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These Are Stories To Share
Iowa library staff and boards are well accustomed to renewing participation in Enrich Iowa every spring, and to reporting Enrich Iowa stats every summer, all in anticipation of receiving needed funding through the program every fall. There’s another important aspect of Enrich Iowa and that’s telling the stories about the impact that the funding makes in libraries large and small.
We hope you’ll help us to tell the Enrich Iowa story, especially now at the beginning of a new legislative session. To help you do that, the State Library has recently released a report outlining the impact of the more than $2.4 million dollars that Iowa libraries received in FY24 through the Enrich Iowa Program. Talk about impact stories!
- Iowans checked out 2,537,632 items from libraries other than their own through the Open Access Program
- Iowans borrowed 380,960 items from libraries all across the state through the Interlibrary Loan Program
- Since 2014, the Direct State Aid Program—funding for meeting public library standards—has helped lead to a 20% increase in the number of accredited libraries in Iowa. In FY24, 468 public libraries (out of 541) in Iowa received Direct State Aid funding.
- Libraries receiving Direct State Aid money spent the money on collections, technology, programming expenses, furniture, and more. All totaling $1,100,000 stateside
These are statewide stats, what about your local library? What impact has Enrich Iowa funding made in your library service? What’s your Enrich Iowa story? We urge you to tell that story to your city partners, to community residents, and to your local legislators.
About Enrich Iowa
Enrich Iowa funding is appropriated annually by the Iowa Legislature and funds the Open Access, Interlibrary Loan, and Direct State Aid programs available to Iowa libraries.
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What Were Your Patron Favorites?
Recent issues of the Eye-Opener have looked back on 2024, noting State Library service highlights from last year and best-sellers. Today, a look at the top downloads from Bridges, with the service marking a new milestone of 3 million digital checkouts in 2024!
Maybe you have the print versions in your collection, maybe digital copies in your Advantage accounts. It’s a fun list to look at and see how your patron downloads compare to the statewide list. Showing just few here, refer to a Bridges bulletin from January 10th for more. Thanks to Eunice Riesberg and the Bridges Team for these stats!
Most Downloaded EBooks
The Women: A Novel = 4,509
Don't Believe It = 3,184
It Starts With Us = 3,088
Fourth Wing = 2,681
Most Downloaded Audiobooks
The Women: A Novel (unabridged) = 4,467
The Four Winds: A Novel (unabridged) = 3,555
The Woman in Me (unabridged) = 3,235
Fourth Wing (unabridged) = 2,797
Most Downloaded Magazines
The New Yorker = 13,737
Us Weekly = 10,210
Woman's World = 8,330
National Geographic Magazine = 4,399
Total Checkouts by Format
Audiobook = 1,568,534
eBook = 1,288,650
Magazine = 300,080
Find Out Your Patrons’ Top Bridges Downloads
- Log into your Marketplace accountSelect Insights
- Under Popular Reports, select Checkouts
- Set Checkouts By: Title
- Set Branch By: Your Library
- Format: All Ebooks, All Audiobooks, or OverDrive Magazines (run the report 3 times, once for each format)
- Start Date: 01/01/2024
- End Date: 12/31/2024
- Update
- Click on the right side of the Checkouts heading to Sort Descending. This will give you a list. Select Create Worksheet to download it to your computer.
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For February's
Big Ideas Book Discussion
A new year of Big Ideas Book Discussions begins in February and the first title we’ll take up is Meet Me at the Library by Shamichael Hallman (c2024) Scheduled for February 28, 2025 (9:30-11:00AM) the subtitle speaks to the enduring attributes of America’s public libraries as places that build community connections and uphold democratic principles.
From Amazon: “How do we create spaces for people to come together—to open our minds, understand our differences, and exchange ideas? Author Shamichael Hallman argues that the public library may be our best hope for bridging divides and creating strong, inclusive communities. Increasingly, public libraries are playing an essential role in building social cohesion, promoting civic renewal, and advancing the ideals of a healthy democracy.”
Two Iowa library directors will be prominent in this discussion because of their connection to the book. Director Jennie Garner with North Liberty Public Library will explain why a program at North Liberty PL is included in the book. And Brittany Jacobs, Burlington Public Library Director, will talk about how the Burlington Library Board is already reading Meet Me at the Library in its own board-led book discussion.
In Big Ideas Book Discussions, State Library staff and local library partners facilitate discussions using books outside of library management, but with plenty of application to library management. Choosing books on leadership, customer service, technology’s impact, etc. we connect those ideas with public library service.
Participants are encouraged to purchase books used throughout the Big Ideas series for local collections. Plan to meet us in ZOOM when we’ll discuss Meet Me at the Library
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This Thursday January 30th marks the 18th annual Iowa Libraries Online Conference. Sponsored by the State Library and featuring Iowa library staff across the state, alongside national keynote speakers, ILOC is a full day of online learning from the comfort of home. With plenty of CE credits in the offing, too!
This year’s conference theme is Assess, Adapt, Act: Making Evaluation Count, with sessions asking us to consider why we collect statistics and conduct evaluations and how we can make that work most useful. Here’s just a sampling of what’s on tap:
- Morning Keynote: Measure Up—Evaluation as a Springboard to Success
- So, How’d It Go? Evaluation and the Project Management Lifecycle
- Using State Data Center Services to Evaluate Library Services
- Wrangling Library Data for Advocacy
- Evening Keynote for Boards: Evaluating Your Library’s Value Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis
Still time to register, just click below to access
WorkDay Learning. See you at ILOC this week!
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