Saturday, July 26, 2008
Storm
Auckland has been lashed with wind and rain this weekend with power cuts, flooding and the rest, from Northland southwards. Our neighbour came over to tell us our power lines were arcing where they enter the house at the apex of our front gable, sending me into a panic. Rang Vector but they havent been round so far. Then rang Geoff who says the worst that can happen is that the power goes off, for which we are not really prepared. The wind seems to have died down a bit, though out west and in Rodney there are a lot of people without power.
Maori Language Week
Went to a Waiata session at work last Friday and learned to sing Manu rere (If I were a bird...) ,a hymn and another song. Another new experience - complete with actions - not as easy as it looks.
End of Year Party at Work
This was the final celebration of the end of the financial year. The theme was stars in their eyes - I just wore my ordinary clothes with a sparkly top and sparkly bag. As usual lots of yummy cold and hot food - finger food, seafood, mini quiches, oysters in bacon (I think), satays, skewered vegetables etc etc. The wine and bubby flowed freely, though I restrained myself until after the presentations to long-serving staff. Duly got my $300 worth of vouchers for Westfield shopping centres and am looking forward to spending them in due course. They handed round chocolates and truffles at the end of the evening for dessert - I have a new favourite - Feijoa chocolates - a white filling inside a big milk chocolate.
30th Anniversary Afternoon Tea at Work
Had a combined celebration/farewell with my colleague Anitha who is going back to India. We had three yummy cakes - I put in an order for an apple cake which was duly supplied, then there was a chocolate one, and Anitha bought a coffee walnut one. There were a lot of people from other departments who came to say goodbye to Anitha and congratulations to me. Being a modest person I had not invited people but did invite Alison Davis at the last minute, seeing we go back the farthest. It was a fun occasion though a bit sad for Anitha.
Waiheke
Went over to Waiheke last weekend in questionable weather, however did what I wanted to do ie pick up my Claudia Pond- Eyley print from the Community Art Gallery. Also went to the market on the Saturday morning - on the bus for the first time in ages and bought some tamarind chutney to take to Germany for Dieter's cousin who likes it a lot, as we do too. Hibernated inside by the fire for the rest of the weekend as the weather deteriorated. Got home OK - the sea was not even very rough.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A New Experience
Today was another new experience for me - I went to the gym for the first time ever. The specialist recommended gentle exercise a few months ago and this YMCA program at $5 a pop seemed to fit the bill. They worked out an individual program for me for today - Did about 8 -10 different things including biking for 12 minutes, stepping for several minutes on a sort of treadmill plus lifting various weights - 2 kg barbells, a 5 kg weight, a ball that weighed 2kg - what a surprise! Tomorrow I go to the first group session - warm-up exercises in a group of Never too Oldies , then work on this individual program which has been tailor-made for my weaknesses.
Friday, July 11, 2008
An Auspicious Day
Yesterday was my 30th anniversary in the library, which I duly marked by taking in a plum and almond cake from Rocket Kitchen, a box of Roses chocolates and some potato chips. Had been going to make a cake myself but this was less trouble and very very nice. The years have gone very quickly and I have worked with some great people, many of them still friends. I came from Takapuna Public Library, where I had been Cataloguer for two and a half years and before that Deputy Librarian of Hamilton Teachers College Library. This new job was that of Chief Cataloguer and our first priority as a team was to clear a considerable backlog which had accumulated over the months when the vacancy was unfilled. That was in the days of catalogue cards, which were photocopied, sorted and filed each week, a mammoth job. If my memory serves me right we filed cards in the different depts each morning before the library pened. Then there was a master catalogue,a union catalogue, shelf lists. I catalogued the AV material which was mainly LPs and maps in those days, official documents and other things, as well as developing strategies for getting as many books as possible through the section and getting rid of the backlog. We were a hardworking team. Alison Davis was a great support and the NZ and serials specialist. Parallel to our group of cataloguers there was a small team of people working to create short records for the Plessey circulation system. They filled out input forms with limited number of spaces for the few fields of information. Many of these entries are still in the catalogue today, others were expanded after the library went onto Dynix, most were replaced.
In 1983 I was the first person to go on maternity leave as it was called then. I had an inkling of how difficult it would be to combine motherhood and the workaday world on a fulltime basis so when the part time position of Music Cataloguer became vacant a few weeks before I was to leave work I was pleased to be able to be able to do this job when I returned from my six months off. It was a very happy six months and went all too fast. Sharyn Palmer with whom I had worked during an earlier stint in the music dept of the library returned as music cataloguer while I was away and stayed on afterwards. We shared this work and I did other cataloguing too.
Then came a dreaded review and Alison and I were shocked to find that we were affected and were to share a job in the Commerce, Science and Technology Dept on the ground floor. Our children were 7 years old and there were not the childcare options for before and after school care. I took one half of the job and Alison went to Remeura. It was quite an adjustment but we managed. I suppose I enjoyed the change in the long run. The material was familiar from having catalogued a lot of it and there were nice people there . I looked after the Statistics Collection. Louise, CJ and Sujatha were all colleagues in the 1990s.
CST and Social Sciences merged and then after the library was refurbished and extended we shifted upstairs to become Business and Sciences. There had been a competition to name the new department and one suggestion I liked was Suits and Sandals (Stephen Murphy's suggestion). We inherited a lot of New Zealand material from the New Zealand and Pacific Dept which morphed into A+ then ARC , Auckland Research Centre. I seem to remember doing a lot of work incorporating trhese books into our collection and adding copies to our basement holdings.
