Ara Library

Houseplants can make you feel better https://aralibrary.wordpress.com/2024/09/02/house-plants-can-make-you-feel-better/
And books can too! So, immerse yourself in both at the Madras Campus Library :-)

The 26th of August is International Dog Day. Check out our blog for some canine cuteness: https://aralibrary.wordpress.com/2024/08/25/international-dog-day/

Come to the Timaru Campus Library today to make a Kahoa (Tongan necklace).

Kiekie weaving in the Library today!

Tonga Language Week!
Help us to celebrate by crafting kiekie on Wednesday 21st August 12-1 pm, at our City Campus Library :-)
Check out our blog post and find out about Ara's Tonga Language Week events.

It's NZ Maths Week!
Check out our Learning Advisor Maths, Shane Dye's blog:

New Zealand Maths Week runs August 12 to 16. Across the motu thousands of school students will be involved in maths activities, games, and competitions. Last year over 5500 teachers and nearly 250,000 students took part.

Maths Week aims to encourage interest in mathematics and to show the pleasure that mathematics can provide. It has been running since 1998.

Go NZ Maths Week!

It is fantastic to encourage interest and enjoyment in maths. I believe that everyone should find some maths that brings them joy.

NZ Maths Week is a good time to reflect on the importance of maths for everyone. Particularly anyone learning.

There is maths in every career. Dosage calculations for nurses. Ensuring foundations are square for builders. Calculating net profit for business owners. Adjusting ingredients to the batch size for chefs. Determining solution concentration for lab technicians.

Learning maths can be stressful. There is a myth that some people just aren’t maths people. That some people can’t learn maths. It is just a myth – everyone can learn maths.

Some people do find maths harder to learn. This can be related to maths anxiety, which leads to avoiding maths. Spending more time engaged in doing maths will help. Finding joy in some maths will make this easier. Ironically, spending more time doing the maths you need to study, can help you to find joy in the maths you are doing.

If you are struggling with the maths you need for your study. Seek support – come to the Maths Room, ask your tutor. You don’t have to do it alone.

Encourage any school students in your life to get involved.

Look for maths that brings you joy.

Cook Islands Māori Language Week
The theme is ‘Ātui’ia au ki te vaka o tōku matakeinanga - connect me to the canoe of my tribe’

Ara Library's final day of contributions for Mindfulness Month. We hope you have found some inspiration and joy from the photos shared over the course of the week.

Nearing the end of our Mindfulness Week.....

Friday mindful suggestions :-) Lego creations and bunny cuddles.

Our week of Mindful suggestions continues......

Day three on our mindful moment's journey!
What do you do to stay mindful?

Mindful moments day two!

Let's take a breather from the stresses of life, and continue our mindful moments journey.

remember if you want to share your own bit of mindfulness:

For Facebook:
• Make a post on your page (‘What’s on your mind’)
• Tap the photo icon to add a photo
• Choose or take a new photo
• Add a little write up about the picture, including how it helps you to be mindful
• Tag us in it by typing Library and click on us!
• Hashtag your Facebook photo with
• Tap post

For Instagram
• Make a post on your Instagram (‘square plus icon’)
• Add the photo you want by ‘ticking’ it or by taking a new photo
• Choose if you would like it as a post, story or reel
• Filter it if you like
• Add location as Ara: Institute of Canterbury
• Add a little write up about the picture, including how it helps you to be mindful in the description box
• Tag us in it by typing Library and click on us!
• Hashtag your Instagram photo with
• Tap post

And don’t forget to check out our Library’s printed and online mindfulness and photography resources through Ara’s Library Search 😊

Mindful moments!

To celebrate the month of mindfulness, we are kicking things off by showcasing three things people do to be mindful.

Want to be part of something mindful?

From the 22nd to the 27th of July we would love you to share photos of mindful moments on our Ara Library Facebook and Instagram pages, and we will print and display the photos in the Library.

For Facebook:
• Make a post on your page (‘What’s on your mind’)
• Tap the photo icon to add a photo
• Choose or take a new photo
• Add a little write up about the picture, including how it helps you to be mindful
• Tag us in it by typing Library and click on us!
• Hashtag your Facebook photo with
• Tap post

For Instagram
• Make a post on your Instagram (‘square plus icon’)
• Add the photo you want by ‘ticking’ it or by taking a new photo
• Choose if you would like it as a post, story or reel
• Filter it if you like
• Add location as Ara: Institute of Canterbury
• Add a little write up about the picture, including how it helps you to be mindful in the description box
• Tag us in it by typing Library and click on us!
• Hashtag your Instagram photo with
• Tap post

Pop into the Library for two types of brain food: our new books and the Procrastination Station study snacks😁

Whetu mo Matariki
We'll be making stars and learning about Matariki. You might like to take the opportunity to send your wishes for the year ahead to Hiwa I te rangi (one of the nine stars of the Matariki cluster) known as the wishing star ^JH

Star making will be at City and Timaru Campus Libraries.

