The most popular regular exhibition at the State Library is on until the 1 April 2012. The annual West Australian Press Photographer of the Year showcases the talent of some amazing West Australian photographers.
The Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards were announce on Friday by Hon John Day, Minister for Culture and the Arts, you can find out all the winners over on the SLWA site.
WA author and Miles Franklin winner, wins the Premier’s Prize. With Lisa Lang winning the People’s Choice Award.
The Lark Chamber Opera performs their version of Little Red Riding Hood at the Place in the State Library of Western Australia, as part of the Rather Beastly . Unfortunately we only captured the first act, apparently Gretel, of Hansel and Gretel fame appropriated the camera and was only returned by a monster with purple horns and long claws after the third act. If the last statement made no sense you needed to be there, the audience really appreciated the performance.
Voting is now open in the 2010 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award People’s Choice. So go vote for your favourite fiction book from 2010, and if you have not read then all yet, visit your local library before 11 September 2011, the date voting closes.
As part of the City of Perth Winter Arts Season, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) presents a series of lunchtime concerts in that State Library Theatre. These free performances offer something for all music fans, from Latin and funk to big band jazz and classical piano recitals.
WAAPA BIG BAND
Fri 29 July, 1pm
Music Director Jeremy Greig
BIG FUNK BAND
Fri 5 August, 1pm
Music Director James Sandon
LATIN ENSEMBLE
Fri 12 August, 1pm
Music Director Chris Tarr
GUITAR AND MARIMBA
SHOWCASE
Friday 19 August, 1pm
Music Directors Jonathan Paget and Tim White
PIANO SHOWCASE
Friday 26 August, 1pm
Music Director David Wickham
SAXOPHONE SHOWCASE
Friday 2 September, 1pm
Music Director Matt Styles
We have a 5 minute survey online at any webpage below home page on our regular site. Just visit a page like our Family History Subject Guide and click on Yes, have my say.
You can still sign up for the day of hack this Sunday at the SLWA.
We have local web guru Myles Eftos, creator of web applications, speaker at major national conferences, but more infamously known for recreating Super Mario Brothers with HTML, CSS and javascript. Darren Mottolini from Landgate showing us what Western Australian data we could use from SLIP enabler to mash with the library datasets. Stephen Miles and Nick Cowie from the State Library of WA, talking about the library’s datasets and how you could use them. As well as some very talented participants, who I am sure are willing to share their expertise.
If you need an incentive the Library Hack prizes have been announced and first prize in each category is $6,000.
Join us for a hackfest open day at the State Library of Western Australia on Sunday 10 April between 11am and 4pm, and be part of the national Libraryhack.
The national Libraryhack competition invites people to create mashups and apps using publicly available and reusable data. Re-mix library datasets and create new content, or re-purpose them and build new apps, and be in the running to win a great prize. The datasets for use can be found at: http://libraryhack.org/data/
Come to the State Library for a taster session and start thinking about what you might create to be able to enter the national competition. We’ll have mashing experts and specialists from the Australian Web Industry Association on hand to help you navigate your way through the wealth of info released for mashups.
There will be computers available for use on the day, but you can also bring along your own laptops, notebooks and iPads and join in the fun at the Discovery Lounge on the ground floor at the State Library. There is free wifi access and there is no charge to join in the hackfest open day activities, but bookings are essential. Book online at: http://slwa.wa.gov.au/whats_on/hackday.
Don’t have the technical skills to bring your great idea for new ways to use library data to life? You can still win a prize by entering the ideas competition, which closes on 20 April 2011. Submit your idea for mashups and apps using library data from across Australia and New Zealand to be eligible. For details see: http://libraryhack.org/ideas/
Dead Reckoning is your handbook to family history research in Western Australia. It does not matter if you are a novice family historian just starting out tracing your family tree or a experience genealogy researcher looking for whatever happen to the elusive great uncle. There is helpful hints and links for all.
Dead Reckoning: how to find your way through the Genealogical Jungle of Western Australia (compiled by Steve Howell) was first published in 1997. It was an update of the 1983 Library Board of Western Australia publication: Tracing your ancestors: a guide to genealogical sources in the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History.
Since 1997 there has been explosion of interest in genealogy and biographical research. In addition to the many significant internet resources that have been developed. The Battye Library and the State Records Office have received a large amount of new material. It would be extremely difficult to keep a print publication on these resources relevant and up to date. Following a grant from the Sholl Bequest (administered by the Friends of Battye Library Inc.), it was decided to revise and publish the book online, so it can be regularly updated as appropriate resources and material are found.
The online version of Dead Reckoning is divided into various sections. The first section covers how to begin, legal deposit, copyright, publishing and has a list of books of value to the starting genealogist. It is followed by a history of the Battye Library and then sources held by the Battye Library which have information on people. Books are grouped under subject headings; serials and ephemera listed by individual work or series; private archives are grouped under subject headings; and for newspapers, oral history, maps, photographs, and film, video and DVDs, general information on what can be found in each has been noted.
So if need a place to start tracing your family history or you are still looking for information on what happen to great uncle Harry when he moved to …, the Dead Reckoning is the place to start.
As part of a major upgrade to the State Library’s computer networks, our main web site and catalogue will be unavailable tonight from 1730 WST tonight 28 May 2010 for about 8 hours.
Normal services will be resume about midnight, however it may take time for the network changes to work their way across the tubes that make up the internet
The photo is from the The Library of Congress, via the Creative Commons collection on Flickr.