There was a period of relative stability then another dreaded review. Once again I was affected and found a new haven in the newly widened dept on the Ground Floor, Learning and Recreation. It was a happy time down there with a great boss, Juliana and I was grateful to have a new subject area in the arts and have the opportunity to be close to the music resources and fiction. In hindsight I was very lucky.
Five years later up a few of us went to the first floor to become members of the Information Services team, not without some heartache for some of us, as colleagues were left behind downstairs and others relocated to a fledgling Learning Services team. All's well that ends well however and we have all found a niche to our liking where our talents can be properly shared with our customers and other staff members. Happy days are here again with new team leader Heather with whom it is fun to work.
Ina couple of weeks we are having an end of year party. Another colleague, David Verran and I will be getting some vouchers ( a whole $300!) which is a very generous present from Auckland City. Iam looking forward to spending it at a Westfield shopping centre when I get back from my August sojourn , a cruise up the Danube from Bucharest to Nurnberg . I cashed in one of my superannuation schemes while it was worth something and have blown it on this trip.
Which reminds me of the time I set out on the second of my OEs, after spending 18 months at Auckland Public Library while finishing off my BA. So I actually started work at the library over 40 years ago. Phew. The first library photo I have was taken in the Pt Chevalier Library where I was Acting Branch Librarian for a few weeks. Then I started work in the Music Dept. Sharyn Palmer was already there and has been a lifelong friend and colleague. Alison Davis was a cataloguer at that time too and we saw her assiduously filing cards into the nonfiction catalogue . The lending non-fiction and music was all in one room and we more or less looked after the whole lot, Sharyn, Mrs Smith and I. This was on the ground floor of what is now the Art Gallery on the Wellesley St side. Anyway off I went after graduating on the Angelina Lauro for 4 weeks getting off at Bremen and travelling downto Wolfsburg where I had a job in the public library there (designed by Alvo Aalto). But that is another story.
In 1983 I was the first person to go on maternity leave as it was called then. I had an inkling of how difficult it would be to combine motherhood and the workaday world on a fulltime basis so when the part time position of Music Cataloguer became vacant a few weeks before I was to leave work I was pleased to be able to be able to do this job when I returned from my six months off. It was a very happy six months and went all too fast. Sharyn Palmer with whom I had worked during an earlier stint in the music dept of the library returned as music cataloguer while I was away and stayed on afterwards. We shared this work and I did other cataloguing too.
Then came a dreaded review and Alison and I were shocked to find that we were affected and were to share a job in the Commerce, Science and Technology Dept on the ground floor. Our children were 7 years old and there were not the childcare options for before and after school care. I took one half of the job and Alison went to Remeura. It was quite an adjustment but we managed. I suppose I enjoyed the change in the long run. The material was familiar from having catalogued a lot of it and there were nice people there . I looked after the Statistics Collection. Louise, CJ and Sujatha were all colleagues in the 1990s.
CST and Social Sciences merged and then after the library was refurbished and extended we shifted upstairs to become Business and Sciences. There had been a competition to name the new department and one suggestion I liked was Suits and Sandals (Stephen Murphy's suggestion). We inherited a lot of New Zealand material from the New Zealand and Pacific Dept which morphed into A+ then ARC , Auckland Research Centre. I seem to remember doing a lot of work incorporating trhese books into our collection and adding copies to our basement holdings.
There was a period of relative stability then another dreaded review. Once again I was affected and found a new haven in the newly widened dept on the Ground Floor, Learning and Recreation. It was a happy time down there with a great boss, Juliana and I was grateful to have a new subject area in the arts and have the opportunity to be close to the music resources and fiction. In hindsight I was very lucky.
Five years later up a few of us went to the first floor to become members of the Information Services team, not without some heartache for some of us, as colleagues were left behind downstairs and others relocated to a fledgling Learning Services team. All's well that ends well however and we have all found a niche to our liking where our talents can be properly shared with our customers and other staff members. Happy days are here again with new team leader Heather with whom it is fun to work.
Ina couple of weeks we are having an end of year party. Another colleague, David Verran and I will be getting some vouchers ( a whole $300!) which is a very generous present from Auckland City. Iam looking forward to spending it at a Westfield shopping centre when I get back from my August sojourn , a cruise up the Danube from Bucharest to Nurnberg . I cashed in one of my superannuation schemes while it was worth something and have blown it on this trip.
Which reminds me of the time I set out on the second of my OEs, after spending 18 months at Auckland Public Library while finishing off my BA. So I actually started work at the library over 40 years ago. Phew. The first library photo I have was taken in the Pt Chevalier Library where I was Acting Branch Librarian for a few weeks. Then I started work in the Music Dept. Sharyn Palmer was already there and has been a lifelong friend and colleague. Alison Davis was a cataloguer at that time too and we saw her assiduously filing cards into the nonfiction catalogue . The lending non-fiction and music was all in one room and we more or less looked after the whole lot, Sharyn, Mrs Smith and I. This was on the ground floor of what is now the Art Gallery on the Wellesley St side. Anyway off I went after graduating on the Angelina Lauro for 4 weeks getting off at Bremen and travelling downto Wolfsburg where I had a job in the public library there (designed by Alvo Aalto). But that is another story.
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