Iowa boasts more than 540 public libraries statewide, in addition to hundreds more libraries in schools, colleges and universities, all of which are marking this National Library Week.
Shirley Taylor, director of the Le Mars Public Library, says they continue to strive to be an essential service to everyone in the community.
“The library has really transformed along with society,” Taylor says. “Of course, we’re still doing books. That is our primary service. We have book clubs, we have story times, we promote reading, but we also do a lot of things I think people may not realize, like the video streaming, audio and e-books.”
The Le Mars institution has been in operation for more than 150 years and Taylor says it’s offering services today that wouldn’t have been dreamed of a few decades ago, let alone when the library first opened.
“There’s a lot of people who come in here and they need to scan something to e-mail, and they have to send it in for insurance purposes. It could be for a claim or for a job,” Taylor says. “We do scanning to e-mail. We print from e-mail. We help people get their printouts out of their phone. We can help people with their technology.”
The Le Mars Public Library is hosting events all week, including a “Stuffed Animal Story Time Sleepover” for young kids, “Tech Tuesday” and “Share Your Library Joy Day.”
(By Dave Grosenheider, KLEM, Le Mars)