Director’s Column

Director’s Column

Winter 2025

Fall in Love with PHL

As Autumn makes its way toward Winter, it is hard not to occupy our minds with the annual traditions that accompany this time of year. There are meals to conjure, end of year tasks to conquer, and family time to coordinate. Choices simply must be made between the weighty Oscar-contending films and the guilty pleasure classics. Some opt for Peanuts specials, many cozy up to Hallmark movie reveries, and others turn things upside down with holiday horror flicks… anyone out there go for all of the above? No matter what your go-to, the Palm Harbor Library (PHL) is here to supply you with books, movies, an ever-expanding library-of-things, an every day (not just seasonal) greeting, and a few of our own annual traditions…

This year’s Local Author Showcase will take place on Saturday, November 15 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Meet the authors and be wowed by the wide variety of genres our own Florida authors tap into. And while you are here at PHL, you can also check out the local author collection available every day. Then, on Wednesday, November 26 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., keep your hands busy with the annual Holiday Cardmaking program.

On Saturday, December 6 you will spot PHL staff partnering with the Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce, Palm Harbor Parks & Recreation, and other area organizations for the Christmas Tree Lighting & Family Celebration and Downtown Christmas Parade. Here at the library, there will be plentiful winter holiday activities for all ages throughout December, a few of them repeated every year, and all of them posted to our calendar: PalmHarbor.LibraryCalendar.com.

2026 will not just be bringing annual celebrations. The year marks the semi-quincentennial, 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. PHL is planning several programs to commemorate this auspicious anniversary, and to start it off our friends at the Palm Harbor Museum are honoring Heritage Village’s 50th anniversary with a talk on Wednesday, January 7 at 6:30 p.m. here at PHL. And just a few weeks later PHL fulfills its mission to support the arts in the most enjoyable way with the 9th annual artPHL Evening on Friday, January 23 at 6:30 p.m. (tickets on sale in early December). With live music, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, and IRL access to artists and art, you won’t want to miss it – add it to your calendar and spread the word!

Whether trying something new, revisiting some of our favorite pastimes, or just stopping in for a warm hello at your friendly neighborhood library, we hope this season you will Fall in love with PHL… because we love being here for all of you!

~Matthew

Matthew David, Palm Harbor Library Director

Did You Know…?

Chances are, when you stop by Palm Harbor Library on Nebraska Avenue, something will catch your eye. 📆 But do not forget that our online library is booming with activity too! In addition to eBooks, databases, streaming music and video, you can also take advantage of our virtual author talks. Just visit LibraryC.org/PalmHarborLibrary to see upcoming live sessions. For example, The Legacy of Julia Child’s Kitchen with Author and Smithsonian Curator Paula J. Johnson will broadcast online on Tuesday, December 9 at 2:00 p.m. And if you miss any of the live talks, no worries! All of these past events are archived for you to check out on your mobile device or computer. Much thanks to the Friends of the Palm Harbor Library for sponsoring this series!

October 2025

Just Treats 🍬

How is Halloween like a library? Let me tell you the haunting tale… 👻 First and foremost, this mysterious holiday is an amalgam of many traditions, beliefs, creative interests, and celebrations that go back hundreds of years from multiple parts of the world. The same can be said of how libraries have evolved over time and the writings strewn (but carefully organized!) across our shelves, and the myriad activities filling our calendar throughout the year. Not to mention the fact that the visual of books adorned with cobwebs just scream All Hallow’s Eve! 🕸️🕷️ This month we narrow in from the myriad to the macabre, and tap into those enchanting days with costumes, crafts, games, stories, celebrations inside the library and out, and of course – a book or two. Halloween is like a library, and this library really likes Halloween…

Look over your shoulder! And see what activities are lurking there:

Note: tickets are $2 cheaper in advance – that’s a scary good deal!

And at the very beginning of the month, the Palm Harbor Museum will host its monthly talk on Wednesday, October 1 at 6:30 p.m here at the Palm Harbor Library. In the spirit of the season, the session is titled Palm Harbor – History And Mystery. Bob Fortner – President of the the Palm Harbor Museum & Historical Society – will share historical facts and fiction as well as some tales that are a bit of both.

As a father, I am all too familiar with kids and their ever-changing preferences, especially when it comes to the dreaded process of finding the perfect Halloween costume. PHL has the solution! All month long, families can bring in their gently used costumes (for kids, tweens and teens) and participate in our Costume Swap. Or if they are not ready to give up last year’s getup, just bring in a $5 donation to our Youth Services team, and pick one out.

And while you are in the Children’s room, don’t forget to grab a Halloween book to read. Journeying to the Other Side of the building, you will find plenty of volumes for teens and adults to choose from as well. The year is going by fast, and the 31st will be here before we know it. Stop by and take in our decor, check out our titles, and live it up with us in our programs. How Halloween just like a library? Always expect the unexpected!

