COVID-19 Precautions

Library hours:

• Monday-Thursday 9am to 9pm
• Friday 9am - 6pm
• Saturday 10am - 4pm

The library will no longer be closing for mid-day cleaning. 

Hand sanitizing stations will be easy to locate throughout public areas.

UPDATED 8/5: The Board and Administration of the West Des Moines Public Library have recently re-instituted the wearing of face-coverings by library staff as spread of the Delta variant in our area has increased. While masks are not mandatory for library patrons, we encourage people using the library to continue following the best possible hygiene practices for minimizing spread of COVID and other infectious disease as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and the Iowa Department of Public Health, including wearing face coverings, maintaining six feet of distance between themselves and other patrons, and staying home when they have symptoms of COVID.

Complimentary masks are available in the library.

Library Living Room and Vending Machines 

The Library Living Room on the first floor is a new space where library users can eat or purchase food and drinks from vending machines. 

Covered drinks only are allowed in the rest of the library.  

Study Rooms

Online booking of some study rooms has resumed. Full booking capabilities will be reinstated on September 7.  

Other Meeting Spaces

The Community Room on the first floor and the Millie Knee Classroom on the second floor will be unavailable to large groups until September 7.

Driver’s License Kiosk is gone

The library no longer hosts an Iowa DOT license renewal kiosk.  Other locations are available locally. 

The new Teen Center on the first floor is designed and intended for library users in grades 6-12 and is the home of the young adult (YA) collection.

The three (3) new Teen Study Rooms in this area are also intended for middle and high school users and will be available for booking only through Youth Services staff.

A room for those with special health needs is available on the first floor.  You may request the key at the Children’s Desk.

Story times are scheduled to be in the large Community Room with space for social distancing starting in September. We will be constantly evaluating this decision as we approach the fall. All other group programs will be hosted outside.

Play Area:  Toys and puppets are back out and sanitized frequently.

New Technology for Children:  We have expanded the number of computers available at child-friendly carrels.  

We have also added new Tablet Hubs, where cardholders can check out a tablet for in-house use with youth-focused apps.