There is a lot going on in October!
Did you know?
1 in 5 Australians are affected by mental illness, yet many don’t seek help because of stigma.
We can all do something to help shed a more positive light on mental health.
Here are some links to the various events that have loads of helpful practical information for you or someone you know.
QUT Vintage Book Sale for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
17 October, 12pm–3pm, Gardens Theatre Foyer, Gardens Point campus.
Hundreds of beautiful books will be available for purchase. All proceeds from the event will go to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, to help provide books and literacy programs to remote communities.
QUT Library is celebrating Pride month with a display of LGBTIQA+ literature at Kelvin Grove library.
We have a selection of LGBTIQA+ children’s and young adult literature in our collection and many of our librarians are members of QUT’s Ally Network.
Allies are QUT staff trained to understand sexuality and gender issues and to provide ‘safe zones’, support and referral for staff and students who identify as LGBTIQA+.
At this weekend’s Brisbane Pride Rally & march QUT staff, students and supporters will be marching under a University Unity banner. Join with your work mates, friends or family and march to demonstrate acceptance, unity, inclusivity and support for the LGBTIQA+ community.
The parade kicks off at 10am on Saturday 22 September 2018. Gather from 9:30am at Brunswick Street between Ann Street and McLachlan Street. After some short speeches, the march will make its way down Brunswick Street through the Valley to New Farm Park, and the Fair Day festivities.
Australian Reading Hour
What is Australian Reading Hour? Australian Reading Hour is an initiative supported by the Australian Government, Better Reading and the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund to encourage all Australians across the country to pick up a book and read for one hour on your own or with your children. It is being driven by libraries all across Australia to promote the benefits of reading.
What are the benefits of reading? Well, it helps to increase literacy and numeracy skills and has a positive and significant effect on your work. Reading reduces stress by 68%, relieving stress more quickly than listening to music, going for a walk or having a cup of tea, and we all know that tea fixes everything 😉. The more leisure books people read, the more literate they become and the more prosperous and equitable the society they live in becomes. Reading a gripping novel causes positive biological changes in the brain that can last for days. Who knew that indulging in your fave author or book genre could have a positive effect on society and yourself? When tested for empathy, readers of narrative fiction achieved significantly higher than other groups. With a bit more empathy, our world would be a more harmonious place to live.
Children who know adults who read for pleasure take it for granted that reading is valuable and reading is closely linked to increasing our understanding of our own identities. It was found by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research that reading to children six to seven days a week puts them almost a year ahead of those who are not being read to. So reading to children and encouraging them to read is setting them up for success in life. Isn’t that what every parent wants?
Sounds good. When is it? It’s on Thursday September 20 2018, and the hour and reading material are your choice. Find more information and to register your interest on their website, go to https://www.readinghour.org.au/.
I don’t have a book to read for leisure at the moment. Do QUT Libraries have anything? Yes! QUT Libraries have more than just your textbooks. There are great fiction novels in print and online, for adults and children. Check Quick Find today.
But I prefer non-fiction. That’s okay. QUT Libraries have that covered too. We have autobiographies, biographies, commentaries, self-help books plus a whole lot more. The choice is yours! 😊
Don’t forget, when searching in Quick Find, you can limit your results to books and ebooks only.
The Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) runs from 10-19th August this year. 
For ten days, the Ekka brings together people from the country and city to celebrate agriculture.
Interested in learning more about agriculture, why not explore QUT Library’s collection?
Here are some resources you may like to check out…
Innovation, agricultural productivity and sustainability in Australia [ebook]
Looking for current research in this subject area? Try searching QUT ePrints!
QUT ePrints is an online collection of scholarly publications, higher degree theses and other research outputs produced by QUT staff and postgraduate students. All records can be accessed by the public and a large proportion include a free-to-read copy of the full-text.
QUT Library will be open on the Royal Queensland Show Public Holiday on Wednesday 15th August:
See our opening hours for more information.
QUT Murri-Ailan Way is proud to present Paperbark: First Nation Narratives with Dr Anita Heiss.
Dr Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales and is one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known authors of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature.
A poet, satirist and social commentator, Dr Heiss will be speaking about her work and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pioneers in literature who have inspired her next Wednesday 8 August at QUT Kelvin Grove Library next week (SOLD OUT see below for waiting list email).
If you didn’t manage to get a ticket, we have a number of Dr Heiss’s books available to borrow from the QUT Library including:
Avoiding Mr Right (2008) Offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime, Peta leaves her coastal life and doting boyfriend James in Sydney for a 12 month stint in the ‘fashion capital of Australia’.
Am I black enough for you? (2012) Anita Heiss gives a first-hand account of her experiences as a woman with an Aboriginal mother and Austrian father, and explains the development of her activist consciousness. Read her story and ask: what does it take for someone to be black enough for you?