~Matthew

Matthew David, Palm Harbor Library Director

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
Clue
The Corpse Bride
Blood
September 2025

One Card, Endless Possibilities

September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, and the theme this year is “One Card, Endless Possibilities.” Imagining and connecting to what is possible is kind of a thrilling and daunting thought, because we are living in such a fascinating time. So many of us are searching for those ideal paths, navigating the world of intelligences: artificial, creative, emotional, historical, interpersonal, logical, spiritual – the list goes on and on! Libraries are excellent places to begin many of those paths by grabbing a book, taking in a performance, taking part in group activities, researching databases, or using us as a launch pad. As proud as I am of everything PHL has to offer here inside these walls, achieving that Possible does not happen in a vacuum. The next step is often elsewhere, and sometimes it leads toward one of our many fantastic community partners. So we want you to come here first – and then go away to the next best place – and then come back here for more. 🧭 Your library card can be the Possible, bolstering the paths available to you and yours…

One of those invaluable community partners is the Palm Harbor Museum and the Palm Harbor Historical Society (PHHS). PHHS was established back in 1983, just five years after the Palm Harbor Library, and we have been strong partners for many years. Recently, for the 100 Years of Palm Harbor celebration, the museum created postcards commemorating local historic sites, and those framed postcards can now be seen at PHL, as well as at the museum and at Palm Harbor Parks & Recreation. The museum also has a permanent display case at PHL with rotating exhibit items, and often does additional special exhibitions with us. And I am overjoyed to share that beginning in October, the Palm Harbor Museum will be included in the county wide Library Museum Pass Program. This is an excellent (and free!) way to experience more than a dozen area museums and historical sites. Please note: beginning 9/1/25, The Glazer Museum will no longer be available through this program.

Throughout the year, lectures and presentations organized by the Palm Harbor Museum can be enjoyed at the library on the first Wednesday of the month. On September 3 at 6:30 p.m., the session will feature fine artist, digital illustrator, and muralist Ketsy Ruiz, who serves as Marketing Associate for Pinellas County’s non-profit local arts agency, Creative Pinellas. And speaking of early-in-the-month events, there are a few spots left for the after-hours performance by Our Musical Chairs on Friday, September 5 at 6:00 p.m., sponsored by the Palm Harbor Friends of the Library.

Your library card can of course be used to check out books and a wide range of other items. After you have visited the museum or attended one of their talks at PHL, you may be inspired to check out a book on Palm Harbor. After you have attended Cameras & Coffee, you may be interested to check out one of our cameras. And don’t forget about our online resources! In addition to databases, streaming music and streaming movies, we have thousands of eBooks – and we have now increased the checkout limits for CloudLibrary eBooks and eAudiobooks.

I will risk the groans of this dad-joke like comment: with your library card, you Harbor the world in the Palm of your hand. 🌍 Seriously though folks – what is mentioned above is just the tip of the iceberg, and we are always venturing into new territory to discover ways of serving you all most effectively. There truly are endless possibilities!

~Matthew

Matthew David, Palm Harbor Library Director

Book Cover: Palm Harbor A people and Past Remembered - a palm tree with blue skies
Images of America- Around Palm Harbor with old image of school kids in front of a wooden school house
August 2025

Places of Enchantment

Perhaps it is a bit on the nose to mention “enchantment” less than 100 miles from Walt Disney World. 🐭 But even before the parks in California and Florida opened their gates, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote in her seminal novel Cross Creek: “I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.” Do you agree? What is your place? Mine used to be Albuquerque, New Mexico – I went to high school there and I still miss the mountains and sunsets. As a matter of fact, New Mexico’s slogan is Land of Enchantment. But Rawlings’ descriptions of old Florida reminds me that enchantment reverberates all around us here too, in many places great and small… as large as a grove and as petite as a paragraph on the page of a library book. Join us in August as we celebrate MKR’s works throughout the month. PHL will always endeavor to be the place that everyone can turn to…

To  enjoy the writings and themes of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings works, consider attending one or more – or all! – of the following:

You can find many titles by and about MKR right here at PHL:

Rawlings work can also be found in eBook and eAudiobook format via our online library. You may already be familiar with Libby and Hoopla. But have you tried CloudLibrary? We provide many titles via CloudLibrary that are not available on the other eBook platforms. Start by downloading the mobile app onto your smart phone or tablet if you have one – or you can use the web browser on your computer. Then login with your library card number and pin. Be sure to check out the Featured lists when you are there for easy browsing.

As the summer winds down, it may give us pause to think of Florida’s expanses as majestic when we are battling the formidable heat and the ever present threat of severe storms. But of course we know there is beauty in the topography and human-made structures, old and new. Rawlings addresses this duality poignantly, just below her statement about enchantment: “Across the lake, visible the four miles only on a clear day, is the tower of the old Samson manse, decaying in the middle of the still prosperous orange grove. From the tower itself, decrepit and dangerous, is a sight of a tropical world of dreams, made up of glossy trees and shining water and palm islands.” Once again, books show us the way(s)!

~Matthew

Matthew David, Palm Harbor Library Director

Book Covers for 10 Marjorie Kinnan Rawling books.