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

  • The Curious Why by Angela DiTerlizzi
    A young boy is bored - he has nothing to do, but when he hears a knock at the door he discovers the The Curious Why who helps him see that he is only bored if he chooses to be. Readers will love the colorful, energetic, swirling digital illustrations. Fun, cheerful and entertaining - just the ticket for the perennially inquisitive or the perpetually bored. For ages 4-7. Donated by the Echols family.

• JUVENILE FICTION

  • At the Edge of the Ice by Carolyn Armstrong

    Eleven-year-old Sydney sees a polar bear “the moment she arrives in Swalbard, a small group of islands near the North Pole. He’s hungry and desperate and wearing a tracking collar that looks way too tight. Usually, Sydney loves seeing animals with her environmental photojournalist parents and twin sister, Sierra, but this time, the sight is just so sad. She wants to do something, but what? An inspiring tale that educates and empowers young readers to become stewards of the earth.” Donated by the Echols family.

• ADULT FICTION

  • Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
    The author gives us “a tale of justice, redemption and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet. Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: 81 years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent and never without a hot cup of tea…. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying. Because Elsie hasn’t always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller - Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad or just misunderstood? Either way, she’s kept her secret buried for decades. Is she a cantankerous old lady with a shady past? A cold-blooded killer with arthritis? Sharp, surprising and wickedly fun, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who’s spent a lifetime being underestimated. Donated by Linda and Freddy Bailey.

• ADULT NON-FICTION

  • True Crime; A Memoir by Patricia Cornwell
    “Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta. In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas Day, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family and developing a…relationship with evangelist Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth who became a second mother to Cornwell. Patsy, as she was called, became interested in crime and it led her to get a job with the chief medical examiner of Virginia.” Kirkus Reviews adds “this literary memoir is as good as it gets, with more action and drama than many novels”. Donated by Linda and Freddy Bailey.

Contact the Library

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