Local libraries continue to adapt

May 11—OTTUMWA — As Wapello County contributes funding, the libraries in the county are finding new and innovative ways to put it to good use.

Blakesburg Public Library Director Cheryl Talbert and Ottumwa Public Library Director Sonja Ferrell gave the board of supervisors an update at their last meeting about the changes that are being made among the five libraries, and offering statistics over the past year. Currently, there are 21 employees in the county's five libraries.

One of the key pieces to $85,000 in funding the county offered was the digitization of the Ottumwa Courier in the Ottumwa library. The multi-phase project has led to the creation of digital archives that can be searched by keyword through 2008.

"I know folks from the county staff that have utilized it. I just utilized to answer a reference question from a gentleman who moved to California. It's just so much faster," Ferrell said. "If you're looking for grandparents' obituaries, you don't have to know when they passed away.

"Anyone from anywhere who has access to the internet can search up to the last 10 years. But if it's newer than the last 10 years, we need to go to other sites to obtain that information."

Ferrell said her library is healthy, with circulation numbers increasing. She noted that patrons aren't solely checking out books.

"Libraries are so much more than that nowadays," she said. "I was actually shocked at the success of a writing class we offered. If we get one person to show up, that would be a lot. We had seven. It just blew my mind. So that clearly filled a void in the community that I'm proud of."

Ferrell also mentioned the library has been offering grief kits for children, teens and adults that were put together by an individual through a grant from Glow Walk, which was a suicide-prevention and awareness walk last fall.

"We've given away 20 of them. Our problem now isn't funding or getting the word out. It's keeping them in stock," Ferrell said. "I truly did not have my finger on the pulse of that kind of need in the community."

Talbert talked about the improvements being made at the county's other four libraries — Blakesburg, Eddyville, Agency and Eldon. They've also made strides getting books in patrons' hands, while offering more services.

"Agency just installed a new book drop at their library. It's actually built into the wall and goes inside, so it provides more a more secure and weather-protected book return," she said.

Talbert also said the Agency and Blakesburg libraries are part of the Junior Library Guild, which is a program that aids in the selection of books, mostly for children, though she said "there's a lot of high-quality books, a lot of award-winning books."

"I makes a library director's job, especially in those one-person libraries, a lot easier in the selection process," she said.

Blakesburg Library is also undergoing a transformation. The Friends of the Blakesburg Pubic Library group purchased a building in 2017 and is in the process of renovating it. Talbert said about half the project is finished.

"The library has been temporarily housed at an elementary school classroom in the old elementary building, and the school has a program that is expanding, and they want their space back," Talbert said. "So after eight years, we're going to actually move into part of our new space."

Talbert said her library has a 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, held a pop-up library at the ballpark and a story walk in the park. During the summer, family movie nights are held.

"This year, Bubs Grub is going to have a food truck on Thursday nights in the park, so we're going to be doing our movie nights on Thursday, and try to keep a good reason for people to stay in town a little longer," Talbert said.

Eddyville Public Library also started a 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, which is designed to encourage families to read to their children to get them ready for school. The library has over 40 programs and more than 1,300 people attending them. It also had updates inside the library three years ago.

At the Eldon Public Library, renovations are in progress, Talbert said. Plaster removal from the basement and meeting room has taken place.

"Their Friends of the Library organization actually painted their walls. They currently have a staff of one, but they hope to add a library assistant," Talbert said. "They're participating in a program called 'Travels with Bill,' where a $1 bill is traveling to all rural libraries across the nation. They signed up a year ago, but it hasn't made it to their library yet."

The Eldon Library also is part of the Adventure PASS program, which offers tickets to the Science Center of Iowa, as well as free passes to the Des Moines Botanical Garden.

One of the most popular programs among all of the libraries is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which was funded through the United Way of Wapello County. Under the program, any child from birth to 5 years old that lives in the county will get a free book every month to encourage literacy skills.

"We have 751 kids receiving the Dolly Parton program," Ferrell said. "Folks can sign up for that online. You don't have to do a physical brochure, but it's another great program we're doing."

Ferrell said the Bridges ebook system has been popular for a while. The system allows readers to borrow an ebook through their local library, and works for audiobooks as well.

"This was huge, obviously, just with the trends and with the pandemic. Some people don't ever have to step foot in the library to be able to check out books," she said. "It's a consortium of statewide libraries, so we're competing with everybody else in the state to check out these books. Sometimes the hold lines are long.

"But we also have access through the State Library of Iowa, which can help with accessing jobs, specifically for veterans, but also job-training programs and educations programs," she said. "It's for students all the way through job seekers."

Supervisor Brian Morgan believes the libraries have evolved over the last few years.

"I think they've done a great job adapting to change because it's not about books anymore," he said. "Another thing that I'm proud we supported is the history of our community and people needing that information. The use of the library goes well beyond books."

— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury