November 2023 Newsletter

Click here to read the November 2023 Library Newsletter in its entirety.


Poetry Teatime THIS Friday!

Our first Poetry Teatime is THIS Friday, November 3rd, at 1:00pm!

What is Poetry Teatime? It’s something started by Julie at BraveWriter, and is simply a time to immerse ourselves in beautiful poetry over hot cups of tea. We know sometimes poetry can seem boring, so we want to make it special and enjoy it together as we can all learn how to appreciate it better. We’re practicing taking things slowly and savoring the experience.

We have a nice collection of poetry books in our library, which we’ll pull out for our tea party. If the children want, they can bring their own poetry book or read from one of ours. (They don’t have to say anything, though!) We will be sitting down to a decorated table and fancy teacups and a few (nut-free) treats! We’ll have a choice of tea and hot chocolate. We hope you are all able to join us!


November Storytimes

In addition to our Poetry Teatime, we have two storytimes this month.

On Friday, November 10th, we will be honoring our veterans with a special Veteran’s Day storytime and craft.

Then the following week, on Friday, November 17th, Mrs. Dorothy will be returning for a Thanksgiving storytime! We are so excited to have her, and to share Thanksgiving books and a related craft.

We look forward to seeing you this month!


Check This Out!

The Card Catalog is an online resource for private lending libraries like ours. They regularly feature libraries and this month they featured Cornerstone Living Library! We’re honored to be included, and we hope our story encourages other churches to turn their libraries into living children’s libraries as well. Save the old books!


Behind the Scenes: History Books

If you’ve been into the library this month, you’ll notice that our collection is looking more organized with spine labels! We started with our history collection since it was the most disorganized, and we’re excited to say we are close to finishing that section! 

We have separated History into two categories: fiction (HF) and non-fiction (HIS). To aid our families who study history by time period, we are including the year the book begins on the spine label for both sections. We also have sorted the books on the shelves in order of date so you can quickly see which books we have for which time period. This has been quite a task, but we think it is worth it! Let us know what you think next time you come in!


Clive’s Corner: Season of Thanks

Enjoy these monthly recommendations from our library mascot, Clive

It’s getting closer to my first holiday season as a Library Owl! I took a look at our newly-created Holiday section and picked out some Thanksgiving themed books to share with you this month. It was hard to choose! We have so many great ones, so be sure to come by the library to see all of them. 

  • In November, by Cynthia Rylant – Beautiful illustrations accompany this book about the seasonal changes and traditions that the month of November brings.
  • An Old-Fashioned Thanksgivingby Louisa May Alcott – Set in the 1800s, seven children prepare for Thanksgiving while their mother is away.
  • The Thanksgiving Story, by Alice Dalgliesh – The familiar tale of the First Thanksgiving with illustrations from the delightful Helen Sewell.
  • Molly’s Pilgrim, by Barbara Cohen – Molly is a new immigrant to the United States, and she and her mother connect to the story of the Pilgrims in a special way.
  • Cranberry Thanksgivingby Wende and Harry Devlin – A sweet reminder that things are not always as they appear and to have grace for one another!
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October 2023 Newsletter

Click here to read the October 2023 Library Newsletter in its entirety.


October Storytimes

We have some fun storytimes scheduled this month! Our storytimes will begin at 1pm on the dates below.

On Friday, October 13th, Mrs. Rose will be leading storytime, and we’ll be celebrating fall and pumpkins! I don’t want to give away any surprises, but I know she is planning some fun “extras” to go along with the books!

Be sure to come back on Friday, October 27th – Mrs. Sarah will be our guest for storytime. She is a musician and is planning a fun afternoon with books and music! It is definitely not one to be missed!


New Hours for October!

One big change for October is updated hours for Cornerstone Living Library! We sent an email about this last week, but in case you missed it, here are our updated hours:

  • Tuesdays, by appointment only (email library@cbclilburn.org to arrange)
  • Fridays, 12pm to 3pm (drop-in – no appointment needed)
  • Sundays, 30 minutes following the service (roughly 12pm to 12:30pm)

As always, you can also put books on hold using our online catalog. We will let you know when they’re ready, and you can arrange to pick them up any weekday by calling the church office. All members should have received their online login information via email – contact Ashley at library@cbclilburn.org if you have any problems.


