25th anniversary of Kobe-Brisbane sister city relationship

As a way to commemorate the 25th anniversary of sister city relationship between the city of Kobe in Japan and the city of Brisbane in Australia, Brisbane City Council’s Brisbane Square Library puts up a mini exhibition on the city of Kobe.

One area of the mini exhibition is dedicated on Kobe’s local products from sake to high-heeled shoes to even computer mouse. I believe all these products and some brochures are provided by Kobe City Council. All these local products are located at the Literature Lounge on the second level of Brisbane Square Library.

Kobe city shots in the form of A4-sized posters are also hung up on the wall in the non-fiction area.

At least it provides an alternative to patrons besides just viewing the Brisbane River.

Quite similar posters are also put up on the wall in the fiction area. However, one point of different is the posters size I believe is A3. Also, all these posters looked more like the posters you would usually see when you are visiting a travel agency.

All in all it was quite an educative exhibition, introducing Brisbane’s sister city to Brisbanites and visitors to Brisbane. I do hope when the anniversary of the sister city relationship between Brisbane and the city of Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia, they will put up a better mini exhibition.

If I didn’t read wrongly, this exhibition would end sometime next month. So, if you are in Brisbane don’t hesitate to visit Brisbane Square Library to see this exhibition. This is especially for those who have never been to Japan.

Plus, on the exhibition you could get a copy of Kobe city map and guide book in case you plan to visit Kobe. The guide book also includes Kobe city railway network which is easier to decipher (the map and networks) compared to Tokyo’s (I’ve never been to Japan but I’ve seen how complex the mass transport system in Tokyo is).

All rights reserved for pictures in this post (2010)

Italian Motor Expo

As part of the Italian Week programme, the event organiser (which I do not know who) organised an Italian Motor Expo at Brisbane Square today (30/05/2010). Also in the expo was Fiat Lovers Community, if I’m not mistaken.

Please ignore the words “Italian Week 2010”, it’s just my part of preserving my artworks (who wants to steal my photos anyway?).

Three red Ferrari of different models on show along side each other.

This one is an antique.

You won’t find such a nice Vespa on Indonesian streets like this.

Ducati

This one is definitely for adreline-seekers.

Any idea for who the manufacturer is?

Fiat?

Looks like Honda Jazz with slightly longer nose to me, hey I’m not an automotive enthusiast by the way.

I think it should be the same model as the previous one just different colour.

If you have ever read Archie comics, this looks like his jalopy (1990s onwards).

Now, here’s more from Fiat:

Nano’s rival from Italy

Not sure who the manufacturer is for the last one since it was exhibited quite separate from Ferrari and Fiat.

There was a band performance as well with Treasury Casino as the background. Not many people were interested from the look as the seats were empty.

I hope you enjoy my reportage and wasn’t really bothered by “Italian Week 2010” at all, I’m quite dumb in photo-editing.

Anyway, the weather today was quite chilling especially if you’re not under direct sunlight. Nine News even said that the temperature didn’t even hit 20 degree in the city today (but Seven News said it did). Winter is coming (in the southern hemisphere).

Brisbane Square Library

A new segment is introduced in this blog. I am going to discover Brisbane (and its suburbs) through its libraries. Why libraries? Well, I have an emotional tie with library because when I was doing my secondary school years, I was a student librarian at my school. I still consider myself as one though. Hope you enjoy it.

The first library that I am going to talk is not the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) but the biggest Brisbane City Council’s library, Brisbane Square Library.

Brisbane Square Library (BSL) has three storeys.

The ground level consists of:
1. Customer service counter, where you pay all your hold items (if any)
2. Check in counter, where you return all your borrowed items
3. Check-out area, where you borrow the items that you want to borrow
4. Pick up point, where you pick your hold items
5. News lounge, the lounge dedicated for those who want to read selected local, national, interstate and some international newspapers as well as watch Sky News channel and Sky Business channel
6. Community meeting room, where usually City Council indoor workshops are held and is equipped with audiovisual technology and a kitchenette

Level One consists of:
1. Central business centre incorporating mapping services and town planners, where information and applications for development, permits and licensing can be done
2. Development lounge, a meeting space for Development Assessment staff and clients
3. Children’s lounge, where all the children’s books and magazines are located
4. Learning lounge, which provides computer training in a formal or self-paced learning environment and caters for up to 18 customers
5. City Zoo, where you can eat your lunch (as far as I’m concerned, this is the first public library I visited that allows consumption of food and drinks indoor), watch sporting events, play X-Boxes or enjoy the Young Adults collection
6. Sound and vision lounge (there are only two pods), where you can watch the City Council collection of video/DVDs, music or audio-visual (perhaps you can bring your own)
7. Magazine lounge
8. Internet lounge (you can use the computer for up to 60 minutes, except the “15 minutes computers”), which consists of 42 computers (printers, photocopiers and scanners are available, not sure for the last one though)
9. Community languages and literacy materials (some of the languages are Chinese, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Thai)
10. Four study rooms and two meeting rooms (bookings are essential)

Level Two consists of:
1. Literature lounge (basically only a very odd-shaped sofa)
2. Brisbane History Gallery (PowerPoint slides are played)
3. Large print collection, reference collection and non-fiction, adult fiction and biographies

Internet connection (wireless, Internet Lounge, Learning Lounge) can only be enjoyed by members. Membership is free but terms & conditions apply (still free though). Everything is free except for hold items (80 cents for each items, worth if you only want to borrow few titles and if the items are located in far away libraries such as Sunnybank Hills, Inala or Bracken Ridge).

Compared to the basement level of Singapore’s National Library building in Bugis and of course Australia’s capital of culture (Melbourne City Council library), this is just very basic services. Hopefully BSL will continue to improve and perhaps this library could expand (in size) so that more collections, materials and facilities can be brought in to this library.

Brisbane Square Library
266 George Street, Brisbane City Queensland 4000

Mon-Thu: 9am-6pm
Fri: 9am-7pm
Sat, Sun: 10am-3pm
Closed on public holiday