What will you read this summer break?

Posted by Catherine on 19 December, 2019

Summer is well and truly here!

Many of us are taking some time off, some travelling, some having staycations. Wherever you go (or don’t go) you can always take a book with you. These days, the formats are so diverse but all can transport you to another place and time, inspire you to make great changes or maybe no changes at all.

“Downloadable audiobooks are here” by Lucius Beebe

Good stories can be like friends. They can pick you up when you’re feeling down, make you laugh out loud or bring you to tears. I have one or two novels that I’ve read (well, listened to actually… BIG fan of audio books – you should check out QUT Library’s collections of audiobooks) so many times I almost know them off by heart. They are my comfort reading books. The beauty of an audiobook is that you can be listening/reading while doing something else such as lying on a beach, preparing a Christmas feast or going for a walk after consuming said feast.

Are you the sort of person who likes the look, feel and smell of a physical book? New books especially can build that sense of excitement; that you are the first person to look at these particular pages, the first one to feel them, to read the words that the author has spent labouring over, and sometimes it will feel like they are speaking directly to you.

iPad on a desk with pen, keyboard and mouse

“iPad ereader” by Constance Wiebrands

What about ebooks? Ereaders (think Kindle, Kobo, etc) these days are great for offering you the flexibility of enlarging the text, changing the background colour, the font, personalising your reading experience. Our etextbooks don’t have quite the same flexibility or customisation as an ereader, but are still really handy if you want to get ahead of the game for 2020 and use your summer reading time to learn something new in anticipation of what you will learn or teach next year.

However and whatever you like to read, I hope that you enjoy the summer break and the festive season and may 2020 be your best year yet.

P.S. QUT Libraries will be closed from the 25^th of December and reopen on 2^nd January. Check the website for more details.

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Summer is almost here – Let’s go!

Posted by Catherine on 27 November, 2019

You’ve worked hard all year and the time is right to take a break from work, study and perhaps even the summer heat.

Personally, I love the summer – the long hot days and the balmy summer nights but I also love getting out of the City and heading to the beach. My favourite place to escape to is the Sunshine Coast with its gorgeous white sandy beaches and enticing blue waters. Just remember to swim between the flags and ‘slip, slop, slap, seek and slide’!

For those of you not so enamoured with the beach, the Sunshine Coast Hinterland can be absolutely breathtaking and a cooler area than the coast. Mary Cairncross Park has spectacular views across to the Glasshouse Mountains and beyond. They have a museum and environmental education section as well to learn about all the fabulous flora and fauna in this remarkable area.

The Gold Coast has its own natural beauty with its beautiful beaches and luscious hinterland as well as the added attraction of the theme parks for those adventure seekers.

If you’re looking to go a little further afield, why not check out our collection of travel guides at Kelvin Grove Library. There are online versions of some of the guides too so you can access them wherever you are (with an internet connection of course 😊).

What ever you do or wherever you go we wish you a safe and restful holiday break.

GIF IT UP

Posted on 22 November, 2019

GIF IT UP is an annual gif-making competition for the most creative reuse of digitised cultural heritage material. This year’s 6th edition is run by Europeana in close cooperation with Digital Public Library of America, Digital NZ and Trove.

QUT Library Digital Collections has three submissions created from digitised cultural heritage material.

If you like our gifs please vote for us!

Click here to view OUR gif

Source material: 1. Territet-Glion funicular railway; 2. Children’s party in the grounds of the Herston residence, Coralyn, ca. 1907| Robert Augustus Henry L’Estrange; 3. Glasshouse mtns Beerwah, 1894
| Queensland University of Technology via Trove
The images used by this GIF are sourced from Queensland University of Technology Digital Collections. The Territet–Glion funicular railway image is a postcard from Montreaux, Switzerland and the photo with the young ladies are from the L’Estrange collection. The mountain in the background is one of the Glasshouse mountain images from the QUT Stories collection.
Click here to view our gif

Source material: Unknown people in horse drawn cart and coachman; possibly Chester, England (Bache Hall) Inside grocery shop possibly Kelvin Grove Queensland Harrison’s jams and jellies display | Robert Augustus Henry L’Estrange | Queensland University of Technology
click here to view our gif

Source material: Shot putter; Inside grocery shop possibly Kelvin Grove Queensland; Harrison’s jams and jellies display | Robert Augustus Henry L’Estrange | Queensland University of Technology via Trove

You can view all entries here at GIF IT UP

November 11 is Remembrance Day

Posted on 8 November, 2019

November 11 is Remembrance Day, which commemorates those who lost their lives in war, conflict and military service for Australia.

