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Congratulations to our Contest Winners!

For our Renovation Celebration Open House, we invited our patrons to compete in two competitions: a scavenger hunt around the building and a Haiku writing contest. We are glad to recognize our winners of each contest and thank those who participated. We were overwhelmed by the talent and turnout! 

So, without further ado... 

Our scavenger hunt winners are.... Mishka and Emma! 

Library now offers ABCmouse.com – an early learning tool proven to increase reading scores!

The WDM Public Library is thrilled to now offer ABCmouse.com, an online early learning resource, to our patrons. The award-winning ABCmouse curriculum is designed to help young children (ages 2-8+) build a strong foundation for future academic success. ABCmouse is 100% educational, with more than 10,000 learning activities (books, puzzles, educational games, art activities, songs, etc.) across all major subject areas—reading, math, science, social studies, art, and music. Over 1,000 of these learning activities are in Spanish.

WDM Public Library Celebrates Renovation with the Community

This weekend, the West Des Moines Public Library hosted an open house to commemorate the $3 million renovation that wrapped up in April 2021. The celebration also marked the 25-year anniversary of the building at 4000 Mills Civic Parkway which broke ground in 1996.

This renovation became a part of the Library’s strategic plan in 2017 and came to fruition in early 2020 despite the setbacks from the Coronavirus pandemic. In fact, even with COVID-19 and the renovation, the Library was only closed for 81 total days from March 2020 to April 2021.

Library to Celebrate Renovation and 25-Year Building Anniversary on June 12

When the West Des Moines Public Library opened its then-new location here at 4000 Mills Civic Parkway in 1996, the City celebrated the creation of a beautiful space for the community to gather and learn. During this initial celebration, the building was festooned with many decorations, including helium balloons. In true balloon fashion, they found their way to the highest and most unreachable parts of our ceiling, creating a home for themselves for the next 25 years.

Anticipation...

From Carol Grant, Secretary, WDM Library Board of Trustees:

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the West Des Moines library to reopen.  Two reasons…first, it’s been a year since Covid squelched my ability to leisurely browse the stacks. Secondly, I can’t wait to see (and experience) the final results of the renovations that have taken place over the past 20 months.

April 13 2021 Phone Interruption

Due to needed phone maintenance, the phones at the library after 6pm tonight, Tuesday, April 13 may get interrupted.  Curbside service will continue to 7pm as usual.  

Pull up, call the number as usual - 515-222-3404 - but if you cannot get through, staff will come out to check with you.  

Thank you for your patience!  

Phone service should be re-connected by Wednesday morning.  

 

Curbside Hours Expanded From Now Until Reopening

Curbside Pickup of holds is available during our Renovation Closure. 

As of 4/8/2021, we have EXPANDED Curbside Hours!  These will continue until we reopen in late April.

Hours for Curbside during Closure:  

     Monday - Thursday, 9am - 7pm

     Friday - Saturday,  10am - 2pm

To Use Curbside: 

West Des Moines Public Library to Close for Final Stage of Renovation

The West Des Moines Public Library will close for at least six weeks starting March 1 as the library enters the final stage of its nearly 18-month renovation. During the closure, contractors, engineers, movers, furniture vendors and library staff will re-open areas of the building currently closed, finish design and structural work, install new furnishings, fixtures and technology, re-install shelving currently in storage and assess, sort and re-shelve 30,000 library materials stored off site since the beginning of the project.  

Library Reopening on Monday the 11th to Limited Traffic

West Des Moines, IA–At a mid-day meeting of the Library Board of Trustees on January 5, board members decided that The West Des Moines Public Library will reopen to limited walk-in traffic starting at 9am on Monday, January 11.

Welcome to Our New Website!

Welcome, friends!  After months of work, our new West Des Moines Public Library Website is up and running!  

We have reorganized and refreshed our graphics, our information, and our look.  The whole site has been made more mobile-friendly, with easy links to our many wonderful services - some of which may be new to you.   

We hope you like our bright, fresh new look and feel.  We invite you to explore and enjoy!   

Progress!

This renovation project probably feels like it has taken a long time–remember October 2019 when the library closed for the first renovation stage and your librarians packed up over 30,000 books for storage? We moved all the stacks around and dove into Phase 1 of our project. That transition took two long weeks and it felt like ages before we were able to welcome you back inside (little did we know what was in store for all of us this year…ha). During Phases 1 and 2 the second floor of the library received its refresh.