FREE ipad sessions in your local library for Get Online Week

Get Online Week runs from 17^th – 23rd Oct 2016.

Swindon Libraries are offering FREE sessions for Beginners who would like to learn how to use their iPad as part of GetOnline Week. Discover the mysteries of tapping, pinching and swiping! Learn how to access the internet to find information on health matters, paying bills online, job seeking, social media using email, online shopping and much more.  Use the camera to take photos. Find out about Cloud Storage. Have a lot of fun!

Sessions will run for 2 hours between 10-12 noon. at the following libraries:

Highworth Library Monday 17^th Oct 2016

Central Library Tues 18^th Oct 2016

North Swindon Library Weds 19^th Oct 2016

North Swindon Library Thurs 20^th Oct 2016

West Swindon Library Fri 21^st Oct 2016

All ages welcome.

Small relaxed groups led by qualified trainers.

***BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT***

What do you need to bring?

The session is aimed at beginners. You will need to bring along your own iPad and it will need to be set up and fully charged. (We will have some to loan for the session if you do not have your own). You will also need also bring your Apple ID and password, in case it is needed.

What does the session cover?

During the session you will find out about the basic navigation skills required for using an iPad, about “Settings” and how to adjust an iPad for personal use. In addition, you can expect to explore online job sites, health sites, shopping, banking, online safety, Youtube and BBCiPlayer. The selection of sites will be decided by learners at the start of the session.

To find out more and to reserve your place contact Joanne Gahan at North Swindon Library on 01793 707129 or 07823525461

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Strategy for future library provision

Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet have approved a library strategy for consultation which would create a core network of libraries including Central, North Swindon, West Swindon and Highworth. The strategy is in direct response to the financial pressures facing the Council and the need to save £1.5m from the library’s budget by 2020.

Details of the strategy can be found on the Swindon Borough Council website at: www.swindon.gov.uk/librariesfuture

The council will be consulting on the libraries strategy with residents across the borough. The consultation will take place from Monday, 1 August – Friday, 30 September 2016.

An online questionnaire  is available from here Copies are also available in all libraries or you can download a copy from here: Future of the library service questionnaire

Drop-in events

A series of consultation drop in events will be held across the borough libraries. These will be for anyone who has any questions regarding the libraries strategy.

Consultation events will be held in the following libraries:

Central Library:
Wednesday 03 August, 10-3pm
Tuesday 16 August, 6-8pm
Saturday 17 September,10-2pm
Covingham Library Tuesday 20 September, 3-7pm
Even Swindon Library Monday 12 September, 10.30-12.30pm
Highworth Library:
Wednesday 10 August, 4-8pm
Thursday 22 September, 10-2pm
Liden Library Wednesday 7 September, 10-2pm
Mobile Library -Route A Wednesday 7 September
Mobile Library – Route B Thursday 22 September                                              (Download pdf of Library routes: Mobile Library Routes 2016)
Moredon & Rodbourne Cheney Library Tuesday 13 September, 10-2pm
North Swindon Library:
Thursday 18 August, 10-3pm
Wednesday 14 September, 4-8pm
Old Town Library Saturday 10 September, 9-1pm
Park Library Monday 5 September, 11-3pm
Penhill Library Monday 26 September, 10-2pm
Pinetrees (Pinehurst) Library Monday 19 September, 10-2pm
Upper Stratton Library Thursday 15 September, 1-5pm
Walcot Library Wednesday 21st September, 9.30-1pm
West Swindon Library:
Tuesday 23 August, 9-2pm
Thursday 8 September, 4-8pm
Wroughton Library Monday 5 September, 4-8pm

There will also be a public meeting held on Tuesday 6th September, 7-9pm at St Joseph’s Catholic College, Ocotal Way, Swindon, SN2 2LR.

If you have any questions that need urgent answers please email:  librariesfuture@swindon.gov.uk

Proposed Library questions and answers

Swindon News article: Strategy for future library provision to go before Council’s Cabinet

The cabinet paper outlining the library strategy, and background details, can be found here

Relevant documents:

• Securing a sustainable future for Swindons Library Services ,
• The future of Swindon’s Libraries, Report on engagement work, 2016,
• Proposed Libraries Strategy and Delivery model – 5 July 2016

Big Friendly Read, Summer 2016 Competition Winners

We thought that all of the entries to this year’s Dahl themed Big Friendly Read Summer Reading Challenge competiton were excellent.We had such a fun time looking at them all, but we thought these were particularly fabulous! Can you see your entry here?

***All winners will be notified individually and prizes wil be available to pick up from the library where the entry was registered.

Many thanks to Freedog, LazerQuest, KidzAbout, Birdland, Butts Farm, Fairytale Farm, who all donated vouchers. Many thanks also to the Wyvern Theatre who generously donated a family ticket to a performance of Gangsta Granny at the Wyvern Theatre.

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The Pantaloons present Romeo and Juliet

The Pantaloons

present

ROMEO & JULIET

 

Romance. Swordfights. Potions. Tragically slow messengers…

The critically-acclaimed Pantaloons give Shakespeare’s tale of ill-fated love a fresh twist!

A delightfully inventive take featuring live music, audience interaction and that famous bit with the balcony.

