In this column, I talk a lot about the digital resources that your local library has to offer. However, sometimes the best surprises happen at your library when you simply walk through the doors. For example, this week at the Delaware County District Library: Delaware Branch, we have some beautiful photography on display from the City of Delaware’s Sister City – Baumholder, Germany.
Patrons walking into the Delaware Branch Library will view a special photo exhibition by members of the renowned Foto Club Tele Freisen, one of Germany’s largest photography clubs. Their diverse work ranges from nature and experimental photography to portraiture, with a strong commitment to youth education in photography.
The relationship between Delaware, Ohio, and Baumholder, Germany, dates back to 2011. However, while the official partnership is recent, the friendship has deep roots. The Ohio Wesleyan University men’s soccer team has visited Baumholder since 1990, and Delaware native Lt. Col. Paul Pfaler served as commander of the U.S. Army Garrison in Baumholder from 2009 to 2010, building strong military and community ties.
Another fun surprise that awaits library visitors are the materials that can be found on the shelves. Recently, the Delaware County District Library has added “Lucky Day” copies of popular titles to our collection. These are copies of books and movies that have high demand and long waits. Typically, they will be newer titles, but copies of older titles that are always in high demand (Dog Man, Harry Potter, etc.) will also be included.
To find these titles, ask the staff at your local branch the next time you stop in. Depending on the location, they may be in a featured area, on a specific shelf, or right next to other similar titles. You’ll know you’ve found a Lucky Day book when you see the green tape on the book’s spine that reads “Lucky Day!”
These specific materials will not be available for holds or renewals. They can be checked out for their regular loan period and there are no limits on how many Lucky Day titles may be checked out. We hope you get the pleasant surprise of finding a hard-to-get-your-hands-on title the next time you stop by your library.
Speaking of popular titles, these titles are making their way toward the top 10 of the New York Times hardcover fiction bestsellers list for the week of October 27. Perhaps you’ll find one in our Lucky Day collection!
• “Here One Moment” by Liane Moriarty. Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed. Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all. How do they know this?
• “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker. 1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
• “Spark of the Everflame” by Penn Cole. In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by their cruel, magical offspring called the Descended, Diem Bellator yearns to escape her poor village. Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock a web of mysteries left behind by her mother.
• “Tell Me Everything” by Elizabeth Strout. Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love, and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”
• “You Like It Darker: Stories” by Stephen King. “You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life – both metaphorical and literal. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance – with major strings attached.
If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!