A Life Less Ordinary – Art exhibition by Julie Humby – February 25th -28th March at Chamber Gallery, Rangiora

If you are in Rangiora, over the next few weeks, pop in to the Chamber Gallery which is in the Rangiora Community Library to view an exhibition by our very own Ara Art Curator and Assistant Librarian, Julie Humby.

“A Life Less Ordinary, sees Humby explore the beauty of everyday objects in nature – the poetic potential in the ordinary and the connection that we have with the natural living world, and our relationship with it, through wonder and curiosity.

The exhibition is comprised of objects of naturalia, artificialia, exotica and mirabilia displayed in a manner that references the Cabinets of Curiosity mode of display, referencing and questioning accepted scientific classification as we move into a post disciplinary era.” – (Humby, 2019) .

As part of Julie’s submission for Master of Media Art, this exhibition is well worth a close up look to truly appreciate the enormous amount of work behind the creativity. My favourite is an amazing peacock feather lampshade. What’s yours?

 

South Island Lantern Festival

By Tina, Assistant Librarian

The Christchurch Lantern Festival is back in the heart of our new city, celebrating the Year of the Dog. It runs from the 22nd to 24th February.

You can  experience a taste of Chinese culture amidst hundreds of vibrantly coloured lanterns imported from China. For two evenings the Avon River Precinct will become home to delicious Asian food stalls, crafts and non-stop entertainment including Chinese shadow puppetry, acrobats and Old Tune music by Liao Qiang band from Shaanxi Province.

This is a not-to-be-missed event for everyone!

The Lantern Festival has traditionally been part of Chinese New Year celebrations since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-221AD). Usually held on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, it marks the end of New Year festivities.

See a few photos taken this morning on my way to work at our Manawa campus in our Facebook album.

International Mother Language Day – Thursday 21 February

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage.

You can help us celebrate our diversity by coming to City campus, Library in Madras Street Christchurch to post a favourite proverb or even just a plain “hello” in your mother language on our map.

Our wonderful student assistants in the Library have shared their “hellos”.

It’s mabuhay from Jeffrey.

And namaste from Prutha

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day, Friday 14th February

Join in the fun with Ara Library, City campus on Valentine’s Day by taking out a blind date from the library! How does a blind date of the literary kind sound?

We’ve wrapped some books in brown paper, so that you won’t know the identity of your blind date until you get it home. On the front of the wrapping, you’ll find a clue as to what genre book hides inside.

Be one of the first ten people to borrow one of our ‘blind date books’, like us on our Ara Library page on Facebook and receive a chocolate rose for yourself or your Valentine!

Wanting to know more about Valentine’s Day or looking for a bookish recommendation? Check out what our friends at Christchurch City Libraries have to offer.

TimeOut lists the 100 best romantic movies, how many have you seen?

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt”. Charles M. Schulz

New to Ara? Top ten tips to get set up for study

 

Here are ten tips to get you started with study using My Ara.

1. Download the My Ara app to make it easy for you to access all your resources from any device.
2. Choose Courses and Moodle to see the information and assignments for your courses.
3. Choose Mail and set up forwarding to your preferred email address. That way you won’t accidentally miss information from your tutor. If you scan documents on an Ara computer they also go to your Ara Mail address. So, forwarding means scans go to your personal email also.
4. Choose Office 365 to access 1 TB of storage in OneDrive or install Microsoft Office for free.
5. Download a weekly planner and a yearly planner to organise your time smartly.
6. Click on Primo Library Search to find books, ebooks and more for your assignments.
7. The Library also has a range of How do I guides to using the Library and other Ara resources.
8. Why not try our new Ask Live online chat service for those quick questions. It will save you time ringing or looking up our contact details in My Day.
9. Checkout learning resources , the research subject guide and the information skills subject guide for ideas to tackle your  assignments smartly.
10. Not found the answer to your question here? The Library is open seven days for contact by phone, email, Ask Live and in person. Come and say hi.  Our job is to help you.

Waitangi Day 2019: all campuses are closed

Wednesday February 6th is Waitangi Day. This significant day marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which occurred in 1840 between over 500 Maori chiefs and representatives of the British crown. Waitangi Day has been a public holiday since 1974, and it has been recognised by some as New Zealand’s national day.

Arrival of traditional war canoes at the Waitangi Treaty grounds

All Ara campuses are closed on Waitangi Day, we will reopen at 7am on the 7th February 2019. From all of us in the Library have an excellent day off and we look forward to seeing you on Thursday.