Behind the Scenes: Spine Labels

What’s going on behind the scenes at the library, you ask? The answer is – a lot! We have a team of volunteers who have worked very hard to get the library up and running, but the reality is there is still much to be done! 

The biggest change you will see is we have started to put spine labels on all the books! As you likely have noticed, our books are organized by subject/genre. However, within those subjects, there is not currently any order which does make finding books a little difficult. The spine labels being added to the books will show us the book’s call number, which is like the address where it lives. That will allow us to more easily keep everything in order! 

This is a huge task, though. We currently have 7,800 books that will all need spine labels – and it takes about 1.5 hours for every hundred books, provided we are able to work steadily. One of the biggest things that slows us down is in deciding what call number each book should have – and being consistent with those decisions. Some books fit into multiple sections, and we have to think like our patrons – “Where would they be most likely to look for this book?” However, in the end, it is very satisfying to see a whole shelf of finished books. 

You’ll have to let us know what you think at your next visit!


Clive’s Corner: Celebrating Fall!

Enjoy these monthly recommendations from our library mascot, Clive

The weather has turned cooler and the leaves are starting to change – it’s finally fall! While I prefer my diet of small critters, being a Library Owl has exposed me to other delicacies like apples! I pulled out a few books about apples to share with my patrons this month. They are especially good paired with a nice apple snack!

  • The Life and Times of the Appleby Charles Micucci – If you want to know more about apples, this is the book for you! It’s packed full of interesting facts and information, along with colorful illustrations.
  • The Apple Pie Treeby Zoe Hall – Beautiful, simple illustrations accompany this sweet story of a tree through the seasons as it grows first blossoms then apples. Includes an apple pie recipe at the end!
  • Apple Fractionsby Jerry Pallotta – Explaining math topics using apples! This is a fun way to bring in the season to all the subjects.
  • How to Make an Apple Pie and See the Worldby Marjorie Priceman – One of my favorites. A book that uses apple pie ingredients to travel the world.
  • Apple Picking Timeby Michele Benoit Slawson – Apple picking can be a family activity! Beautiful pictures show a girl and her family picking apples all day.
  • The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Treeby Gail Gibbons – Follow Arnold as he watches his apple tree change through the seasons.

September 2023 Newsletter

Click here to read the September Library Newsletter in its entirety.


Welcome to our library newsletter!

Thank you for signing up to receive our library newsletter! We plan to send these out monthly to highlight upcoming events, recent additions to our catalog, and any other information we think might be useful to share.


Did you miss our Grand Opening?

We know not everyone could make it to our Grand Opening! If you are interested in knowing more about the library, we invite you to attend one of our Library Days (check the online calendar for specific dates). We are happy to explain anything about membership and our vision for the library, and we will have copies of the contract for anyone interested. If you have any questions, please contact us.


Member Contract

You can download a copy of our member contract from our website here. Our website also has other information about what membership entails.


Online Catalog

Our entire catalog is available online! Our members will be able to use their login to put books on hold. Call the church office (770-806-0005) to arrange a time to pick them up.


September Storytime

We are so excited to have Mrs. Dorothy as our special guest for our first storytime! Please join us on September 8th at 1:30pm. Our storytimes will be geared for younger elementary kids. See our online calendar for future storytime dates. 


Looking for a specific book?

Right now, our library is still relatively small. We were blessed to be able to add about 4,000 children’s books to our collection in the past 5 months, but we know there are many more out there. We have a master spreadsheet of the books of various popular homeschool curricula and we are using that to prioritize books that we seek out to purchase. However, invariably there will be books you are looking for that we do not have. We urge you to be patient as we grow our collection. We welcome feedback if you have a specific title or a subject you’d like to see in the library. Or even better, we love donations if you would like to buy it yourself and donate it to us for future children to enjoy.

Also, another thing we’d like to ask is that if you come across any books with concerning content, please let us know! While we try to be careful with the books we include, we know there are likely a few that have slipped through unintentionally. If you let us know any concerns, we will be better able to evaluate if it’s the right book for our library. Thank you in advance for helping us be vigilant!