Adventure Pass Changes in 2025

Due to software issues affecting all libraries using the service, the Des Moines Public Library’s Iowa Adventure Pass program will no longer be available in 2025. Any reservation already made for 2025 will be honored, but we encourage anyone with a current reservation to print those passes immediately. Customers can make new reservations for passes that must be used by December 31, 2024. We hope to reintroduce the service at a later time, and we apologize for the inconvenience. 

Always Available Audiobooks - There's Always Something to Listen To

When you combine your Des Moines Public Library card and the Libby app, you'll never run out of audiobooks you can listen to right now. That's because the Libby app has a revamped Always Available Audiobook section, complete with new subsections that make it easy to find a book in the genre you want. Take a look at the collections and check out some of our suggestions below:

Outlander

'Outlander,' by Diana Gabaldon

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series is a worldwide sensation, and the first eight books are always available to checkout as an audiobook on the Libby app. Follow the adventures of WWII combat nurse Claire Randall and 18th century Scottish hero James Fraser as they traverse through wars across time as part of a pulse-pounding adventure and breathtaking romance.

A Court of Thrones and Roses

'A Court of Thrones and Roses,' by Sarah J. Maas

Following up her best-selling Throne of Glass series Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series is an imaginative retelling of a several fairy tales, including Beauty and the Beast. The series blends romance, adventure, revenge, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read. The first three books in the series form part of a self-contained trilogy, and all three are always available audiobooks on the Libby app.

Murderbot

'The Murderbot Diaries,' by Martha Wells

The first four books of this tense science fiction adventure series are always available to listen to on Libby. The stories follow the adventure of a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. As the android becomes increasingly human-esque, it finds itself sucked more and more into adventures it'd rather not have. These four Murderbot stories are all novellas, coming in at less than four hours, making them a perfect weekend listen while you lay in the sun or do chores around the house.

Black Mass

'Black Mass: Whity Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal,' by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill

James "Whitey" Bulger became one of the most ruthless gangsters in US history, and all because of an unholy deal he made with a childhood friend. John Connolly a rising star in the Boston FBI office, offered Bulger protection in return for helping the Feds eliminate Boston's Italian mafia. But no one offered Boston protection from Whitey Bulger, who, in a blizzard of gangland killings, took over the city's drug trade. Whitey's deal with Connolly's FBI spiraled out of control to become the biggest informant scandal in FBI history. Black Mass is a New York Times and Boston Globe bestseller, written by two former reporters who were on the case from the beginning. It is an epic story of violence, double-cross, and corruption at the center of which are the black hearts of two old friends whose lives unfolded in the darkness of permanent midnight.

Ordinary Grace

'Ordinary Grace,' by William Kent Kruger

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were at the ready at Halderson's Drug Store soda counter, and "Hot Stuff "comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a summer in which death assumed many forms. When tragedy unexpectedly comes to call on his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his years kid brother, Frank finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal. On the surface, "Ordinary Grace" is the story of the murder of a beautiful young woman, a beloved daughter and sister. At heart, it's the story of what that tragedy does to a boy, his family, and ultimately the fabric of the small town in which he lives. Told from Frank's perspective forty years after that fateful summer, it is a moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.

Stranger Diaries

'The Stranger Diaries,' by Elly Griffiths

From the author of the beloved Ruth Galloway series, a modern gothic mystery for fans of Magpie Murders and The Lake House. Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare's colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland's most famous story, "The Stranger," left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favorite literature.

Published on July 07, 2021
Last Modified November 23, 2024