Traditionally, a silence is observed at 11am on the 11th of November, which comes from the “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”: the time and date that the armistice between the Allies and Germany ended the First World War in 1918.

Remembrance Day is also observed in other nations, sometimes by another name like Memorial Day or Veterans Day. The day is observed in the USA, Commonwealth countries including Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and many Caribbean nations, France, Belgium and Serbia.

Originally known as Armistice Day, Remembrance Day was first meant to commemorate those who died in WWI. But since WWII, the day came to include people who had died in later wars too.

Remembrance Day traditions generally focus on members of the armed forces and military who died in conflict, but other people may be commemorated too. Casualties of conflict or peacekeeping missions include civilian nurses and medical staff, members of auxiliary services (including women’s auxiliaries), humanitarian volunteers, war correspondents and police officers assisting in peacekeeping activities.

Red poppy flowers are used in Remembrance Day traditions, and are a common symbol of commemoration of those killed in conflict. Red poppies grew in the churned-up soil of the Western Front in WWI, and their bright red colour eerily evoked the spilled blood of fallen soldiers.

Remembrance Day ceremonies commonly include the Last Post bugle call, which was used on the battlefield to announce the end of the day’s activities and the time for sleep. It is now also used at remembrance ceremonies and military funerals to signify that the soldier’s duty has ended and they can rest in peace.

Take a moment to view the display at the Kelvin Grove Library on level 3 (pictured above) and feel free to borrow any displayed items.

Anti-Poverty Week

Posted on 16 October, 2019

Anti-Poverty Week 13 – 19 of October

Anti-Poverty Week supports the Australian community to have an increased understanding of poverty and to take action collectively to end it.

For more information about poverty in Australia visit the Anti-Poverty website.

QUT library also has a large number of resources about poverty and you can check them out here.

Seek help @ QUT

If you find yourself in need of financial assistance while you’re studying with QUT, we offer a number of support services to help get you through, just click here.

The QUT Guild Foodbank can also provide basic food items to get you through, they stock non-perishable items, fresh fruit and veg and hygiene products.

Brisbane Writers Festival

Posted by David on 3 September, 2019

Celebrate the written word at this year’s Brisbane Writers Festival, 5-8 September.

Hosted by the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), and various public libraries around Brisbane, the BWF features an impressive program of panel discussions, workshops, performances, and meet-the-writer sessions.

It’s a great opportunity for readers of all persuasions–not to mention students in Creative Writing and related disciplines–to hear local and international writers read and discuss their work. The diverse program comprises novelists, poets, children’s authors, journalists, historians, philosophers, and at least one former Prime Minister.

This year’s line-up includes Brisbane-born Melissa Lucashenko, whose novel Too Much Lip won the 2019 Miles Franklin Award; British author Jasper Fforde, perhaps best known for his highly original novel The Eyre Affair; multiple Walkley Award-winning journalist Kerry O’Brien; and over 150 other writers.

For devotees of Young Adult literature and getting into things for free, the BWF is hosting Love YA, a full day of (free) events at Brisbane Square Library, Saturday 7th September. Meet notable Australian YA authors such as James Moloney, Randa Abdel-Fattah, and Will Kostakis. If you’re not familiar with their books, there’s a good selection in QUT Library’s Curriculum Collection.

The work of many other featured BWF writers can be found in the Library’s General Collection.

Children’s Book Week

Posted on 21 August, 2019

CONGRATULATIONS to the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) 2019 Book of the Year Award winners and honour books! Gritty, contemporary themes are tackled by many books, challenging their readers to contemplate a range of important social issues.

You can access the CBCA website for the Winners, CBCA Short list and Notables list.

The Library has a lovely display of the CBCA books. All titles are available for loan and can be found in the Curriculum area on level 4 of R Block, Kelvin Grove Library.

