The Iowa City Public Library is now offering curbside pickup and mail delivery of available library materials.
Library cardholders interested in an item can place a hold in our catalog. Allow up to two business days for staff to pull the item from the shelf. Once the hold is ready, patrons will receive an email or phone notification asking for their delivery preference: curbside or mail. If curbside is chosen, the patron will be prompted to schedule an appointment for pickup.
Curbside pickup appointments are available Mondays through Fridays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Library materials are also available for free delivery through US Mail. Packages are mailed Monday through Friday. Please allow 3-10 business days to receive your items through the mail.
For more information, go to icpl.org/holds or call the Library Monday through Friday, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at 319-356-5200.
Imagine Your Story this summer with ICPL's annual Summer Reading (and more!) Program. The program started Monday, June 1, and runs through Saturday, Aug. 8. All ages can sign up and participate just by logging books read and the ICPL programs individuals participate in.
Sign up online via Beanstack and record participation by utilizing the app, printing out and completing the PDF of the summer reading log, or using the form included in the mailer sent to Iowa City residents in early June. To complete the Summer Reading Program, log all books read over the summer online or on the paper reading log. Upon completing the program, participants will be entered into grand prize drawings that will take place in August. Individuals can also repeat the program three times as bonus levels for additional entries into the drawings.
All ages can also participate in a wide variety of programs this summer online. Find all programs for kids, tweens, teens and adults on our calendar of events.
For more information including our Summer Reading video, virtual program fun, and more for all ages, check us out at srp.icpl.org!
Interested in using the Beanstack app? Download the app to learn more:
The Library will be closed Friday July 3, Saturday July 4, and Sunday July 5 in observance of the 4th of July holiday. This will impact current services including Curbside pickup of holds and Interlibrary Loan materials, as well as phone and email support services.
One of our passions at the Iowa City Public Library is to get books into your hands. This Spring, we were only able to do this digitally through our collection of eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, and streaming videos. During this time we have been happy to see unprecedented use of our digital collections.
March and April saw records set for the number of new users, total users, and checkouts in OverDrive, our digital service that provides eBooks and audiobooks. 695 residents started using eBooks and audiobooks since March 15th. That is more new users than November, December, January, and February combined!
The number of videos watched using Kanopy, our streaming video service, increased by 55% if comparing November 2019 to April 2020, while the number of minutes increased a whopping 97%.
In the months of March and April, the short writing pieces, beautiful pictures, and new recipes of magazines proved to be the perfect way to take a break. In April, community members checked out 15% more issues of digital magazines through rbDigital than six months ago.
Residents in our service area (Iowa City, Hills, Lone Tree, University Heights, and rural Johnson County) can check out ICPL's digital resources. Learn more on our website.
Reading for Change
ICPL Library staff are recognizing Pride Month and the Black Lives Matter movement by highlighting some of their favorite titles on these topics. Keep watching the online Staff Picks webpage for new lists and titles added weekly.
Black Lives Matter: Antiracist Books for Middle-Grade Readers Here is a selection of titles aimed at 3rd-6th grade readers (all but one by BIPOC authors) that address systemic racism and white privilege as they specifically affect the lived experiences of Black Americans.
Black Lives Matter: Streaming Films About Civil Rights in America Kanopy has a wonderful selection of films about civil rights, both historically and today. They have a robust list of curated films about social and systemic justice. We're also highlighting some of our staff choices here. These films discuss the history of the civil rights movement in the United States from its earliest beginnings through Black Lives Matter and today.
Pride 2020
Celebrate Pride 2020: LGBTQIA+ Book Recommendations for Young Readers In this list you'll find books discussing family make-up, gender identity, and sex roles as well as a few reassuring titles encouraging children to be and love themselves. This list has been put together with children and families ranging from birth through second grade in mind.
Read With Pride!: LGBTQIA-Inclusive Books for 3rd-6th Grade Readers In honor of Pride Month, pick up these titles that include LGBTQIA characters with a message of acceptance and positivity. Whether explicitly focused on the age-appropriate exploration of LGBTQIA issues, or simply including representation of LGBTQIA characters as a matter of course, what these books have in common is that they're all great stories you'll love!
Celebrate Pride 2020: Young Adult LGBTQIA Reads Young Adult Fiction and LGBTQIA Fiction go hand in hand. Characters finding themselves is a familiar theme in YA, and more and more titles have teens making discoveries about their sexual orientation and gender identification. And if they're not finding themselves, they're falling in love--sweet romances with boys meeting boys and girls meeting girls. Whatever you're looking for, these new YA titles are a great way to celebrate LGBTQIA pride!
