Do you know which recently released books are available to borrow from the library? Are you looking for recommendations about what to read next? There are many new titles available at the Alachua County Library District and thousands of classics on the shelves. There are so many options, we thought patrons could use an easy guide on how to find materials the Library District has available currently and what might be coming available soon!
Catalog
Patrons can go to the ACLD Catalog and find several useful tools.
The library buys the newest, most popular titles and acquires books that start their life in our collections as hidden gems. Some of these are first works by exciting, new authors whose books didn’t get much press but have received glowing reviews. Others are titles about popular topics, current events, or biographies about historically significant people, but just haven’t quite "caught" with our community yet. Still others are guilty pleasures, from cozy mysteries to steamy romances to true crime stories. These grab-bags of hidden gems are updated monthly in our Fiction Finds and Nonfiction Finds lists.
A few of you are keen to know what your friends at the library have been reading and watching recently. In addition to showcasing staff picks through book displays at many of our locations, you can also find staff recommendations in our What Staff is Reading and What Staff is Watching lists—updated monthly.
Award-Winners
We understand the desire to find the best of the best books for our younger patrons. Parent patrons need not go on a yearly quest to find award-winning books from the Sunshine State Young Readers Award Program. As soon as the new book lists are announced each year, we update our SSYRA K-2, SSYRA 3-5, SSYRA 6-8, and Florida Teens Read lists to make your search easy.
Recently Ordered
The Library District orders new books, music, and DVDs as much as three months ahead of their release dates. If you want to find what the library has On Order, so you can place a Hold and reserve your spot in line when it arrives, you can use the Recently Ordered menu to browse expected titles by category.
For more books, check out our Books page for Recently Ordered, New Books, New York Times Best Sellers, USA Today Best-Selling Books, a list of new staff picks on our catalog, and a subscription form to our ACLD Reads email newsletter.
ACLD Reads
Readers can subscribe to ACLD Reads to receive a monthly email with book suggestions linking directly to the Alachua County Library District’s catalog, where patrons can reserve titles for pick up or check out digital books. Choose from 25-plus categories based on genre, age, or popularity, including general fiction, romance, mystery, teen, and New York Times Bestsellers. ACLD Reads suggests titles in all formats, including print, digital, and audiobooks.
ACLD Reads subscribers can change their genre picks or unsubscribe at any time.
ACLD Blog
There are two other ways patrons can learn about the books our staff and patrons are reading. Every month the Library District produces two blogs tailored to help patrons find their next read: Staff Picks and Patron Picks.
These two blogs are exactly what you think they are. The Staff Picks blog provides a book list of what ACLD staff are currently reading. The blog lists which staff members picked what books and shares the title, author, and summary of each book listed. The Patron Picks blog is a great way to find out what other members of our community are reading. Every week we ask our followers on the library's Facebook page what they are reading that week. An ACLD staff member collects all those responses and creates a monthly blog that is broken down week by week.
We encourage all our patrons to comment on our Facebook page and let us know what they're reading so we can share it with the library community.
Databases
The Library District also gives patrons access to the NoveList K-8 and NoveList Plus databases.
These databases are a great resource for recommended reading lists. Patrons can search through Adult, Teen, Ages 9-12, and Ages 0-8 lists. There are also summer reading lists and lists of award-winning books. You can find other volumes of a title that is part of a series, read-alikes for similar titles, or similar series. NoveList also provides a navigator to select aspects of a particular work, to help you build custom recommendation lists.
In-Person
Another option for patrons to learn about specific books or to get advice about materials that might be relevant to them is to simply come to any of our 12 library locations and ask any of our librarians. Our librarians are knowledgeable of our collection and can recommend titles and materials.