We also have a Children’s Literature Library Subject Guide where you can read the shortlisted and winning books and follow the links to QUT Library’s online and print copies.

Enjoy Children’s Book Week and happy reading !

Children’s Book Week is coming!

Posted on 15 August, 2019

Reading is my secret power

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) presents annual awards to books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children’s literature. The winners are announced Friday 16 August with CBCA Book Week following from 17-23 August.

The QUT Kelvin Grove Library supports this event with a wonderful display of 2019 Shortlist and Notables titles in the Curriculum area on level 4 of R Block. These titles are available for loan. You can access the CBCA website for the announcement of the Winners, CBCA Short list and Notables list. The categories for book of the year are:

Book of the year: Older readers (ages 13-18 years)
Book of the year: Younger readers (ages 7-12 years)
Book of the year: Early childhood (ages 0-6 years)
Picture book of the year
Eve Pownall Award (factual material, ages 0-18 years)
New illustrator (ages 0-18 years)

Enjoy your secret power and we hope to see you in the Library soon!

Remixing Brisbane’s Past

Posted by Debbie on 2 August, 2019

If you stop in at the Kelvin Grove library, you might see our new display of items from the L’Estrange Collection showcasing life and photography at the turn of the century: kerosene darkroom lamps, photo negatives on glass and a wooden camera as big as a basketball. But if you pull out your smart device, you’ll discover a more contemporary dimension to the display.

The Library has added augmented reality layers to some photos in the exhibition, which you can access by downloading the Zappar app. The AR layers add movement, sound and contemporary context to the historical images, and new augmentations will be added over time so keep your eyes peeled.

Not that this is the first time the L’Estrange images have been remixed — QUT Librarian Greg Steele has adapted some of L’Estrange’s photos for the annual GIF IT UP competition, which you can find in QUT ePrints.

GIF IT Up is a great example of the creative reuse of digitised cultural heritage material. Some gifs bring life to static images, and others add depth and context to their image. Some are pure silly fun, others provide modern perspective or critique their subject.

Moustache by Nicholas Kreutzer from Philadelphia, United States Source: Mikas Petrauskas, George C. Stukas | Kauno miesto muziejus via Europeana

1991 by Zsolt Sarkozi from Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Source material: Oversize Coat for Christmas | John Heywood | V & A via Europeana

Solar System by Monash University Library from Melbourne, Australia

Source material: Transparent Solar System, displaying the planets with their orbits as known at the present day, by James Reynolds, 1844 | Monash University Library via Trove

All the L’Estrange collection images are in the public domain, so they’re free to be remixed, reused and transformed. We encourage you to use them creatively – and @ us when you post your creations online!

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Artistry & Chemistry: The Robert Augustus Henry L’Estrange collection

Posted on 22 July, 2019

While most of QUT’s library collection consists of the expected textbooks, online databases and other learning materials, we also have our special collections – unique collections of historically and culturally significant materials. Currently on display in the Kelvin Grove Library are items from the Robert Augustus Henry L’Estrange collection, generously donated by his family.

Image: L’Estrange Family, circa 1910

Robert L’Estrange (b.1858- d.1941) had a varied and wide-ranging life but he eventually settled with his family in Victoria Street, Red Hill – less than 500m from the KG campus. He was a keen and prolific amateur photographer and his photographic materials from the turn of the century form the basis of the collection.

Image: Unknown lady with rifle and a saltwater crocodile

Hundreds of his photos, taken between 1880 and 1919, have been digitised from the glass plate negatives by QUT Library. They depict life in Brisbane, North Queensland, and other parts of the world at the turn of the century, just when photography was becoming accessible to the at-home enthusiast. His subjects include early Brisbane cityscapes, local shopkeepers at their work, portraits of his family, and even a young girl’s backyard birthday party.

Image: Children’s party in the grounds of the Herston residence, Coralyn, ca. 1907

Image: Petrie Bight showing National Hotel and Customs House, Brisbane, 1900

Artefacts on display include glass-plate negatives, L’Estrange’s wooden Harrington & Co camera, lab equipment for preparing photographic chemicals, and lantern slides that would have been used with a gas-lit early form of projector.

Come in to Kelvin Grove library and check out the displays on Level 2 (underneath the central staircase) and Level 4 (between the fire stairs and the printers).