Allen Memorial Library

First Baptist Church Decatur Media Center

About Our Library

Located on the second floor of our Sanctuary building, The Allen Memorial Library and Media Center provides quality reading selections and media resources for church members and the local Decatur community.

Our church library contains over 15,323 cataloged items, including 

• Books

• Bibles and Commentaries 

• Periodicals

• Audiobooks

• Movies and films

• A/V equipment rental

• Reading programs and curriculum

• And much more!

Library Collections

Books for Adults  

We have books about our world, the latest fiction bestsellers, non-fiction texts to help with Sunday School study, self-help books, history, biography, periodicals, large-print books, audio-books, and computers to look stuff up. Books we can’t use in our collection, we offer for sale.

Books for Children and Youth

We’re your children’s source for the latest award-winners! Our volunteer staff includes people who know children’s books inside-and-out and can recommend top fiction and non-fiction titles to put in your collection (pre-K—Young Adult). 

Resources for the Decatur Reading Community

The Library is an information source and cheerleader for book festivals (Decatur Book Festival) and author talks (Georgia Center for the Book, Conversations, local bookstores). We post calendars for community book sales, book recommendations, interesting websites — all things BOOK.

Beth’s Books

Each month, Beth Withers, one of our library volunteers, shares the newest books that have been added to our church library this past month:

• PICTURE BOOK

  • Willie Boy Eats the World by Steve Schirripa and Philip Lerman
    Willie Boy, a dachshund, introduces everyone to new foods from around the world like moo shu pork and tacos. The colorful illustrations are filled with the food described in the text and make you hungry just to look at them. For ages 4-7. Donated by the Echols family.

• JUVENILE FICTION

  • The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

    Twelve-year-old Suzy Swanson wades through her intense grief over the loss of her best friend, Franny, by investigat-ing the rare jellyfish she is convinced was responsible for Franny’s death. “Authentic and poignant, readers will fully immerse themselves in this superbly written, heart-felt novel.” School Library Journal. For ages 9-12. Donated by the Echols family.

• ADULT FICTION

  • The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
    The author’s second novel following her blockbuster debut, The Help, is set in the American South during the Great Depression. It centers on 11 year old orphan Meg LeFleur, Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, and Charlie, a woman running low on luck, whose fates converge to claim what is rightfully theirs. “The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry and cheer-an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings.” There are 320 holds for this book at the DeKalb County Public Library!

• ADULT NON-FICTION

  • An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960’s by Doris Kearns Goodwin
    The author, “one of America’s most beloved historians, artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. In his twenties, Dick, Doris’s husband worked with President John F. Kennedy. In his thirties, he helped design Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society and was a speech-writer and close advisor to Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Doris worked directly for Johnson and later helped him with his memoir. Together, their last great adventure involved opening more than 300 boxes of letters, diaries, documents and memorabilia that Dick had saved for over 50 years. These gave Doris the opportunity to make fresh assessments of the central figures of the time - John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy and Lyndon Johnson. Donated by Shirley Silver.

Contact the Library

Give us a call at 404.373.1653 (ext. 2229) or send us a message using the form below.