The Iowa City Public Library (ICPL) was established in 1896 to serve the people of

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...

, USA. Currently located in a new facility at the intersection of college and Linn Streets on the downtown pedestrian mall, ICPL serves a population of 69,000 residents of Iowa City, and through contract, residents of unincorporated Johnson County, University Heights and

Hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as mountains. Hills fall und ...

. ICPL has approximately 67,000 cardholders.

History

The idea to establish a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, to provide a room for reading and games for the local young people, came about in 1896, when Iowa City had already existed for fifty-seven years. At this time, there were approximately 7,500 residents and 1300 students attending the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. When the library first opened its doors on January 21, 1897, it contained 1,300

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

s and twenty

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

s and

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s. It was located at 211 Iowa Avenue, and took up two rooms above a steam laundry. Over the years, the library moved or modified its location five times: in 1901, to 212 East College Street; in 1904, to a Carnegie library at 212 South Linn Street; in 1963, when an addition was added to the Carnegie library; and in 1981, to 123 South Linn Street. On June 12, 2004, the library opened the doors of its new facility, built at the same location but nearly double the size of the previous building. The new library was designed b
Engberg Anderson Design Partnership
located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and built b
Knutson Construction
It covers on two floors in a building that also contains rental space.

Collections, services and staff

ICPL maintains a popular collection that spans the entire range of the

Dewey Decimal Classification The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (pronounced ) colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. ...

system. The library holds roughly 175,000 circulating print books, 36,000 non-print items, 6,700 reference materials (print and electronic) and 520 newspapers and periodicals. Fiction and nonfiction items are held in many formats besides print, including downloadable eBooks, eAudiobooks, CD and DVD. Popular areas of the collection include children's items, new fiction and mysteries, the movie and TV collection, video games, biographical materials, the Art-to-Go prints, and gardening, cooking and travel books and videos. In addition to the items in the collection, the library offers many other services to its patrons: various types of audiovisual equipment can be checked out, there are five meeting rooms that can be booked by the public, study space for young adults and general-use study rooms, a large children's room with computers and story time area, forty-two internet/database computers, free wireless Internet throughout the building, Channel 20 (ICPL's local

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

channel that shows recorded programming), and a wide variety of programming for adults and children. Outside of the library's downtown location, it provides and maintains eighteen outreach collections at various community, youth and senior centers in the area. Iowa City Public Library offers times for Accessible Browsing. During this special services hour, accommodations are made for patrons with Autism and anyone who would benefit from a calmer environment. Overhead fluorescent lights are turned off during this time and therapy animals are brought in for support. In 2009, the Library reached a milestone of 1,500,000 circulations, making it the busiest public library in Iowa. ICPL employs over 100 full, part-time and hourly workers, and has over 430 volunteers that perform a wide variety of tasks. It is governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees which is appointed by the Iowa City City Council. The Interim Director is Anne Mangano. It has a digital library.

References

*Eggers, Lolly. ''A Century of Stories: the History of the Iowa City Public Library, 1896–1997'', Iowa City, IA: Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation, 1997.

External links

Iowa City Public LibraryICPL catalogCity of Iowa City
{{authority control Library buildings completed in 1904 Library buildings completed in 2004 Tourist attractions in Iowa City, Iowa Public libraries in Iowa Buildings and structures in Iowa City, Iowa Education in Johnson County, Iowa