Cairns Hospital LKC site visit and Bay Leaf Dinner 9th March 2016

Thanks to everyone who attended either the site visit and catch up at the Cairns Hospital Library & Knowledge Centre or the delicious dinner at Bay Leaf afterwards. Another successful and well attended event. Photos at BayLeaf.

If you would like more information about the process or suppliers used by LKC team for their refurbishment or about LibGuides v2 upgrade, contact us at cairns_library@health.qld.gov.au. LKC provides patient and consumer information via pubic resources online page via LKC website. Each LKC speciality (subject) guide, where appropriate, has a "For consumers" tab. If you are looking for consumer health information and resources, go to:

• LKC Public resources page: http://cairns.health.qld.libguides.com/lkc-home/public-resources
• List of specialty (subject guides): http://cairns.health.qld.libguides.com/lkc-home/specialtyguides

ALIA visit to Cairns (non-members are welcome)

There are 2 events. All are welcome to both.

Claudia Davies, ALIA Qld Manager, will talk about ALIA’s wide range of services, to ensure members get the most out of their membership, and answer our questions.

Thursday 8 March

TAFE Library, H Block, 2nd Floor
Entry is near Newton Street, Manunda

Meet Claudia in this recently refurbished library
Light refreshments included
5:30PM for 5:45PM start


Friday 9 March

Mondo Café Bar and Grill
Hilton Hotel, southern end of the Esplanade

Join Claudia for a drink or a light meal
Menu
6:00PM, booked under ALIA

Tablelands Library Gourmet Tour

Thanks to Frances Utzinger, Tablelands Libraries Coordinator for organising a tour of three of the Tablelands Regional Council Libraries branches on Saturday 30 October. The Tablelands Regional Council area boasts 11 library branches, and we visited the Mareeba, Ravenshoe and Millaa Millaa branches. The day of the tour turned out to be a beautiful day for a drive in the country, and a stack of librarians (actually there were 17 of us, some from as far south as Townsville) began the day by meeting at the Mareeba Library branch.

The Mareeba Library branch is well known for being short of space, but thanks to the efforts of branch staff, every available millimeter of space is cleverly utilised. The result is an inviting resource for the Mareeba community. We can only hope that funding will come through in the near future for a new library building. I can imagine how much more the creative staff at the Mareeba Library branch could do for their users if they had more space to work with. I hope I get to visit a new Mareeba Library branch in the near future.

Next stop was Gallo Dairyland to begin the gourmet part of our tour for a reviving morning tea break. I work in a solo technical library, so chatting with librarians from the school, TAFE, academic, and public library sectors was even more delightful to me than my pot of tea and giant Florentine biscuit. Needless to say, with 17 of us, Gallo Dairyland rang with the sound of our voices.

From Gallo we visited the Ravenshoe Library branch. This branch is well laid out, and is truly lovely to visit. Every month the branch showcases different local art and crafts. Despite visiting on a weekend between displays we did get to see a sample of the local talent that wasn't on show. The branch is clearly run by some very dedicated and passionate staff.

From Ravenshoe we drove on to the Millaa Millaa Library branch which had closed for the day by the time we reached it. This is one of the smaller branches in the Tablelands Regional Council area. However, like all small branches in the service, a percentage of their stock is regularly turned over to keep it fresh for their users. This branch was also lovely to visit, and I can imagine retiring to the Tablelands and being very happy having Millaa Millaa Library as my local library branch.

By now we were all ready for our lunch at Mungalli Creek Dairy. Somehow they managed to squeeze us all in on the one long table, and we were served by the loudest and strangest, yet somehow funny waiter. The food had home made deliciousness, and once again we were a raucous group.

And so ended our tour of the Tablelands Regional Council Libraries branches. The day was successful for all, and thanks again to Frances Utzinger for going to the effort of organising the day. I look forward to the next library visit - maybe the Cairns TAFE Library would like to show off their redeveloped branch...?

Best wishes to all

Claire Ovaska

P.S. Apologies for my mediocre photography.

Librarian's variety night

Thanks to everyone who joined us for what could be described as a librarian’s variety night last night.

The Cairns Base Hospital Library tour was very interesting and I was impressed by the size and differing needs of Mary-Anne’s client base served by her efficient and compact library. A job which I am sure keep’s Mary-Ann and her team on their toes. My library is located in an aircraft hangar, so I am quite jealous of the Cairns Base Hospital Library’s beautiful location.

I’d like to thank Karen Mills (ALIA PD Officer) for finding time for us while on holiday in Cairns. Visits like Karen’s do help to make us feel like we are a part of a wider Australian library community. I suspect that as a result of her visit a few of us may even sign up to join ALIA and/or start the PD program. I was also pleased to hear that she is working on making more online PD training courses available to ALIA members.

As usual dinner at the Bay Leaf restaurant was very enjoyable and we only broke up when we realised how late it was. Check out the photos from the night in the right-hand column.

Details for 16 January 2008

Cairns Base Hospital Library Tour
Time: 6pm
How to get there: The library is on the second floor of A Block (the block closest to town). At that time of night, entry will be via the main doors from the Esplanade as the doors to A Block will be locked. From the Esplanade entrance take the lifts to the second floor then wind your way through the corridors to A Block.

FOLLOWED BY

Dinner with Karen Mills (ALIA PD Officer) at the Bay Leaf restaurant
Time: 7pm
Address: cnr Lake and Gatton Streets (across the road from the hospital)

RSVP to Claire Ovaska by 14 January 2008