Library News

Congratulations to the authors and illustrators who have been recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) as Youth Media Award winners! Each year the ALA honors books, videos, and other outstanding materials for children and teens. These prestigious awards include the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards "encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media." 

In response to high attendance levels at youth programs at the WDM Library, we will now require registration in advance for all storytimes and other events for youth starting November 1. Registration for all November programs and events for youth will open on Monday, November 1 at 9:00 AM. You may register online using our calendar, call 515-222-3405, or stop by the Children’s Desk on or after November 1 for assistance. 

Whether you're a fan of a cozy read or a spooky read to bring you into the fall season, our library staff has you covered! We've narrowed down our favorite books with fall vibes for kids, young adults, and adults below. Let us know if you end up reading any of our suggestions! 

As West Des Moines students start back to school, we wanted to highlight an invaluable resource that was developed by The Iowa Core. Their Parent Guides, in English and Spanish, provide an overview of what students will learn by the end of each grade level as directed by the Iowa Core, the state’s academic standard.

As you start to think about heading back to school, we wanted to highlight some of the hidden gems that can be checked out at the library. These items are part of our Library of Things and range from technology items, children’s STEM kits, Meet Your Neighbors Story Boxes and even a car charging kit!

You might be asking yourself: what is a Library of Things? By definition, it’s a collection of objects loaned that vary widely but go beyond books, journals and media traditionally offered in a library. Our offerings continue to expand as we meet the needs of our growing community.

In This Day and Page is a new podcast created by the West Des Moines Public Library with the goal of sharing all the different library resources, services, and programs we offer! Through staff and community member interviews, join us as we explore the ins and outs of the library world. Look out for a new episode every Monday on all major podcast platforms.

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.

We’re thrilled to begin showing off the new mural in our Story Room designed by Thomas Agran of Iowa City! When we underwent renovations to the Children’s area of the Library, we knew that we wanted to add something extra-special to the Story Room. Agran’s proposal was an instant hit with his vision to create a mural with inspiration from collage.

A guest post by our student author Claire:

CALL FOR ARTISTS 

Public Library Story Room Mural 

City of West Des Moines 

Printable PDF version

WEST DES MOINES: COMMUNITY 

Hi everyone! Miss Jenna here. If you're anything like me, you are watching updates and preparing for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover landing on February 18! So exciting! Your library has a bunch of Mars-related materials to help you learn more about the planet and past NASA missions. Check them out below! Mark your calendars and tune in to the NASA YouTube channel to watch the landing. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 1:15 CST. 

A guest book review by Kauai:

In late December our new children's book shelves were full to capacity, so we asked our readers via social media to help us get them out into circulation and you responded! We have heard you and your desire for book bundles for kids and we are delighted to roll out this new service. Here's what you need to know:

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.