Christmas in the library

Azalea Trace is beginning to come alive with Christmas decorations flourishing throughout the campus.

The Azalea Library will soon show our Christmas spirit by displaying our Christmas books available for checkout in December.

Our Christmas book collection contains fiction and nonfiction in a wide variety of romance, mystery, and stories that touch the heart.

The books will be on the long table near the couch (a perfect spot to browse and read to your heart's content!)

Enjoy the Holidays with us!

Azalea Trace Book Club Announces New Selections

The Azalea Trace Book Club will be on hiatus in December, resuming monthly meetings in January.  The group meets in the Azalea Room, at 10:00 am on the third Wednesday of the month.  All residents are invited to attend, even if they have not finished the book.  Discussion is casual and informal - no intimidating questions or prior preparation is needed!  The Club has selected the following books for the first quarter of 2018.

What do you do with a Dead Author?

          That’s not a question most people would ask but hardcore series readers sadly must cope when their favorite author passes.  No more joyous hours immersed in plots and favorite characters that draw you into settings and situations far from your present reality.  A comfortable or startling world that has enhanced your life from the moment you read the first word…. now silenced.  Favorite authors should live forever. 

            Librarians around the world share that sentiment, but not for the same reasons!  Why should librarians care if a popular author passes … because they often get resurrected and books begin to appear “in the style of” the dearly departed author.  Messy at best.  How can a dead author write more books?  He can’t.          

            Case in point:  The popular and prolific author Robert B. Parker writer of detective and mystery stories as well as westerns, creator of the characters Spenser, Jesse Stone and Monte Walsh.   Parker is a favorite author of many of our Azalea residents, or I should say he “was”, Mr. Parker died in 2010. And yet there they are, books “in the style of” Robert B. Parker sitting on the cart ready to be cataloged. 

            Two authors have started writing "in the style of" novels featuring the Parker characters:  Ace Atkins now writes the Spenser series and Michael Brandman writes the Jesse Stone novels.  So now Parker fans can enjoy once again these favorite characters -- if only they can remember who the new authors are!

            So librarians create extra cards or additional online entries to link the reader to all three authors, the “In the style of” title, and information entries to “See also” all the other possibilities.  They must also explain to devoted readers that new Parker books are found under the name of the new author and no they aren’t shelved under the dead author’s name… Wishing all the while that popular authors could live forever.

DVD check outs: You Asked - We Listened!

A resident told me the other day that she really enjoyed the DVDs in the Azalea Library.... however, checking them out was problematic for her because often she can't get to the library in the mornings before we close.

Her question: 

Could the library add an afternoon check-out time for DVDs? 

Resident volunteers commit to staff the library office Monday - Friday 9:30 to 11:30 each morning.  

After discussing the request several library volunteers agreed to add an afternoon time commitment to help residents check out DVDS.

Beginning in November the library office will be open  Friday afternoons for one hour from 4:00-5:00 specifically to check out DVDs to our residents.

November will be our trial run.... if residents do not take advantage of the Friday afternoon check out time we will go back to morning check outs only.

See you Friday November 3rd - come check out the DVDs!!

September's New Books

The Library Staff has been busy purchasing, cataloging, processing and making available to you the new titles we added in September 2017.

To browse the list of our new book titles simply click on the New Arrivals Tab.

The September new book Fiction titles are listed alphabetically followed by the Nonfiction titles.

You will also find the August fiction and nonfiction titles.

You may come to the library to check out a new title, or 

reserve a title by visiting the library during office hours (Monday - Friday 9:30 - 11:30)

We hope you enjoy the new selections.

New features

The Azalea Trace Library Blog is beginning to take shape with the addition of several new features.

The blog now has a "Tabs" section which takes you to specific sets of information.

Library Collection Map:  this tab features a layout of the locations of the different collections in the library

FAQ:  contains general information about the library.

New Arrivals: contains a list of the books added to the library in August

We are working on the information in "Staff Picks", "Special Collections", and "DVDs" tabs.

Links:  are shortcuts to other websites.  Links are located to the right of the posts.... We currently have three links:
      Acts Retirement-Life Communities
      West Florida Public Libraries
      Santa Rosa County Libraries

Welcome!

The Azalea Trace Library staff welcomes you to the library!

The library staff is exploring ways to provide information about the library to you, our residents, so you can enjoy the collection of materials available and feel at home browsing the shelves.  

In the coming months the unique aspects of the collection will be highlighted, suggested reading lists will be created and the monthly new titles list will be posted. 

The library has a variety of materials including books, large print books, DVDs, Audio Books on CD as well as special collections we will describe.

Let us know what you think of the Azalea Trace Library blog and please suggest articles you would like to see in the future.