Aug 2 2025 Sat Library Greenspace Saturday, August 2, 2025 11:00am–2:00pm
The Decatur Public Library is turning 150 and we want to celebrate with our community! We invite everyone to stop by to enjoy LIVE music and FREE activities with us and many of our community partners, including Scovill's Mobile, the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, the Children's Museum of Illinois, the Decatur Area Arts Council, and more. There will be crafts, bubbles, caricatures, and bounce houses. Grab a bite to eat from a local food truck or make plans to visit a downtown restaurant
Annual FOL Membership Application 2025 FOL Membership Form Membership forms with payment may be mailed to "Friends of the Library, 130 N. Franklin St., Decatur, IL 62523" or brought into our Books & Beyond bookstore during business hours as listed in the letter.
FOL Phone Number - We do have an extension number you can use to notify us. Call the library at 217-424-2900 ex 6133. Leave a message and someone will return your call as soon as possible.
Book Donations - Reminder: we are still accepting donations of used books. There is a cart located outside the main library entrance where donations can be left. All genres are needed. This is one of our main routes of fundraising. Thank you again for supporting your community by supporting Friends of the Library ! Thanks.
Free to the public!
Please join us on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, at 12:15 in the
Decatur Public Library’s Madden Auditorium for Books Between Bites.
Book: Mark Twain - Author: Ron Chernow
Presenter: Deborah Vanzant
About the Book: Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain Before he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, the man who would become America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Twain went west to the Nevada Territory and accepted a job at a local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humor. It wasn’t long before the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize. - Amazon
About the Author: Ronald Chernow, Born March 3, 1949, is an American writer, journalist, and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies. Chernow won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2011 American History Book Prize for his 2010 book Washington: A Life. He is also the recipient of the National Book Award for Nonfiction for his 1990 book The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance.[3] His biographies of Alexander Hamilton (2004) and John D. Rockefeller (1998) were both nominated for National Book Critics Circle Awards. - Wikipedia
About the Presenter: Debbie Pinney VanZant grew up in Decatur. After graduating from Eisenhower High School, she attended Sparks College in Shelbyville with the goal of becoming a court reporter. But, it was more fun to be a wife, mother, board member and story hour lady at the Shelbyville Public Library, and avid reader. On her 40th birthday, she returned to Decatur to be the Risk Management Assistant for the City of Decatur. Her favorite activity was reading a good book in Central Park on her lunch hour. She is now retired, and she continues to be an avid reader. This is her fourth time presenting one of these good books at Books Between Bites.
Books Between Bites is a free program at the Decatur Public Library, sponsored by Friends of the Decatur Public Library
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. And second & fourth Saturdays sales are from 9:30am – 12:30pm.
The American Indians was a series from our old pal, Time-Life Books. We have received eight of the 23 volume series and they are in pristine condition. We realize it is a drag we don’t have the entire set, but for anyone looking to fill in some holes they might have in this series, come take a look. Each book is priced at $3. If you want all eight volumes, they are yours for $20. They will be on the Special Book shelves with a Facebook Special promotional sign that you will need to take with you to the sales table to get the discount.