robert McDougall Gallery. Also on display are a number of the original botanical specimens collected on Cook’s voyage over 200 years ago. If you get the chance, do visit the exhibition, it is well worth it!

An digital exhibition developed by staff at Archives New Zealand and the Macmillan Brown Library has just been launched in the Archives New Zealand’s Christchurch Gallery. The exhibition brings together the private papers and artwork of the Acland family with the public records that document the family’s interactions with the government.

The purpose of this exhibition is to showcase the interconnected roles of the Macmillan Brown Library – Te Puna Rakahau o Macmillan Brown, and Archives New Zealand’s Christchurch office. By bringing together the public and private records of each institution, we are able to show how our collections relate to each other and contribute to a more complete picture of our shared heritage. Utilising resources from different institutions enables researchers to build an holistic view of their subject that more accurately reflects the reality of lived experiences.

Please take a look, we hope this is just the beginning of many further collaborative projects!

http://gallery.archives.govt.nz/v/christchurch