Do you have books or other materials you would like to donate?

The best way to donate materials is to use the Friends of the Library donation drop bin on the Second Street side of the main library building downtown. You’ll find the bin clearly labeled; be sure you do not confuse the donation bin with the return slot for library books on the opposite side of the drive! Donations made to the Friends group are offered for sale at the annual Friends Book Sale in November or throughout the year at the Friends’ book sale carts in the library’s lobby. These donations are tax deductible; if you’d like a receipt, please stop in the Administrative Office of the library on the second floor. All proceeds from the book sale benefit the library and local literacy collections.

Due to the high costs of recycling and trash removal, we ask that you limit your donations to items we can sell – things that you’d be willing to buy yourself. Please respect the following reasonable guidelines:

1. No broken spines or missing covers.
2. No torn, missing, marked, or highlighted pages.
3. No stained, moldy, or wet pages; no books with bad odors.
4. No withdrawn library books – from ANY libraries!
5. No encyclopedias older than 10 years, except Britannica.
6. No magazines, except needlework topics.
7. No text books, including ALL subjects, no matter how current.
8. No condensed books of any kind.
9. No Iowa Code books, except current year.
10. No homemade tapes or videos.

If for some reason you are not able to get your donations delivered to the donation bin, Friends will occasionally pick up donations; call Sally Harms at 319-393-7512 with questions.

If you have a special donation that you think might be appropriate for the library’s collection, contact Karen Johnson. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee your donation will be added to our collection. Your donation will be evaluated, but if we choose not to include it in our collection, we reserve the right to pass it along to the Friends group or to another appropriate organization.

Thank you for considering the library when you are looking for a new home for materials you no longer need!