You’ll laugh until you cry…

  Tuesday 25^th October

2:30pm

Central Library

Regent Circus,Swindon, SN1 1QG

Tickets £4 available from the Central Library or phone 01793 466454

 

 Tuesday 25^th October

 7:15pm

Highworth Library

Brewery St, Highworth, Swindon SN6 7AJ

Tickets £4 available from Highworth Library or phone 01793 463500

 

Performance length: Approx. 1hr 20

 Age suitability: 10+

 

Swindon Open Studios: FREE Art Exhibition at Central Library during the whole of September

As part of this year’s Swindon Open Studios weekends, Central Library is delighted to be once again chosen as one of the venues for this now well-established art event.

Come and meet the Artists: during the weekends of 3rd & 4th and 10th & 11th September seven artists from Swindon Open Studios will be here at Central Library and will be delighted to chat with you about their work, techniques and art in general.

The art exhibition will be on display throughout the whole of September and is open for viewing during normal library opening hours.

Nobody Cares: Forgotten Parts of British Cities – an author talk by Raymond Holden

The Importance of Harry Potter

We had a wonderful entry for our ‘What Harry Potter Means To Me’ competition.  We thought we’d share this with you all:

I remember reading ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ when I was 12 years old. I was gifted a whole set by my uncle who’s a Potterhead himself. To be honest, for the first few days after I read the first book I actually thought my Hogwarts acceptance letter had gotten lost in the mail, and for half a year I checked the mail each morning until it dawned upon me that owls never get lost while delivering mail (perhaps with the exception of Errol) and I was devastated; the prospect of  never getting the acceptance letter, never ever setting foot in those wondrous hallways, never getting lost finding my way through the moving staircases reduced me to tears by the time I had finished the series.

But nothing could ever have prepared me for the twists and turns and the heartbreaks Harry had to endure throughout his life. His parents died trying to protect him he was rendered homeless, without a proper family from the day he was born, battled face-to-face against Voldemort five times and nearly died trying to finish him off every time. His loyalty to his friends and his courage in the face of death is second to none. Thwarted at every turn, his first priority was to check on those he loved and admired and it’s one of the qualities I have strived to inculcate over the years.

J.K Rowling taught the entire wizarding world that no-one is inherently moral or immoral, it is their choices and the path they wish to follow which shapes their destiny, nothing is prewritten or predefined – this is what Harry did from the very first day at Hogwarts at the Sorting. Voldemort’s soul demanded Harry should be sorted into Slytherin but he wished to be in Gryffindor. An Albus Dumbledore saying comes to mind: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” In spite of his grief throughout the course of the books, Harry remained the kind and empathetic person he was from al
l those years ago. Harry, more than anybody has taught me that my past experiences, however negative they may be, do not dictate my actions in the present or even in the future. No doubt his brushes with death hardened him for the final push, so too I regard the disappointments I’ve faced as obstacles before the final sprint to the finish line!

So as I begin my yearly Harry Potter reread, a practise I have followed for the past five years now, the point where the whole school rises against the Dark Lord will forever be etched in my mind, a microcosm of all the fights against tyranny across the globe, and if there is anything the two best headmasters of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, have ever taught me is that love triumphs against hate and only will happiness be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light! 

By Vedang Joshi

Vedang wins a copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’.

Free Computer Courses in your local library.

Swindon Libraries are offering FREE computer courses for Beginners who would like to learn how to use the Internet. Using your own laptop or one of the library computers, you will learn how to use a search engine to find information on health matters, paying bills online, job seeking, social media using email, online shopping and much more. Sessions run for 2.5 hours one morning a week for 6 weeks.

Courses will be running from this September at the following four libraries:

Central, North Swindon, West Swindon and Park Library.

No previous experience necessary.

All ages welcome.

Small relaxed groups led by qualified trainers.

No exams or tests, just lots of support and encouragement in a friendly atmosphere.

No Such thing as a silly question!

We are also running separate courses for anyone wanting to learn how to use their  iPad

To find out more about either course and to book a place contact Joanne Gahan at North Swindon Library on 01793 707129 or 07823525461

 

 

Here’s what some of our recent learners had to say about the course

• My confidence has grown and I enjoyed the course enormously.
• I knew nothing when I started and now I am trying things on my own. It’s great.
• I sometimes feel that I haven’t understood it and then it all seems to make sense suddenly.

Learners from a recent course at North Swindon Library. Left to right: Annette Davis, Angela Lowe, Helen Carey, Charles Gardner (volunteer), Ruth Wilkinson, Jim Ludlow, Diane Ludlow.

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Poetry Swindon Festival 2016

Family Pirate Themed Yoga Sessions at the The Central Library

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Swindon Shuffle at Central Library

Saturday 16th July 2016: 12 noon – 3pm
Central Library SN1 1QG

As part of this year’s Swindon Shuffle 2016 Music Event, Central Library will be the venue for an afternoon of quality acoustic music featuring performances by:

12:00-12:30       Bradley Cowtan
12:45-13:15       Jordan Marvell Music
13:30-14:00       Oli Norman
14:15-14:45       Auralcandy

This FREE event will take place from 12 noon to 3pm in the Central Library Court Yard area. All Welcome! The perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!!