Library News

The WDM Public Library is thrilled to now offer ABCmouse.com, an online early learning resource, to our patrons. The award-winning ABCmouse curriculum is designed to help young children (ages 2-8+) build a strong foundation for future academic success. ABCmouse is 100% educational, with more than 10,000 learning activities (books, puzzles, educational games, art activities, songs, etc.) across all major subject areas—reading, math, science, social studies, art, and music. Over 1,000 of these learning activities are in Spanish.

We’re thrilled to begin showing off the new mural in our Story Room designed by Thomas Agran of Iowa City! When we underwent renovations to the Children’s area of the Library, we knew that we wanted to add something extra-special to the Story Room. Agran’s proposal was an instant hit with his vision to create a mural with inspiration from collage.

A guest post by our student author Claire:

CALL FOR ARTISTS 

Public Library Story Room Mural 

City of West Des Moines 

Printable PDF version

WEST DES MOINES: COMMUNITY 

Hi everyone! Miss Jenna here. If you're anything like me, you are watching updates and preparing for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover landing on February 18! So exciting! Your library has a bunch of Mars-related materials to help you learn more about the planet and past NASA missions. Check them out below! Mark your calendars and tune in to the NASA YouTube channel to watch the landing. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 1:15 CST. 

In late December our new children's book shelves were full to capacity, so we asked our readers via social media to help us get them out into circulation and you responded! We have heard you and your desire for book bundles for kids and we are delighted to roll out this new service. Here's what you need to know:

This renovation project probably feels like it has taken a long time–remember October 2019 when the library closed for the first renovation stage and your librarians packed up over 30,000 books for storage? We moved all the stacks around and dove into Phase 1 of our project. That transition took two long weeks and it felt like ages before we were able to welcome you back inside (little did we know what was in store for all of us this year…ha). During Phases 1 and 2 the second floor of the library received its refresh.