Between the Bookends

The Pomeroy Public Library publishes a newsletter monthly in the Calhoun County Journal-Herald newspaper, usually following the monthly Board of Trustees Meeting. The Calendar of Events is also published in the newspaper on a weekly basis if space permits. The newsletters are archived here on the Pomeroy Public Library website.

Between the Bookends – May/June 2026

Welcome back to Between the Bookends! We are glad to be here to update you on ongoing happenings at the Pomeroy Public Library. We recently submitted our request for renewal for state accreditation (required every 3 years) and we learned that we will retain our Tier 3 status to continue to receive the best funding support available from the state.

Other library news follows:

Ø Our Board of Trustees continues to meet regularly on the second Monday of each month. Regular Board activities include hearing the report of the Library Director (that’s me!), learning more about new reports, procedures, and continuing education coordinated through the State Library of Iowa, approving monthly expenses for payment, and preparing the budget for the coming fiscal year. Current trustees are Carol Meyer (president), Rodney Nelson (vice-president), Carol Johnson, Bonnie Hingeley (recording secretary) and Lisa Aljets. Trustees are volunteers, and are appointed for their six-year terms by the City Council.

Ø Like most public libraries in Iowa, we are officially an entity of the City of Pomeroy, and our activities, purchases, etc., fall under the City’s umbrella in many areas, but the Library itself functions under the direction of our own Board of Trustees, and basically serves the Pomeroy community, both rural and city. Our mission statement is pretty simple and to the point: Is to provide opportunities to explore, learn, create, and grow to bring people together.

Ø We continue to try and offer activities for all ages and maintain holdings that appeal to a cross-section of readers to meet the reading needs of patrons of all ages. We are always happy to help our patrons find a book or books on a particular subject or from a favorite author, and our online catalog is easily accessible from a home computer or laptop by going to our webpage, located on the internet at https://www.pomeroy.lib.ia.us. Our online catalog has now been updated to include two tabs so when a search is done, one tab displays our inhouse holdings, and the other shows what can be accessed through Bridges/Libby online access (for those patrons who live in Calhoun County.  For many of our patrons accustomed to using a paper card catalog (remember all the little drawers stacked one on top of another?), the online catalog takes a little getting used to, but we are glad to show you how it works.

Ø It’s always exciting to see new books arrive at the library, and book orders are usually placed monthly. We have seen an increase in demand for Large Print Books, and have been adding many to our collection. It is amazing the number of new books coming out each year by famous authors. We get new book ideas from a variety of sources, e.g., BookPage, Goodreads, Amazon, New York Times and Washington Post bestseller lists, and People Magazine and mostly from our patrons.. As always, if one of our readers wants a book that we don’t have, we’ll see if we can get if through interlibrary loan services (no cost to patrons) IA shares or place an order for a book that can be enjoyed by several readers.

Ø We continue to have our favorite coffee gatherings on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have our children's programs on Thursdays. There is always something good to do at the library from reading to games and puzzles. We like to celebrate Birthdays of our patrons and off afterschool programs and summer reading programs.

We are currently in process of relocating to a new location here in town which is at the previous St. Mary's Church. We are in the works of weeding books and planning stages of our future move. We will update as soon as we know more of the process that it takes us.

We planning the Summer Reading program for July which will entail Plant a seed, Read is the theme as well as planting and tending to the community garden at our new future location at the previous St. Mary's Church. We have sent out flyers to the PAC school so be sure to check your child's bookbag and sign up and turn into our library! This will be 6 weeks of fun reading, planting and growing starting July 9th, 10th, July 16th,17th, July 23, 24, July 30, 31, Aug. 6, 7, Aug. 13,14. from 1-3 each of these days! We have sign up sheets at the library if you do not have one! Or give us a call and we can mail one to you! 712-468-2311

Between the Bookends -- May/June 2026

Cross over the Bridge… to BRIDGES! Pomeroy Public Library has taken another step into the digital world by joining the Bridges Consortium sponsored by the State Library of Iowa. All Pomeroy Public Library regular status (meaning living in the town of Pomeroy or in the rural Calhoun County area served by the Pomeroy Public Library now have free access to a wealth of digital reading content simply by logging onto the Pomeroy Public Library Bridges access online directly or through the link on our website. If you are an Open Access patron (meaning you live outside Calhoun County, but hold a Pomeroy Public Library patron card), you have access to Bridges through your home town library or a library in your home county if you are a rural resident. Open Access patrons should contact their closest library within their county of residence if they wish to participate in Bridges.

