Dyersville's Public Library

Dyersville, Iowa has a population only slightly higher than Galena, with around 4,058 people, however the flavor and approach to their library, The James Kennedy Public Library, is vastly different.  I noticed with the Galena Library that their shelves were highly weeded, Dyersville, not so much.  I'm guessing it is partly because Dyersville is part of a smaller county-wide consortium of inter-library loaning libraries.  According to the assistant library director, Dawn Schrandtthey only have four within their county to freely exchange before going to the higher-tiered inter-library loan authorities such as Iowa's SILO program and the wider OCLC FirstSearch (the professional side of the public WorldCat.org) with whereas Galena is a part of the RAILS system which has numbers closer to 50.  I'm just guessing though.  Whereas Galena had an early 20th Century feel to it, Dyersville is all modern, having only been built 12 years ago mostly due to an enormous naming donation given to them by the local banker James Kennedy and his family.  It is because of this gift they received the naming rights to a library that before then was named after the benefactor of the original library, Monsignor Hoffman.  (They named their new major meeting space after Mnsgr. Hoffman instead.)

Everything in this library is tied to the community.  The library prides itself in incorporating aspects of Dyersville's business life directly into library through partnerships with the local business establishments to provide services such as well appointed meeting room space, hosting of events, etc.  The library is, in turn the focal point of the community.  The day after I was scheduled to leave, the library was having a Trick or Treating event that was scheduled in tandem with all the other businesses up and down the main street.  They expected upwards of 75 kids.  Some cool community programs included a fundraiser for the library that involved local artisans creating art, usually by painting, upon the older chairs in the library and then putting up for contest to see which was most popular by the patrons.  The chairs are later sold. I also noticed a walk-a-thon.  People in the community were logging how many steps they were taking daily and then it was tracked on a map showing the mileage the town was getting.  They currently made it to New York City. 

Through supporting their library, the citizens of Dyersville have a common goal in securing their future growth.  A lovely place!