Moonee Valley Family & Local History Blog

My Story is a project developed through the COVID-19 Community Art Exhibitions Recovery Arts Initiative. The Recovery Arts Initiative project My Story , focuses on creatively documenting the stories of Senior Community members and how they have been affected throughout the pandemic. Moonee Valley City Council is calling for 10 community members aged 65+ (and your care givers/support persons) who’d like to tell their story as part of the My Story Project. We want to hear YOUR stories and reflections of your time spent throughout the Lockdowns. The My Story project creates connections, heal and recover, offering opportunities of expression by utilising digital storytelling. What’s your story? To encourage further engagement with the wider Moonee Valley community, the My Story audio project will be complimented by a visual art poster project accompaniment. The Audio stories will be linked via QR code to a designed Poster. The poster project will be installed on A0 poster paste ups, ...

Brrr! The first day of winter, and it is bitterly cold and wet! But the exciting news is, today Moonee Valley Libraries reopen to the public! We closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we knew many would miss our services. So we tried to keep things running how we could. Here's some of what we did while our libraries and return chutes had to be shut: 1. We went online. The internet offered an obvious way to connect and offer some services while our buildings were closed. We've always offered lots of online services, from ebooks to streaming video, but while our branches were closed we added much more. We blogged and podcasted and created book reviews. Online talks were hosted, and lots of storytimes, baby rhymetimes and toddler times were filmed. Australia's Biggest Morning Tea went online too. And we added an extra Tech Help phone line to help people use our online offerings.   Storytimes and other childrens' activities online have been a huge hit.   2. We embraced p...

The Libraries' Community Heritage team are working on a new project, the Moonee Valley COVID Chronicles. The campaign has two important goals: to connect the community at a time when it is hard to come together and to record this remarkable moment in the city's local history for the future. Each week we’ll ask the community to share an aspect of how they're coping. Follow this blog, (and/or the libraries’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) to find out what we’re after, and what see what the community have shared. To kick things off we’re calling on the Moonee Valley community to share their photos and experiences of Mother’s Day 2020. Show and tell how you adjusted to Mother’s Day in isolation via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, using #MooneeValleyCovidChronicles and #MothersDay2020 , (or email to librarian@mvcc.vic.gov.au if you’re not a social media user). Richard caught up with his Mum via Zoom. What did you do on Mother's Day 2020?

Check out what State Library Victoria are doing to build an archive about this moment in time in Victoria. They've launched a new collecting initiative, Memory Bank, to record the everyday experiences of Victorians during these unusual times - and you can get involved. Take a look at: https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/memorybank

Greetings readers. We hope that everyone is keeping well during this difficult time. This is a quick update to make sure that our community is aware that while our branches have had to close during this COVID-19 crisis, many library staff are still working (albeit from home), including both Community Heritage Librarians, Sarah and Julia. A huge part of our job is fostering community and connectedness amongst the people of Moonee Valley. We're still here to do that. So look out for more blog posts and social media updates from us. There's a wealth of historical data, pictures, archives, papers and more online that are great for local and family history research. We'll be sharing lots of posts about those so you can keep your family and local history research ticking along. And to help alleviate cabin fever, we'll help you travel through time and space in Moonee Valley virtually, by sharing intriguing local history tales, pictures and mysteries. Plus we're also w...

Please note: Considering the Victorian State of Emergency related to COVID-19, our libraries will be closed until further notice. Although there are no known cases of the virus coming in contact with our venues, we are closed as a precautionary measure. Thank you for your understanding and patience during this time. For further information please visit Council’s website:  https://mvcc.vic.gov.au/covid-19   All library programs, events, room bookings and public WiFi have been cancelled. Due dates for borrowed materials will be automatically extended and no late fines will be charged. Access to your account and many online resources remain available 24/7 via our catalogue and Moonee Valley Library