One a penny two a penny.

Hot cross buns!

Despite being in the supermarket since Christmas, hot cross buns have a long standing connection with Easter. 

Traditionally eaten on Good Friday the cross is seen to represent the crucifixion.  However as with many other christian traditions, historians believe that they actually predate Christianity.  According to Wikipedia crossed buns were eaten by the Saxons as a tribute to the goddess Eostre  with the cross representing the four quarters of the moon.

Christian? Saxon? at least we can all agree that they are yummy.  But don’t buy them from the supermarket, bake your own.  The following recipe was provided by a library staff member, we all tested them this morning at morning tea and they were great.

Julie’s Hot Cross Buns (makes 16 buns)

Mix and froth: 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of hot water, 2 tbs sugar and 1tbs yeast (or Surebake equivalent)
Add 2 cups of flour
Cream together: 100g butter and 1/2 cup of brown sugar
Add: 1 egg, 1½ tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, 1tsp nutmeg, 1tbs mixed spice and 1½ cups of dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currant)
Add: Aprox. 2 extra cups of flour.
Knead
Make into buns to rise.
Cook in a preheated oven at 220°C for 10 minutes followed by 180°C for 5 minutes.
Glaze when cooked with 2tbs of golden syrup and 1 tbs of water (mixed together)

Enjoy!

If you like baking then check out some of the baking books in the library including books on French baking, sugarless baking and Maori baking.

Self-Service for CPIT Sullivan Ave Library

Preparations are under way for the launch of a self service library at the Sullivan Avenue branch of CPIT Library, which services the Trades Innovation Institute.   There will be no circulation desk and no circulation staff, instead staff and students will issue and return their own library material using a Self Issue machine. 

The Library is using  RFID technology which makes it much easier for library users to issue, return and renew material.  RFID also incorporates security measures that will ensure that resources are tracked and don’t go missing.   We are one of only a few New Zealand libraries using this technology.

The library is due to open in the middle of April this year as part of the Student Services building at Sullivan Avenue campus.

The Liaison Librarian for Trades Innovation Institute, Bill Hood , will be on site for a number of hours each day.  The new building  is also shared by Information & Enrolment staff, CPSA, and a student cafe, a computer commons and bookable teaching spaces.

Hidden treasures from the CPIT Artwork Collection on display in the Library

From the CPIT Artworks Collection

To mark the handover of the management of the CPIT Artwork Collection  to the Library, there is a temporary display of four paintings – most of which are usually hidden from general view. 

They will be displayed just inside the main entrance of the library until mid April.  One of the four paintings Bridge over the Kowai (n.d.) by Margaret Stoddart is from the original Collection founded in 1935 by McGregor Wright.

The others include a Rita Angus work  Blythe’s Buildings (1932) which has recently been returned from Te Papa where it was part of the “Rita Angus: Life and Vision” exhibition, the Phillip Trusttum work  Christchurch houses (1973) featured above and Pohutukawa Rina (c1930) by Evelyn Polson.  A campanion  piece Summer Morn (1929) from the same series by Evelyn Polson is currently on show at The Naked and the Nude exhibition at Christchurch City Art Gallery.

So come one and all and see these fabulous works before they are whisked away to seclusion again. 

For enquires regarding the CPIT Artwork Collection please contact Julie Humby at  artcurator@cpit.ac.nz

If you would like to know more about the artists and works featured in this display we have many fine books in the library including Rita Angus: Life and Vision (the book of the Te Papa exhibition);  Rita Angus: An Artist’s Life by Jill Trevelyan and The Painted Garden in New Zealand Art by Christopher Johnstone.

Library draw winners collect their prizes

The winners of the draw held at the Library stand at the Student Services Expo have all collected their prizes.  Gurpreet Singh a Graduate Diploma in ICT student won a watch, a soft toy and a flash drive.  The watch and soft toy  came to us courtesy of Elsevier the academic journal publisher and supplier of Science Direct, one of our science databases. 

The CPIT Library subscribes to two collections within Science Direct, Health & Lifesciences and Physical Sciences collections. 

We have access to aproximatly 1000 full text science journals through these collections.  The journal titles are also  listed in the Library Catalogue and the A to Z journal list.

Congratualtions to Gurpreet for winning the draw and for participating in the Student Services Expo.

CPIT Library hook into buttons craze

The creative staff at CPIT Library spent hours making buttons using copyright free images on machines loaned from the CPIT School of Art and Design.

The buttons were given away to students at the CPIT Students Services Expo in exchange for answering a library related question.  Students were then placed in a draw to win from a selection of prizes including flash drives, watches, meal and coffee vouchers.

Check out the CPIT library Flickr group  for more photos from the library’s stand at the Student Services Expo.