The History of Jane L. Joyner Library

Ruth Ambrosius wrote, “Spring of 2000 saw the initial meetings of activities … By September, the Library was open and freely operational. The library collection (transferred from the old Methodist Retirement Home Library on Erwin Road) was housed at first in the original Roy’s Room. It was later transferred to its present Joyner Library location.”

Among our historical materials saved for posterity is an undated program from the naming ceremony, “Naming of the Library at Croasdaile Village for Jane Linville Joyner (1925- 2002).” A metal plaque just to the left of the library entrance lists those who played leading roles in the early days.

Florence Blakely was the first to be appointed Librarian for the Joyner Library.Dottie Osborn succeeded her in 2011. Elaine and John Druesedow succeeded Dottie as Co-Librarians in January of 2019. From the very beginning, it was recognized that the library would need expansion space. Satellite libraries have been assigned for groups of special materials: the Library Annex for art, music, literature, and travel; the Paper- back Room for, of course, paperbacks; the new Roy’s Room for the complete Agatha Christie Collection, poetry, and the World War II veterans’ recorded interviews; the Great Grandchildren’s Room, for children’s literature; and the Nook, for nature studies. The Chapel maintains its own collection of religious and devotional books.

A recent tally of the Joyner Room collection lists about 6,000 books, some 1,800 videos, more than 500 audiobooks, nearly100 Great Courses, and newspapers and magazines (with a few thousand more books and a thousand music C.D.s in the satellite locations). Nearly 6,000 items are circulated annually, a very large figure for a library of our size. The Library Annex also houses our Topaz OCR Desktop Electronic Magnifier, a sophisticated device that in addition to illumination and magnification can deliver audible speech from a displayed text.

We rely on the Durham County Library to supplement our resources. Once a month, the DCL brings a selection of regular and large print books to Joyner for perusal and check- out by our residents. The DCL’s many electronic resources are available via the Chromebox computer in the A.V. Room or personal computers whose owners have a library card.

The Library Annex collection has been completely cataloged and reorganized in recent months, and shelving has been adjusted to accommodate our sizable CD collection. Maps are available to assist new users in finding this somewhat out-of-the-way gem of a satellite library.