What IS a library?
Yes, a library is books, definitely still books. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of books, lining the shelves of our six Des Moines Public Library buildings, with tens of thousands more eBooks and eAudiobooks available to download online. Plus magazines, movies, music, and more – many available for you to stream and download, for free, anywhere you are.
Storytimes still bring together children and families from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Readers still gather in library meeting rooms for book club discussions.
But as British author Caitlin Moran once said, “A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft, and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination.”
At the Des Moines Public Library, this is a way of thinking that guides us as we continue to evolve to better serve our communities.
A public library is one of the few – if not the only – public spaces with free access to the internet. A space where one can be not a consumer, but a citizen.
Where free lifelong learning opportunities are abundant – from digital educational resources, to small business and tech classes, to resume and job search tutorials, to even programs that teach you how to play the ukulele.
Our libraries are community spaces that encourage exploration, breed creativity, and invite collaboration. Inside library walls, world-famous authors share their stories, and superheroes and superfans meet. We are refuges for the less fortunate to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.
The library is makerspaces and meeting rooms and Pokemon card swaps and language learning tools and dance parties and research centers and art galleries and podcasts and so much more.
So again we ask: What IS the Des Moines Public Library? Think bigger. We are a place where, as our new television commercial (below) says,
… you can create your next masterpiece
… where you can let your imagination fly
… where you can start taking that next big step in your career
… where you can discover how things work, and begin building skills for your future
… where you can just relax and enjoy a movie – even at home on your couch
No matter who are you are, or what you’re looking for, look to the library – to YOUR library – to help solve your problems, answer your questions, better your life, enrich your experiences, and be that bridge to a world of information and ideas for personal enjoyment and community growth.
The Des Moines Public Library. EVERYONE is welcome.