From the NZ Librarians listserve: It’s about time we had our own tv show.
The humble suburban library takes on a whole new meaning in the ABC TV’s new comedy-drama The Librarians, which starts production in Melbourne on March 5.
A co-production between ABC TV and Gristmill Pty Ltd, The Librarians is the brainchild of actors/writers Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. Married in real life, Butler and Hope will also star in the production.
The six-part series centres on the trials and tribulations of Frances O’Brien, a devout Catholic and head librarian. Her life unravels when she is forced to employ her ex-best friend, Christine Grimwood – now a drug dealer – as the children’s librarian. Frances must do all she can to contain her menacing past and concentrate on the biggest event of the library calendar – Book Week.
The Librarians will also star Roz Hammond (The Micallef Programme, Welcher & Welcher), Bob Franklin (BoyTown, The Extra, The Craic), Kim Gyngell (The Comedy Company, Love and Other Catastrophes), Kate Kendall (Stingers), Heidi Arena (Thank God You’re Here, Blue Heelers), Stephen Ballantyne (Corpse Bride) and newcomers Josh Lawson (BoyTown, Blue Heelers) and Keith Brockett.
Butler and Hope joined forces in 2004 to write and produce 13 short films called Stories from the Golf for SBS. Butler, who will play the lead character Frances, has starred in feature films including BoyTown and Crackerjack, as well as numerous television series. Most recently she teamed with Mick Molloy on the Triple M’s successful ToughLove program.
“We are thrilled to be making The Librarians. With 25,000 books on set we have fabricated the perfect excuse to extend our summer reading, added to which, the children’s library is very handy for cheap childcare, ” said Robyn.
Hope, who will direct all six episodes, is a seasoned performer with feature films such as BoyTown and many television roles including Stupid Stupid Man, Crashburn and TheMicallef rogramme to his credit.
ABC TV’s Executive Producer for Drama Miranda Dear added: “It’s great to be working with such a dynamic comic team. With this series they bring their acute eye for social satire to bear on the world of the library in the most surprising ways. Borrowing a book may never seem as safe again.”
_____
For further information contact:
Kelly Davis
ABC TV PUBLICITY
Ph: 03 9524 2629
M:0413009545
E: davis.kelly@abc.net.au

Yet another addition to the container vs. content debate: http://tinyurl.com/2tqxye
From the article: a fascinating example of putting books to other uses…
“there was no outcry in 2003 when 2.5 million romance novels from the publisher Mills & Boon were buried to form the noise-reducing foundation of a motorway extension in Manchester, England.”

Hi all
Journals and books interfiling and move will be COMPLETE on Level One as of Friday! The call numbers on Level One will be A – end of PN. PQ will start on floor 4. This represents 2/3s of the collection being moved and interfiled. Lynne hopes the interfiling and book shifting will be finished (fingers crossed) by end of April.

Approximately 70 students in two sections of English 112 (Dr. Sarika Bose), will be working on an additional library assignment this term. Dr. Bose wanted them to visit different libraries on campus so we’ve tried to form questions that “force” them to find the items.
They are working in groups of 3-4 on one of the four themes (Alice, Beethoven, Van Gogh, Grail). They are given a copy of the Guide to UBC Libraries and a copy of Getting Started with MLA Style. I’ve placed copies of the assignment in the assignment binder at the desk and I’ll upload the files to the blog as well. The assignment is due on Friday, March 23.
Alice
Beethoven
Van Gogh
Grail

If you’re the sort of careful person who peruses the reshelving project clipboard for updates every day, skip this message.
If you’re more like me, read on. On the clipboard, under the map of Level 1, are two lists:

We now have access to two new humanities databases.
Empire Online is a full-text collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
Sections include:
– Section I: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969
– Section II: Literature and Empire
– Section III: The Visible Empire
– Section IV: Religion and Empire
– Section V: Race, Class, Imperialism and Colonialism, c.1607-2007
Defining Gender, 1450-1910 is a full-text database of primary sources, covering 110 documents (books and periodicals) from the early modern period to the nineteenth century. Supporting material includes introductory essays, biographies, and chronologies.
Sections include:
– Section I: Conduct and Politeness
– Section II: Domesticity and the Family
– Section III: Consumption and Leisure
– Section IV: Education and Sensibility
– Section V: The Body

The journal move and interfiling project is now at LA2128. Kerry anticipates that at some point today they will have finished moving the Level One books, and will start bringing the Ps downstairs from level 4. So… not all books in the Ps will be on level 4 anymore after today. More updates as they are available.

From Bev Richards:
As per my email message of Nov.29
The print station sporadically overcharges. The blog states the “Circulation cannot do refunds under $1.00, they don’t have change”. However, Circulation said they’ll do their best to provide a refund. During the day Mike Monteith has change, so they generally are able to give a refund for smaller amounts. Circulation Div. suggests staff at the Ref. or Jomcr desks write a note to give to the patron. Rather than write a note each time a patron comes to the desk, May has
created a simple form. Please fill in the amount of the overcharge and sign. The forms (pink) will be kept at both desks.
Reminder: the best thing to do is mention to the patron that staff at the Circulation desk MAY be able to provide a refund (under $1) depending if they have change. It’s a case of go and see. No guarantees.
Thanks, Bev

In today’s session (Feb. 14), Mary showed us some Statistics Canada surveys accessible from
The Data Services page–Online Tables and Analysis on the pull down menu.
Some titles of interest include Survey of Household Spending, Health Indicators, Justice Statistics. There is a lot of data here that’s very easy to forget when the reference heat of the moment strikes.
I have added a brief note on the Statistics Canada web page on the GovPubs web site.
Patrick.

In Mary’s gov pubs session today, we looked at statistical tables which are NOT in CANSIM, but which CAN be found online through the data services website (records for these tables are also in the catalogue, but you’d need to know the title to find them.)
On the data services site under “Choose a data product”, select the link called “online tables and analysis”. Mary lead us through these tables:
Inter-war Labour Database (1919 – 1944)

This is a key resource for ECON 490 students who need to find labour stats for the depression years.
Prior to 1945, some labour data existed, but it was fragmented (from a variety of sources, covering only some labour market segments, and using different statistical concepts). This source integrates this early data into a statistical series. See the abstract for more info.

Income Trends in Canada (1980- )

Contains more than 40 cross-classified income tables for Canada, the 10 provinces and 15 census metropolitan areas (CMAs). Major topics included are income distributions and inequality, earnings of men and women, income tax, government transfers, low income and sources of income.
Because we purchase the annual CD-ROM, we have online access- it is not otherwise freely available over the web.

Justice Statistics (1972- ?)

Tables on crime, police administration, adult and youth court activity, the correctional population and transition homes, as well as various issues such as criminal victimization and family violence, drawn from Stats Can surveys (see the abstract for a list of surveys).

Survey of Household Spending (1997-2005)

Detailed expenditures at the household level on a wide variety of goods and services. Also includes dwelling characteristics and possession of household equipment and services.

Health Indicators (1999 -)

Canadian health indicators at the health region and provincial/territorial levels. Maps available for selected indicators.