GEORGES RIVER LIBRARIES

On Wednesday 25 March, Georges River Council closed its libraries following advice from the Australian Government, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Georges River Libraries have been working to provide a variety of content available online for our customers to stay connected to this important service. Here are some of the initiatives library staff have made available online:

Hurstville Library and Clive James Library Kogarah have reopened for click and collect services. All other Georges River Libraries remain closed until further notice.

10.00am - 6.00pm Monday to Friday

8.30am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday

To reserve your items using 'click and collect', please visit georgesriver.spydus.com

For all enquiries, email library@georgesriver.nsw.gov.au

The Children and Youth Services team has been busy creating online content for the youngest members of our community. Early literacy is important, so we are bringing Rhyme Time and Story Time to you. Join in, sing loudly and listen to stories with Morgan, the Children and Youth Librarian, three times a week! We also have a range of fun craft videos that you can do at home with your little ones. All our videos are available on the Georges River Libraries YouTube channel.

For primary-school-aged children, we have an After School Book Club and the ever-popular Code Club program. Listen to stories, answer fun questionnaires, and make some interesting craft at our online edition of After School Book Club. Code Club meets each week to share ideas and learn to code using Scratch, a free programming language, to make games and other fun projects. To check out our online children’s programs visit the Georges River Libraries website.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge has come to Overdrive! We’ve worked with Overdrive to make lists of the different books available in the Premier’s Reading Challenge categories you would normally browse in the Library. Head online and tick off your child’s reading list. All you need is your Library card to log in at georgesriver.overdrive.com.

The Georges River Youth Literature Award (GRYLA), a creative writing short story competition, has been established to reflect the aspirations and experiences of young people. The competition is open to high school students from Years 7-12 who live, study or play in the Georges River local government area. For more information and to submit your piece of writing, go to the GRYLA page on the Georges River Libraries website.

Are you an avid photographer or just want to help us record the current pandemic we are all living through? You can help the Georges River Libraries Local Studies Team build a collection that documents how our community lived through this unprecedented time. We invite everyone to participate by sharing photos, video, audio or anything else that tells our story whether it is snapshots of living in isolation, images of empty shelves or streets, or stories of the acts of kindness that are emerging as we come together as a community.

By creating the Living History COVID-19 collection we can ensure that the historical moment we are all experiencing is captured and preserved for future generations. If you would like to add to this collection please email any items or questions to: library@georgesriver.nsw.gov.au.

Georges River Libraries has launched a new online space called BiblioBlog which can be accessed via the library website, and allows residents to connect with library staff online to get personalised recommendations. Avid readers are also encouraged to share their own reading tips which will be published on the site regularly.

And those craving something more tangible are invited to participate in 100 Diaries, a new project unique to Georges River Libraries in which 100 participants will receive a notebook in the post which they will use to document their lives over 100 days. The results will form an exhibition and be retained as part of a new collection designed to document these strange times for future generations. 100 Diaries is open to anyone living, working or studying in the Georges River area so you’ll need to register quickly!

If you have any feedback about any of the library initiatives outlined above, or have a question you’d like answered you can email library@georgesriver.nsw.gov.au