Library News

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 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: 

Amazon is withholding ebook and audiobook versions of works it publishes through its in-house publishing arms from US libraries.  This may affect the offerings provided to patrons via our statewide Bridges service from OverDrive, though we don't yet know the impact.  

Here is a good article from The Verge outlining the issue.  

A guest post by our student author Claire:

"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people."  Andrew Carnegie 

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.  

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. 

Mars Materials at the Library

A guest book review by Kauai:

Lessons to Learn From Home of the Brave

Do you love a good puzzle, but find you’re not in the mood for violence? Cozy mysteries are a popular subgenre of mystery, and typically feature an amateur sleuth in a picturesque setting.  Our list of “Mystery Minus Murder” titles takes the warm feeling one step further by highlighting books that don’t include murder at all! These cozy reads feature historical riddles, blackmail, family mysteries and puzzling antiques. Many are available in a variety of formats, including eBook and eAudio.

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.

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:

A guest post by our student author Claire:

Remember the West Des Moines Library Friends Foundation as you make your final contributions for 2020 - or your first ones for 2021!   

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!