Francis Banta Waggoner Community Library Meets Area Needs
The way public libraries deliver services to their customers is changing -- and the Frances Banta Waggoner Community Library in DeWitt is no exception.
Because more information is being offered electronically, patrons now have access to a comprehensive, easy-to-use, full-text database that can be accessed through the library, schools and colleges, and at home or in the office. EBSCOhost is a web-based information source that has links to thousands of magazines, newspapers and journals. It is made possible through a partnership between the State Library and Iowa's Area Education Agencies.
In addition, the State Library provides other on-line resources, including one to health information called HealthInfoIowa. Information on how to access those services from home is available at the library.
Libraries are unique because they are the only place where information is freely available to everyone. Public libraries serve toddlers, students, the elderly, business owners and the unemployed, among others.
The Frances Banta Waggoner Community Library, 505 10th St., DeWitt, was founded in 1909. It has been located at the current address since 1989.
Library director Jane Kedley is assisted by six part-time employees and 10 regular volunteers who provide a tremendous service to the library.
The local library is filled with information and ideas for researching papers, selecting a college, finding a job, planning retirement, buying a house or learning how to prepare one's taxes, Kedley describes. It also offers many services. In the children's section, there is a collection of over 60 puppets, 71 activity kits and more than 60 CDs that were purchased through a partnership grant from the State Library, funded with federal Library Services and Technology Act funds.
The children's collection also includes magazines, picture books, beginning readers, board books, books with cassettes, books on tape, and junior fiction and nonfiction.
Programming especially for children includes preschool story hours, after-school events and summer reading programs. Last year, the library initiated a baby program for newborns, which provides a gift bag that also includes a suggested reading list for infants and toddlers.
A new "Teen Zone" offers fiction and nonfiction for students in grades 6-12 plus many popular music CDs, videos and DVDs.
The adult collection contains over 15,500 books including new additions, mysteries, westerns, science fiction, fantasy and regular fiction which is comprised of romance, suspense, adventure, horror and contemporary fiction. In the nonfiction section, readers will find materials for almost every information, educational or recreational need. Large print, reference materials, magazines, newspapers, books on tape or CD, videos and DVDs are also available.
Through the interlibrary loan system, the DeWitt library also can obtain books that are unavailable locally and it facilitates a reading discussion group and participates in the All Iowa Reads statewide reading and discussion program.
The library has four Internet access computers with Microsoft Office and PowerPoint programs, and it offers meeting and conference rooms for public use on a reservation basis.
Enrich Iowa and Infrastructure funds have been a boon to the Frances Banta Waggoner Community Library and have enabled the collection of books on CD or DVD as well as the purchase of computers and printers.
The library is accredited, meaning it meets certain standards of library service set by the State Library. It is governed by a board of trustees, which has a goal of expanding the current facilities to meet the needs of a growing community.
