ALEXANDRINA LIBRARY SERVICES

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July 2008                              No 48                       by Frodo

Well, they’ve really flown the coop this time – last heard von, Dawn & Bruce are in deepest darkest Queensland, recently at Innot springs, “gorgeous, only a little park but they had hot springs there which was just great and Bruce and I also had a massage there as well. The lady who runs the park is the grand-daughter of Betty Wrigley of Goolwa, so a bit of a connection there.”    So you have your third editor in a row, and ‘tis Moi.

In Dawn’s absence, Bill and I were on hand (on a Monday!) to meet the State Library Board recently, and to help Jill show them around the History Room. They were most impressed, I think.    Actually, I am not unimpressed to learn of what they do, which is to support libraries with lots of loot, and other services. (A visit to their links through the http://www.slsa.gov.au/ leads to some instructive .pdf files, which, for example, tell us that the Board granted 80,000 big ones to Goolwa Library Services  in 2006/7, and 56,500 equally-big-ones to Strathalbyn). During lunch, the gentleman I was sitting next to told me of how much we all benefit from the moneys that have been bequeathed to the Board, which is invested, and the proceeds used - for instance - to provide the free wi-fi set-ups that those with lap-tops can use in our and other libraries.   As a person with no children, I shall perhaps remember this worthy cause when I make a will. I think we are marvelously spoilt in many areas with our library system, so that system deserves our support. (And a good system attracts lots of us volunteers, who then improve the services even further).

Jill gave a Power-Point presentation to the Board and us of the exciting proposal for a Library & Customer service Centre at Strathalbyn, which includes a History Room, based on the success of ours. ‘Twill be wonderful, all being well.

Now some showing off – In their excellent previous chapters of this erstwhile journal, Numbers 46 & 47, Helen and Peter mentioned the new Indexes, Interviews & Even More Goodies CD, which I launched for History week at the end of May. It is of course available through any of the Alexandrina libraries, (and Victor Harbor), and has oodles of goodies, lots of new stuff, up-dated indexes, all the oral histories, (including the newest, Dawn LIEBELT & Roly BARTLETT), all the History Room News’s’s’s up to No 45, the amazing Bristow-Smith scrapbook, (with huge numbers of fascinating photos, articles, etc.), the 1936 Centenary Grand Prix Programme, and lots lots more.  A lot of what is on the CD is also on alexhistory.pbwiki.com, (although at this stage not the pictures, of which there are many on the CD). Robyn Lockwood gave a marvelous introduction to pbwiki to us at our History Week gathering. We can arrange tuition sessions with Robyn in how to use the wiki, particularly if there are a few of you at a time who would like to learn how to make the most of this exciting dimension to our studies.

A web-site you may like to look at is www.phpgedview.net   where you can build your family tree online for free. An open source program, PhpGedView,  comes (to quote the article in The Age - Livewire  section, June 26, 2008, where I found it), “with a detailed installation guide, but it can still be a steep learning curve for beginners. Once it’s up and running, anyone who can surf the web can use it with ease.”

Also in The Age recently, (May 31, 2008), was an inspiring article about a program run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Melbourne Grammar School, whereby year 9 & 10 students can take an English elective that involves doing oral history work – interviewing an older person and recording and editing the results for a digital archive. Not surprisingly, the program is working as a fine bridge between generations, and, like our work, is leaving stories and facts for our descendants, and each other. ‘Twould be marvellous if something similar could happen in these here parts.

Happy researching, von  Frodo, Peter, Elaine, Helen, Bill, Barbara & the other volunteers

Genealogy help is available by appointment on Thursdays, to guide you through your research. Please phone the Library on 8555-7000 to make an appointment.

For comments, suggestions or to receive this newsletter – email

historyroom2004@yahoo.com.au or phone Dawn Juers on 8555-2885.

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