All three Davenport Public Library Branches are closed today, Monday, May 29th in observance of Memorial Day. Normal business hours will resume on Tuesday, May 30th.
Our physical locations may be closed, but you can still visit us virtually!
Your Davenport Public Library card gives you access to FREE digital materials such as e-books, digital audiobooks, magazines, movies, and music online 24/7.
Here are my top five favorite digital content resources! Check these out and we’ll see you again on Tuesday, May 30th when the library opens.
Libby – All you need to access e-books, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines is your Davenport Public Library card. We recommend downloading the Libby app for best performance.
Freegal – Freegal Music gives you access to millions of songs from over 40,000 labels. Stream 24-hours a day. Download up to 5 songs per week.
TumbleBooks – Both children and their parents will enjoy this online collection of animated, talking picture books that teach kids the joys of reading in an exciting, new format they will love.
QC Beats – Built in partnership with Davenport Public Library, River Music Experience and St. Ambrose University, QC Beats is an online streaming audio collection of original music of Quad Cities musicians and artists.
Kanopy – Provides a variety of popular and classic movies, documentaries, and foreign films to stream. Kanopy Kids offers parental controls.
The Great Courses present a wealth of learning.
Please enjoy this guest blog by Jeff Collins, Library Director:
Even now, after her passing last summer at age 85, beloved children’s librarian Rochelle A. Murray is helping Davenport kids fall in love with reading.
“Miss Rochelle,” as she was known to generations of children, bequeathed to the Library a generous gift, which will help kids discover the fun of reading for many years to come.
Rochelle was a longtime children’s librarian, and although she had long since retired by the time I began my tenure as director, I have seen her touch throughout the Library and in the community. Now, her legacy will be indelibly marked, as Davenport Public Library embarks on an audacious $1.08 million-dollar private-donor funded project to bring vibrant new activities to the children’s areas at all three of our libraries: | Main | Fairmount | Eastern.
Davenport Public Library will add interactives, kiosks, wall panels, and more to our children’s areas in the coming year, helping kids to develop the early literacy skills so vital to their success in school and life. These vivid new spaces will allow children to engage in fun, multi-sensory activities that support early literacy and include letters and words, gears, magnetic pieces, song lyrics, varying textures, and other elements that are perfect for hands-on play. And of course, we will incorporate plenty of cozy nooks where children and their parents/caregivers can read books together!
Educational Learning Spaces
These enhanced spaces are educational and based on Every Child Ready to Read®, a research-based series of practices developed by the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children. Designed to help kids develop essential literacy skills and get on the right path to school readiness and student success, this program is based on two core concepts: 1) Reading begins at birth; and 2) Parents are a child’s first and best teacher. Every Child Ready to Read® focuses on emergent and early literacy development in the five practices of talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing. Public libraries provide opportunities for young children and their parents/caregivers to develop these skills in safe, non-commercial environments, with free access for everyone in the community. Davenport Public Library already utilizes Every Child Ready to Read® practices in our early literacy programming, including storytimes, 1000 Books Before Kindergarten, parent education workshops, and supporting materials to help parents/caregivers prepare children for reading.
Access to these free, educational spots, gives everyone living in Davenport a strong start in early literacy to ensure that they are ready for kindergarten and beyond. Each newly designed children’s area will reflect the theme of nature, with each library branch featuring aspects of its local ecosystem:
| Main will feature a water/riparian habitat due to its proximity to the Mississippi River.
| Fairmount will feature woodlands/wetlands due to the Duck Creek watershed.
| Eastern will feature a prairie theme as it is situated at Prairie Heights Park.
Help us reach our goal!
So, while we are deeply saddened by the loss of Rochelle Murray, it is with enormous gratitude that we honor her legacy by embarking on this mission to bring opportunities to play and learn at the Library.
We welcome the participation of all citizens in this campaign. As of March 31, 2023, this project is 58% funded, but we still need $450,000 to bring it to success. Gifts of all sizes are welcome. Anyone interested in making a gift can do so online, or gifts can be mailed to FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library (321 Main Street, Davenport, IA 52801). Please designate your gift as for “Children’s Areas”. Donations of $5,000 or more will receive mention on a plaque at each library.
We need everyone in our community to help. Please join us in making early literacy a reality for Davenport children!
Thanks to requests from patrons, our Technology Wizards here at DPL have added a neat little feature to our homepage. They’ve put an easy-to-find link to “My Account” and “Renew Books” right on front page! (It’s always been available, but not on the homepage) Look for it at the top of the left hand column of links. Click here to check on how many books you have checked out, when they’re due and what you’ve got on hold. You can also renew any books that are coming up on their three-week checkout (unless, of course, someone else is waiting for it) Manage your account, all from the comfort of your computer!
Here’s another great time saver that you might not be aware of – all of the books, videos and CDs that we highlight here on the blog are linked directly to the computer catalog. Simply click on the title (or the picture of the book cover) and viola! you’re at the catalog, looking at the entry for that title. You can immediately see if the book is available or, if it’s checked out, place your hold right there. Simple! We’re happy to enable your reading/watching/listening habit!
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