By Demi Aycart

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Celebrate local bookstores and get in some holiday shopping by visiting the UF/IFAS Extension Bookstore, which carries unique, Florida-centric books from Florida-Friendly landscaping to healthy cooking. With more than 400 publication titles available for sale, including books, field guides, posters, and multimedia, as well as shirts, hats and other items, it is impossible not to love our bookstore.

“Bookstores represent a place of possibility and discovery, and our mission is to bring the critical work being done by UF/IFAS to the general public in the form of educational and reference materials,” says Sarah Hensley, the marketing and development manager at the UF/IFAS Extension bookstore. Hensley has been with the UF/IFAS Extension bookstore for more than five years and finds joy in helping customers find fact-based information to help improve their home, their communities, and the state of Florida.

You can share your appreciation for the bookstore during the second annual “Love Your Bookstore” social media challenge, which kicks off this Friday, Nov. 8, and ends Nov. 17. The challenge encourages people to visit their favorite bookstore and take a picture of themselves with a book they love and post the photo to social media with the hashtag #LoveYourBookstore and challenge three to five friends to do the same.

You can visit the UF/IFAS Extension Bookstore at 1374 Sabal Palm Drive, just off Mowry Road on the UF campus in Gainesville; or you can visit the bookstore’s online storefront at ifasbooks.ifas.ufl.edu. The bookstore also brings its popup retail shop to events around the state. If you’re interested in having the UF/IFAS Extension Bookstore at your event, contact Hensley (sarahehensley@ufl.edu).

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The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS works to bring science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents. Visit the UF/IFAS website at ifas.ufl.edu and follow us on social media at @UF_IFAS.

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