Library News

When you want to find a book, you probably come to the library and look on our shelves. Or perhaps you use our online catalog to see whether we own a title. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, don’t stop there! In addition to our great print collection here in the library, you can access MILLIONS of titles through our library partnerships.

UPDATE: ALL computers are up and running! 

The public computers at the West Des Moines Public Library will be unavailable Wednesday, November 30 – Friday, December 2 while we complete essential technology upgrades. The fax machine and copiers will still be functional during this time. Please watch this space for any updates regarding this project.

The WDM Library Friends Foundation is proud to host the library’s biggest book sale of the year! Choose from hundreds of books at extremely affordable prices!

Join us on:

This year, the WDM Public Library embarked on a new strategic planning cycle to best position the library for community engagement and innovation from 2022 – 2027. With the help of local strategic planning firm, Bâton Global, we were able to develop a robust and thoughtful roadmap for the next five years that we are proud to share with our community.

Some of you might not know that our newest Teen Services Assistant, Sarah Allen, is also an author! We're super excited that the cover for her third book, The Nightmare House, has just been released. Learn more about Sarah and the book below. 

Tell us about your role here at the library and how long you’ve been here for!

The West Des Moines Public Library is partnering with DART to celebrate Library Card Sign up Week! Use your library card to ride FREE on DART’s Local and Express routes and On Call services September 11 - 17, 2022.

Just show your library card when you board any DART bus September 11 - 17. It's that simple! Then enjoy DART's free WiFi to listen to an eAudiobook or read an eBook. 

For the past few years, the library has been proud to present the Iowa Files History Program with the West Des Moines Historical Society. We're excited to have them back again for a series running monthly from September 2022 - May 2023. This joint library-Historical Society event is free and open to the public thanks to the support of West Des Moines Historical Society Members, EMC Insurance Foundation, the West Des Moines Library Friends Foundation and the Iowa Arts Council.

With students heading back to class this week, the West Des Moines Public Library’s administrators are sending out some reminders to students and families. Minors who wish to spend time at the West Des Moines Public Library must either be accompanied and supervised by an adult or present their library card or school ID at the Teen Desk upon entering the building. This process will be in effect on Wednesday, August 24, which marks the first day of classes for West Des Moines Community Schools students. This process is similar to one the library put into action in April 2022.

We rounded out the end of our Fiscal Year in June 2022. Looking back on the year, we wanted to share some of the highlights, including all of the fabulous things we were able to accomplish with the help of our dedicated patrons. 

Not only did our digital and physical circulation numbers go up this year, we were also proud of serving over 1,300 patrons through our Homebound and Elder Care Outreach programs, having 1,750 volunteer hours served in the library, and having 21,931 event attendees!

The State Library of Iowa has announced that the West Des Moines Public Library has met the conditions for state accreditation as outlined in “In Service to Iowa: Public Library Standards Sixth Edition.”

At the April 19 meeting of the West Des Moines Public Library Board of Trustees, the Board voted to raise the age at which children may be alone at the library from eight years of age to 10 years of age. The Board also decided that those acting as caregivers for younger patrons must be 14 years or older.

According to the library’s policies, parents, guardians, and caregivers must:

Repairs will be made to the West Des Moines Public Library's parking lot starting on Monday, April 25. These repairs will be made in a four-phased approach to allow patrons and staff to access the library throughout the renovation. Our book drop and entrance will always be accessible throughout this 6-8 week renovation process.  

Please refer to the image below to understand which areas of the lot will be closed at different times. We will update this article as we hear firm dates for the other phases moving forward. 

We're asking for five minutes of your time to complete this survey and help guide the future of our public library.

None of questions require a response but it would help the library if you would answer each question. 

Your responses to this survey are confidential.

Take survey now. 

While we might think of “literacy” as simply knowing how to read, literacy also means knowledge on a particular subject or field. Would you like to become literate in certain music genres? Learn how to “read” a prairie? Become a craft beer expert?

Some of our patrons who utilize our eContent services may have noticed some changes to OverDrive. This is because, as of February 23, OverDrive has started to transition all users to the Libby app.