The Library will be closed this Friday 28 June in celebration of Matariki. Find out more about this special time of year in our latest library blog

Celebrating Matariki 2024 – Ara Library closed -Friday 28 June Original image by NASA, PJ_1004. CC-BY-SA 3.0 Mānawa maiea te putanga o Matariki — Welcome the rising of Matariki Mānawa maiea te ariki o te rangi — Welcome the risi…

World Albatross Day
Blog contributed by Georgie Archibald, Kaitoko Āko | Learning Advisor Pacific

June 19th is World Albatross Day! Aotearoa New Zealand’s waters host a whopping 13 of the world’s 21+ species of albatross. They’re incredible birds; for example, some species have up to 3m wingspans, and can stay aloft in flight for days at a time by sleeping on the wing. However, they’re also greatly at risk due to conservation issues such as fisheries bycatch and marine pollution. The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) has chosen the theme, “Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans”, for 2024’s World Albatross Day. To help support this kaupapa, you can advocate for safeguarding albatrosses and marine life by:

Advocate for legislation and policy changes to protect oceans by making informed decisions with your regional and national votes (vote for politicians who support marine conservation!) and sign petitions that call for change – for example this petition for strong incentives to reduce plastic pollution.

Check out the Fish the Sea Not the Sky resource that shares how to safely fish using longlines.

If you sight an injured or unwell albatross, contact the Department of Conservation on 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468)

Take part in marine conservation initiatives near you, for example coastline clean ups and climate action protests.

Spread the word about marine and albatross conservation by having conversations with your families and communities about the issues they’re facing and strategies that can help.

Here’s an image of the Buller’s mollymawk (medium-sized albatross), sighted off the Moeraki coast. This species is endemic to Aotearoa and breeds on four of our offshore islands groups. Buller’s mollymawks range across the South Pacific, with non-breeding adults and juveniles found as far as the coastlines of Chile and Peru. They spend the majority of their lives at sea, mainly eating fish, squid, krill and offal from fishing vessels. The oldest banded (tracked) Buller’s mollymawk on record was estimated to be at least 54 years old. Amazing birds!

Public holiday closure of all Ara Libraries on the 3rd June.

Talofa lava and Happy Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa - Samoan Language Week! :)

The theme for Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa 2024 is 'Tautua i le alofa, manuia le lumana'i – Serve in love for a blessed future'.

To kick us off with a bang, read the awesome blog post by our very own Solomona Paraki, one of our Learning Advisors Pacific.
Read it here:

https://aralibrary.wordpress.com/2024/05/27/welcome-to-samoan-language-week/

Learn how to say Happy Samoan Language Week - Manuia le vaiaso o le gagana Samoa - (MP3) here:
https://www.mpp.govt.nz/assets/2022-Pacific-Language-Weeks/Samoa-Language-Week/Happy-Samoan-language-week-Manuia-le-vaiaso-o-le-gagana-samoa.mp3

Yesterday was World Bee Day, so why not check out that blog and more at: aralibrary.wordpress.com

Spot the difference. A photo taken this morning and a photo taken at lunch time. We love to see the books flying off the shelves!

Greta our subject librarian has shared a great blog post to inspire at

Art is imagination Ara libraries have many e-books, and physical books on art. Some Ara art students often browse the art collection by sitting down in the book aisles and flicking through selected books individually…

Ara Library Search Sign In is now working.

If you are working from an Ara network/computer, you should be automatically signed in after the first sign-in.

If you are working from home or another location other than the Ara network, you should use the option "Ara Students & Staff" to sign in (note the change in name).

If you have already bookmarked Primo, please remove it and bookmark the new one.

Thank you to all for your patience and understanding, whilst this issue was being resolved.

The Library Search function to "Sign in" is currently not working and Ara ICT are working to fix this issue. This affects trying to renew your book online or accessing your pinned or favourited items. You can ring (03) 9408089 to renew your book via phone while this issue is being resolved or email [email protected]