E-books, programs trend at Hall County Libraries

Monday is National Book Lover's Day, though the Hall County Library celebrates every day through their circulating materials and programs.

Library Director Lisa MacKinney said they've seen a few trends.

"Anything book to movie related, or book to TV related always gets very, very popular, of course that's not a huge shocker, I don't think, to anyone," said MacKinney. "Another thing that's been really popular over the last couple of years has been the twisty suspense with the unreliable narrator, or a huge twist kind of at the end. 'Where the Crawdads Sing' is a really good example."

Another big trend? The system's growing e-book collection.

"E-books are a huge trend right now, especially when people are trying to stay home a little more and be safer, not maybe share as many germs. So our e-book circulation is really high as well right now."

Earlier this year, the library system announced it had joined a new sharing program that would expand the e-book library. 

The library also offers a host of programs. A Georgia Library Partnership Program provides passes to places like Zoo Atlanta. Adaptive toys for kids with different physical needs are available at the Gainesville and Murrayville branches. And another will get the library to you if you are homebound. 

"It's such a good thing for people who are homebound, whether that is permanent or temporary," said MacKinney. "It could be you've had surgery and you can't leave your home, or your vision may have failed you, and you're not able to drive but you can still see large print books, for example. You can sign up for that program, we will mail you books, we will mail you a return envelope that includes all the postage for the return of the book. We check them out for a month at a time."

Summer reading programs just completed as well, and MacKinney said while the program was a little different this year because of the pandemic, the community read more minutes this year than they have ever read. "It ended up being over 1.3 million minutes," she said. 

If you don't have anything to read at the moment, MacKinney gave "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" by V.E. Schwab as one of her recent favorites.

"It's about a woman who is granted immortality, but the catch to her immortality is that no one can remember her," said MacKinney. "So she can walk into a room, have a conversation with her and as soon as she leaves you'll never remember that you saw her again." 

MacKinney said there are copies of that book at their branches and in their e-book collection.