Adults
Growing Gardener’s Talk
Wednesdays @ noon
Join us each Wednesday in March to learn about gardening from local experts. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just getting started, you will gain valuable insights to take with you to your own home paradise.
Check out our Book Club Kits
Are you starting a book club, or already have a book club and need books? We’ve got you covered. The Library checks out Book Club Kits that contain between 8-15 copies of fiction and nonfiction books. The Kits check out for 8 weeks. Find the list of Kits here Book Club Kits.
Book Club
APL Book Club meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 12pm.
Copies of the monthly selection are available at the Adult Services desk at the Main Library
Our April 16 book club title is The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride.
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.
As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.
Book Club Bags
Already in a book club? You can checkout sets of books from APL’s previous book club selections. Each bag contains 8-12 copies of the book and check out for 8 weeks.
Questions about APL book clubs? Email us at librarywebteam@cityofalbany.net
New York Times Digital Access
Albany Public Library is excited to offer access to New York Times Digital by remote code activation. See instruction below to get started.
Remote Access:
- Click here to redeem the promotional code, you must create or log-in with a NYTime.com account
- Promotional code is active for 72 hours. After 72 hours, you can redeem a new code by clicking here.
Reading Recommendations for All Ages!
Looking for your next great read but not really sure where to start? Let our librarians help you! Fill out this form and we’ll send a personalized list of titles you, your child or teen might enjoy.
Adult Reading Recommendations click here for suggestions.
Children Reading Recommendations click here for suggestions.
Teen Reading Recommendations click here for suggestions.
Adult Reading Recommendations
Access Ancestry.com from home!
Click here to login and access billions of genealogy records including Census, SSDI & Military records. Discover your family history and start your family tree.
Historic Albany Photos Online
Through a joint project between the Albany Regional Museum and the Albany Public Library, approximately 7,000 photos from the Robert Potts Collection were numbered, sorted, and scanned. This project is supported in part by a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The scanned images are hosted online at Google photos. (more…)