Good News!!

Council has some fantastic new developments to share with you. On Monday 21 February, it decided to convert the Town Hall on Stirling Highway to an interim Library and Council Chamber. If everything goes according to plan, the library service will hopefully be back in Claremont by the end of the year.  This is exciting news.

This will re-establish a presence in the Town that will enable us to re-connect to our legion of faithful library members who have been so supportive since the fire.

The Library will offer, on a smaller scale with a boutique style, the old favourites - adult, young adult and childrens books, music CDs, DVDs, magazines and newspapers - and also a new Community Hub that people will want to visit to relax, use their own laptops or attend community programmes.

There will be an emphasis on new technology, for example, wireless internet and self service checkout.  There is a lot work to do, but we are so excited and enthusiastic to begin this next part of the journey.



Claremont Town Hall on Stirling Highway

Baby Rhyme Time and Storytime are here again...

Carol has started Baby Rhyme Time sessions at the Grove Library, every Wednesday at 10.30am to 11.00am. Bring along your little one (0 to 2 years) and enjoy rhymes and songs.

With the new school year just starting, Carol has re-introduced Storytime at the Grove also. It is held every Friday from 10.30am to 11am, school terms only. Storytime is aimed at 2 to 5 year olds, so come along, share some stories, sing a few songs and join in a craft activity.

Kathy has commenced her Books on Wheels program for 2011.

Housekeeping items

As mentioned in previous posts, we are currently reviewing overdue items. In the next couple of weeks we will be sending out overdue notices for outstanding library items that were borrowed before the fire and are still on loan.  Items can be returned to any Western Suburbs Library (Cottesloe, Nedlands, Mt Claremont and Subiaco). Items can also be returned to the Station Master's House at the railway station, 39 Gugeri Street, Claremont.

 If it is more convenient to collect requested books from the Station Master's House rather than at other Western Suburbs Libraries, please contact us.

It is with much sadness that we have said goodbye to Paige Wright, Library Officer, who has moved east to begin a new adventure with her husband Matt due to a job transfer. Paige created the Claremont library without walls blog so we say a big thank you! We wish Paige all the best for the future.

Any questions, comments? Either call the Claremont Council  9285 4300 and leave a message for us, or email us at: library@claremont.wa.gov.au

Year 2011 - The year of the Phoenix

Hope everyone had a restful holiday, I know we did. In fact, Kathy and Carol are on leave at the moment, but will be back by the end of this month.

We are so excited for 2011, there will be big things happening for our library this year. Here's an update on whats ahead:

January

The council has completed renovations at the Station Masters House (39 Gugeri St, Claremont). There is a customer service point for library enquiries, and we will be there on and off until February. At this point we are still working from Cottesloe, but we have been able to drop some books for pickup at the Station Master's House. You can also now drop off books for return at the Station Masters House. You can stop by to look at our box of secondhand books for sale. Sale price is a contribution of a gold coin donation which will be used towards rebuilding the library collection.

We have also been accepting book donations. People have been donating popular books in like-new condition, and we are saving them for when the Claremont Library reopens. If a book is donated that we don't want to add to the library collection, we put it in the sale pile. So if you have good quality donations, please contact us to arrange to drop them off. (contact details at the bottom of the blog)

February

By February we should have the Station Masters House library service desk staffed from Monday - Friday 9 to 4 to answer any library queries. We hope to have newspapers and magazines available and a place for people to sit and read them on the front verandah.
In February we will be sending out notices to anyone who still has books out from before the fire to return them. To avoid getting a notice, please return your books ASAP.

The Books on Wheels program for 2011 will start up at the beginning of February.

March

In March we will be looking at fines again for overdue books, so if you have any outstanding items, make sure you find and return them by March.  There have been no fines charged yet for books out and overdue since the fire.

April

One of the options considered by the Town of Claremont for housing Council operations was the old Town Hall on the Stirling Highway. The Lesser Hall is being used by the Recordds Section.  The Council is looking at using the main Hall to hold Council meetings.  There is a lot of space at the Town Hall, so this may just be an option for us...more news on that later.

Who knows, by May the Claremont Library Without Walls might have walls again!!

....................

So thats the tentative plan for the next couple of months. Any questions, comments, donations?
Either call the Claremont Council  9285 4300 and leave a message for us, or email us at: library@claremont.wa.gov.au