Monday 8 September, 2008

Keep your motor running

Whatever you drive or ride, you can save costs and reduce breakdowns by keeping your vehicle in tip-top shape. There's plenty of material at your library which will help you buy, maintain or repair your car, truck, bus, motorcycle, or scooter.

Save from the start

Perhaps the greatest savings can be made at the time of purchase. Our New car, boat or bike page will guide you through many of the big pictures details and point you in the right direction to find out more.

On the road / in the water

Once you’ve got your vehicle home don’t forget that we have an excellent collection of motor manuals and repair guides should it need a bit of TLC. You may also want to contact the local car owners, motorcycle or boating clubs which should be listed in our community directory CINCH.

We recommend: Vehicle maintenance resources

Our online resources:

New car, boat or bike
Car Sales and Dealers at localeye
Motorcycles at localeye
Boat Sales at localeye
Car owners, motorcycle or boating clubs from CINCH.

Our Internet Gateway recommends:

Internet gateway: transport links to many of the more useful online sources such as the ‘Dog and lemon guide’, road tests and reviews and car clubs and magazines
The NZ Consumer’s Institute has a useful online guide to buying a car
Don’t forget New Zealand’s biggest online auction site: Trademe
Trade-A-Boat, Autotrader, Motorcycle Trader: all three have browsing and searching for new or used vehicles
Don’t buy a stolen boat – advice from the NZ Police
Checking if a vehicle is stolen Several services can tell you if the car is stolen, has outstanding finance, the current warrant and registration status, ownership history, etc, for a price. See:

Browse the resources in our libraries:

This week in Christchurch history

What interesting things happened in Christchurch this week? Find out with the help of the Christchurch Chronology on the library website.

September 6, 1878 Railway to Dunedin officially opens.
September 6, 1980 $9.5 million Icon exhibition opens at Robert McDougall Art Gallery.
September 7, 1850 First Canterbury Association settlers sail from Plymouth, England on the “Charlotte Jane”, “Randolph” and “Cressy”.
September 7, 1863 City’s first murder trial. G. Lumley convicted.
September 8, 1850 “Sir George Seymour” leaves Plymouth with settlers.
September 8, 1890 Striking watersiders attack and injure scab labour.
September 9, 1988 8.5-degree frost coldest in September since records began at Airport 25 years ago.
September 10, 1962 Controversial master transportation plan made public by Regional Planning Authority.
September 11, 1889 Cave and Māori artifacts discovered at Moncks Spur.
September 11, 1928 Kingsford-Smith and his crew (Ulm, Litchfield and McWilliams) land at Wigram in "Southern Cross" after the first trans-Tasman flight. A crowd of 30,000, alerted by all-night radio broadcasts, had gathered at the airfield.
September 11, 1954 Last tram journey in Christchurch.
September 12, 1910 G.W. Skellerup founds Para Rubber Company, New Zealand’s first retail rubber goods business at 175 Manchester Street. Christchurch soon became the centre of the rubber industry in New Zealand.

What's new online?

New on the blog

New on the library website

Joe Bennett: knickers to prejudice

Columnist and author Joe Bennett is an expert on undies after his latest book Where underpants come from. In an interview ahead of the Writers' Festival Bennett talks about writing, Latin and a love of cricket writing.
Maps Collections
Media Release: Christchurch writers get festive
Edition 1 September 2008: Spring into action
Writer profiles: Glenn Colquhoun, Rachael King
Newsletter: Libraries 2025 Facilities plan
Writer profiles: Kate Atkinson, Mark Billingham
Competition: What's your favourite NZ book?

Next week: Newspapers

Discover the huge range of newspapers available at Christchurch City Libraries next week. From old-time archives to digital versions of daily editions - and the cartoons and crosswords!