News

March 2024 Newsletter

Rick Meyer, the Decatur Public Library Director, comes to all of our board meetings. This month he shared that Circulation was up 7%, Electronic usage was up 25%, Foot traffic was up 12%, and Program Attendance up 7%. These are great statistics, and Friends has had a part in that. I believe that the foot traffic could well be up because people are coming to our book sales. We also support the programs, so we can take a little credit for that 7% also.

Our Books Between Bites had a new high (since covid) with 52 people attending. Mark Sorenson talked about how he went about researching the book Priscilla and the Hollyhocks to find out if Priscilla really ever existed.

We will be ordering Summer Reading Program t-shirts to sell to the students and volunteers. We are looking forward to expanding our sales with these t-shirts. We are also purchasing new bookmarks with our sale days listed on them.

For the near future we have approved funding for a wild animal expo, and for 2025 we approved funding for a Local History Escape, which will be part of the library’s 150 Year Anniversary Celebration in 2025.

Finally, if you would like to volunteer, either to work and the desk for a book sale or help sort books, please contact Friends of the Library. The best way to do that is to contact me via e- mail, either at fol@decaturlibrary.org or conniepeters@juno.com . We invite you to become a part of the important work we are doing to encourage reading for all ages in our community!


FOL President



Books Between Bites – April 3rd, 2024

Symphony of SecretsPlease join us Wednesday, April 3 at 12:15-1:00 PM in the Decatur Public Library’s Madden Auditorium for our monthly Books Between Bites review. Book Title: Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb Presenter: Susan Danco

About the Book: A gripping page turner about a professor who discovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time.

Reviews: "With Symphony of Secrets, Slocumb has woven an incredible thriller about music, genius, history, and greed—and how easily innocent passion can turn to dangerous, deadly obsession. You won’t be able to put it down until the last note!" —Peng Shepherd, author of The Cartographers

“This is a superb novel that will appeal to any thriller fan, not just readers with an ear for classical music. Sophomore novels don’t get much better than this.” — Kirkus Reviews [starred review]

"Both a beautiful, joyful, celebration of music and the people who love it, and a chilling portrait of how easily good slides into evil—and echoes through the years. I loved this book." —Sara Gran, author of The Book of the Most Precious Substance

About the Author: Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

About the Presenter: Susan Danco is a retired Medical Records Administrator and Occupational Therapist. She is a lifelong learner and has been an active member of the DPL Book Group for 10 years. She is an enthusiastic music connoisseur (though not a musician) and a collector of many interesting things! Since returning to Decatur 30 years ago, she has been a member of the Symphony Orchestra Guild of Decatur and season ticket holder and is now a member of the SOGD Board of Directors for 4 years and counting.

Books Between Bites is a free program at the Decatur Public Library, sponsored by Friends of Decatur Library




Weekday and Second Saturday Book Sales! FOL booksales are at the library 3 to 4 days a week! At the new Friends area on the lower level of the library. Every Monday from 10:30am – 2:30pm, Tuesdays from 10:30am – 2:30pm, Thursdays from 3pm – 6:30pm. Second & fourth Saturdays sales will be from 9:30am – 12:30pm.

Come see us in our new home on the lower level of the library!