I’m not racist but– : a collection of social observations. (2017) 
This collection of social observations, thoughts and conversations will challenge the reader to consider issues of imposed and real Aboriginal identity, the process of reconciliation and issues around saying ‘sorry’, notions of ‘truth’ and integrity, biculturalism and invisible whiteness, entrenched racism and political correctness.
Please email: k.csatlos@qut.edu.au to go on to the waiting list for this event
QUT Open Day is this Sunday the 29th July, and it’s the perfect opportunity to explore everything happening at QUT, whether you’re a prospective student or currently studying here.
While you’re visiting QUT, why not catch a free shuttle bus to Kelvin Grove?
There will be tours of the campus and facilities, including the Library and HiQ.
Buses will run every 15 minutes from 8am to 3.45pm
For more details, check out the QUT Open Day Program and create your own customised day plan for all of the seminars and tours you’d like to attend.
What a great theme for this year’s NAIDOC week, celebrating the pillars of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society – the women.
At QUT Library we thought we’d do the same by highlighting a few books and eBooks by some truly inspirational female indigenous authors.
Taboo by Kim Scott:
Taboo takes place in the present day, in the rural South-West of Western Australia, and tells the story of a group of Noongar people who revisit, for the first time in many decades, a taboo place: the site of a massacre that followed the assassination, by these Noongar’s descendants, of a white man who had stolen a black woman. They come at the invitation of Dan Horton, the elderly owner of the farm on which the massacres unfolded. He hopes that by hosting the group he will satisfy his wife’s dying wishes and cleanse some moral stain from the ground on which he and his family have lived for generations.
Remembered by Heart edited by Sally Morgan:
A collection of powerful, true stories of Aboriginal life This anthology brings together 15 memoirs of growing up Aboriginal in Australia and includes works from bestselling author Sally Morgan; and the critically acclaimed artist, author, and activist Bronwyn Bancroft. These true stories of adolescence are as diverse as they are moving, and offer readers insight into the pain, humor, grief, hope, and pride that makes up Indigenous experiences.
The Quiet Revolution: Indigenous people and the resources boom by Marcia Langton
When W.E.H. Stanner delivered the Boyer Lectures in 1968, he gave credence, perhaps inadvertently, to the widely held assumption at that time that Aboriginal life was incommensurate with modern economic life. Today, the expectation is quite the reverse. The emergence of an Aboriginal middle class in Australia in the last two to three decades has gone largely unnoticed. There are hundreds of Aboriginal businesses and Aboriginal not-for-profit corporations with income streams, delivering economic outcomes to communities on an unprecedented scale. This text is an investigation into the dependency of Aboriginal businesses and not-for-profit corporations on the resources industry, and their resultant vulnerability to economic downturns.
NAIDOC Week events at QUT this year include a free screening of The Sapphires on the A block lawn at KG (9th July 4:30-7.30pm) and a panel discussion involving one of the original Sapphires, Aunty Lois Peeler.
Dr Anita Heiss has been confirmed as this year’s speaker for Paperbark: First Nation Narratives (8 August from 10.30 , KG Library) . Dr Heiss will speak about her work and the Aboriginal literary pioneers who have inspired her. She is an inspiring speaker so definitely something to mark out in your calendar.
Painted by Bigambul woman, Cheryl Moggs, from Goondiwindi, the painting portrays the 2018 theme, Because of her, we can! It shows the courage and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Listen here to the artist speak about her inspiration for the poster.
On Anzac Day, the 25th April, we pay tribute to and remember those who have served. Anzac Day is one of Australia’s most important national occasions, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
This year we commemorate the Centenary of the First World War (1914-1918).
Commemorating 100 years of ANZAC, Kelvin Grove Library.
To help understand the Australian experience of war, the Australian War Memorial website provides information about Anzac Day and the Memorial’s commemoration projects for the Centenary of the First World War.
QUT Library also has a wide range of resources available for learning more about Anzac Day and the First World War. The following books and videos are highly recommended:
We will be open on Anzac Day, Wednesday 25th April. Our library website provides more details on our opening hours.
On the 23rd April get off Netflix and grab yourself a book. Not just because you know you should, but to celebrate our freedom to do just that.
It’s World Book Day, so time to think about how books make our lives better. The Director General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay tells us that when we celebrate books, we celebrate everything that comes with them like writing, reading, translating and publishing.
We like to think we do the same here at QUT Library, and we have hundreds of thousands of books and eBooks, so why not borrow a classic, take on a new genre, or delve into something you’ve always wanted to explore?
Here are some suggestions from your friendly librarians:
Improve those negotiation skills with Getting to yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce M Paton.
If you don’t have the time for a global odyssey enjoy someone else’s try Lights out in Wonderland by DBC Pierre.
If you want to read the book before you see the movie try The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
If you want to sharpen up those English grammar skills try Grammar for grown-ups : everything you need to know but never learnt in school
If you like botany and historical novels try The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.
World Book Day isn’t just about books it’s about Copyright too, and QUT Library has this great guide to all things copyright.