Although this is new, and might even sound complicated, using Bridges is easy to learn, especially if you have a chance to stop in at the Library to receive a little one-on-one help with learning the steps. Many of you may not even know where your library card is hiding, but we can help with that as well, since we have all the 14-digits on file with your other card application information. Just stop in and we’ll get you started.

If you are a Calhoun County resident and cardholder at the Pomeroy Public Library, you use the 14-digit barcode number to key in your ID into the system, and once you are on the site, you can browse a wide collection of magazines, books for all ages, and other digital material. This is a free service to those who live in our Bridges service area, and library cards continue to be free, in the event you don’t have one. Through Bridges, you can then check out what you’d like to read for 2 weeks. You can read it right there on your computer or tablet with your home internet access, or you can download it through Libby app to your phone or tablet and take it with you wherever you go. Even if you don’t have a computer at home, you can still use your phone our one of our computers. You can come the library and make your connection there, using your own device or one of our computers.

Here’s another great reason to stop in at the library:  NEW BOOK ARRIVALS!

Here is just a sample of the titles that are being added to our collection in Feb.-May. The author’s name is shown in parentheses, and LP indicates Large Print format.

Juvenile Fiction/Middle School Fiction: Grumpy cat no-it-all (scholastic), You can change the world(Brad Meltzer), Bad Kitty( Nick Bruels), Stick Dog(Tom Watson), Young teen, Gaslit(Megan David Hizar) A wild Radiance(Maria Ingrande Mora)

New additions: The New Boyfriend(Mikayla Davids),Trains to Treblinka a novel;(Charles Causey) Its one of us( J.T. Ellison), Ledges( Michael Frderick), The Heart of Hell (Mitch Weiss) The Loss of the S.S> Titanic( Lawrence Beesley) LP Large Print, Dont Miss and has a audio link(Bryson Hendricks),The Perfect Marraige( Jeneva Rose), Three(Teddekker)

Between the Bookends --May/June 2026

·         Since 1987, Library Card Sign-Up Month has been promoted in September to mark the beginning of the school year. Libraries work to remind parents and youth that signing up for a library card is the first step towards academic achievement and lifelong learning.  Not to mention a very cost-effective back-to-school item! In the past, Pomeroy Public Library has most often enrolled entire families under the name of one or the other parent, but if a student would like to have a card in their own name, we are happy to oblige. For children under the age of 18, we do require a parent or guardian to sign for the child plus show a photo ID and proof of current address such as a recent piece of mail that shows the parent’s name and current local address; adults registering themselves for a new card are asked to provide similar identification and proof of address. Those requirements do not apply to replacements for lost cards as long as we have the current patron information already on file.

·         Speaking of Library Cards, we have completed the work to update our patron card file for current/past patrons. If you are a cardholder and have not checked out a book in the past five (5) years, your card is no longer active, but it is a simple matter to get a new card by contacting the library, providing proof of identification (photo ID along with a piece of current mail showing your name and local address), and a new card will be issued on the spot. It is important to have an active library card if you plan to use Bridges, the online eBook platform, or Libby, the phone or tablet app that also can access the eBook content available through Bridges.

Other Library News:

The Board of Trustees met in the Library for their regular monthly meeting on Monday, May 11th, 2026. News was shared of several donations made. One was from Western Equipment in the amount of $200 and from First Community Bank for $25 to go toward our Summer Reading program starting in July. We also had a sponsor Ben Wozniak for our Escape room at the library which was a success! We did just get awarded a $500 grant towards our Summer Reading Program which all will help purchase items for our theme "Plant a seed, Read and the planting of the community garden with this theme at our new future location (previously St. Mary's Church).

We are thankful to all of our sponsors and donations from our recent fundraisers of our Chili cookoff, our Potato bake and our canvas painting classes! We will have more to come as we plan our homecoming events to take place soon! Be sure to look for our updates!

We have a puzzle going in the library so be sure to jump in and find your pieces! After every puzzle we take a photo and add it to the photo book for all to see the completed work of art.

The Library coffee our is a great time to catch up with our community neighbors and to have coffee and sweets. We look forward to seeing you all!

If you haven’t checked out the website recently, please do so, and see all the events and changes happening at your library!