Did you know that ICPL's online catalog does more than locate books? The catalog also allows users to request items, view their reading history, browse new materials lists, post reviews, and even pay fines!

Our online catalog is the No. 1 reason why you visit the Library website, which is why we want to hear about your experience.

Please fill out this survey telling us how you feel about our catalog. It should only take ten minutes and will help us focus on improvements you’d like to see in the future.

Thank you for your help!

The Library will soon add mobile hotspots to its list of materials available to check out.

Beginning January 30, seven mobile hotspots will be available to Library users living in Iowa City or one of ICPL’s contract service areas -- Hills, Lone Tree, University Heights, or unincorporated Johnson County. Three others are bundled with ICPL’s circulating laptops.

ICPL HotSpot allows users to connect to the Internet anywhere on any wireless-enabled device, such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone. 

Each hotspot can be borrowed for seven days. At this time, users won’t be able to renew hotspots, as the Library wants as many patrons as possible to gain access to the devices.

Overdue hotspots will have Internet access deactivated. The fine for overdue hotspots is $1 per day. The replacement cost for hotspots that are lost or damaged beyond repair is $75.

Every year, Library staff nominate books that they thought were the best published that year. Any book that receives more than one nomination is added to the Library's Best of the Best list. The book, or books, with the most nominations is named ICPL's Most Recommended Book of the Year.

We had more than 100 nominations for 2016, with 20 titles earning Best of the Best distinction. They are:

• The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg (Fiction)
  
• A Few of the Girls by Maeve Binchy (Fiction)
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald (Fiction)
• The Fireman by Joe Hill (Fiction)
  
• Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction)
  
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Fiction)
  
• Heartless by Marissa Meyer (Young Adult)
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Children’s)
• Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo (Children’s)
• The Night Gardener by Terry and Eric Fan (Children’s)
• Morning Star: Book III of The Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown (Science Fiction/Fantasy)
• Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood by Claire Hoffman (Biography/Memoir)
• Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (Biography/Memoir) 
• American Cake by Anne Byrn (Nonfiction)
  
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (Nonfiction) 
• Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly (Nonfiction)
• Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen (Graphic Novel)
• Snow White: A Graphic Novel by Matt Phelan (Graphic Novel)
• Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier (Graphic Novel)
• Paper Girls Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chang (Graphic Novel)

The Library's Most Recommended Book for 2016 was a tie between two graphic novels: Snow White: A Graphic Novel by Matt Phelan and Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier.