The Iowa City Public Library Bookmobile will be popping up at the Iowa City Farmers Market from 8 to 11 a.m. on select Saturdays this summer. Various activities will be offered, making this a fun Farmers Market stop for all. The Iowa City Farmers Market is located at the Chauncey Swan parking ramp at 405 E. Washington Street.
The Bookmobile will be open for browsing and holds pick up with your ICPL library card. Don’t have a card? You can sign up for a Library card on the Bookmobile when you bring your photo ID with proof of your current address. The ICPL Bookmobile is wheelchair accessible.
ICPL Bookmobile at the Stanley Museum of Art: Intellectual Freedom with a Drag Family Storytime
Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 - 10 a.m. to Noon
The Iowa City Public Library Bookmobile will be on site at the Stanley Museum of Art this morning to celebrate the Freedom to Read in tandem with Keith Haring's philosophy, "Art is for Everyone."
The main event will be a Drag Family Storytime for all ages with local drag performers. Fun costumes are encouraged as we read LGBTQ stories and sing and dance with some local drag kings and queens. Storytime will be at 11:30 a.m. on Gibson Square Park or indoors in the lobby if the weather is inclement.
Visit the Stanley Museum for free to see Keith Haring's art exhibit, "To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City," including the 1989 mural Haring painted for Ernest Horn Elementary School, along with other works of art, photographs, and archival ephemera.
Visit the ICPL Bookmobile to create a craft, check out materials—including those highlighting intellectual freedom—or make a library card during this joyful community celebration.
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024 - 5 to 8 p.m.Big Grove, 1225 S. Gilbert Street
Join us in celebrating one year of fare-free transit in Iowa City! Test your knowledge with transit questions in a lively game of trivia, share your favorite reason to take the bus on a collaborative comment wall, and raise a glass to toast our hardworking bus drivers. Enjoy fun activities and games for all ages and mingle with Bus Buddies!
Play Transit Trivia to win a prize; hosted by Christopher's Bar Exam
Share "Why I Ride" on a collaborative community art installation
Grab free Climate Action and Transit swag
Hop on the Iowa City Public Library's Bookmobile
Take a free bus to this event! Route 13: South Gilbert and Route 1: South Iowa City both stop on Gilbert Street near Big Grove.
Shawna Riggins, Library Assistant and Bookmobile Assistant, brings a unique vibrancy to her role at the Iowa City Public Library. Shawna starts her day processing holds and gathering items to restock the Bookmobile shelves. With a wagon full of books and materials, she and her team wheel through downtown Iowa City to their parking location. After loading the items on the Bookmobile, they're on the road, ready to set up and offer service at their first stop. Shawna shares, "My colleagues and I love working on the Bookmobile in all weather, but on a beautiful summer morning, there is truly nothing better!"
Her experience on the Bookmobile has profoundly influenced her perspective on library services. Shawna views outreach as vital to the past, present, and future of libraries, stating, "I think it is pivotal for libraries to be connecting with community members where they are in the community. Libraries and librarians hold access as a foundational principle, and you can’t get much more direct access than a mobile library coming right to your neighborhood!"
Reflecting on her interactions with the community, Shawna highlights the rewarding relationships she builds with library patrons. She shares, "I love getting to know visitors and developing relationships with library patrons as they come back week after week. It is a great feeling to place a hold on an item for a patron and then get to hand deliver it to them during their next visit!" Shawna’s commitment and passion make the Bookmobile an essential and beloved part of the Iowa City Public Library's outreach efforts.
