Indianola Public Library

I’ve lived in this town for four long years. Until a couple weeks ago there was no bookstore in this town, save the student bookstore at Simpson, so I’ve tried patronizing the library. Every time it’s a horrible experience. Their book selection is miserable, mostly full of religious, romance & western genres. If you want to read anything contemporary, forget it. If you even want to read a classic, forget it. You’ll be sent to the Simpson library. This is the most depressing library I’ve ever been in. I signed my son up for the Newtons program this summer. He loves science and was really excited about it. What were the activities? They painted bookmarks and made paper airplanes. Yeah, these kids are 5 – 6, but they aren’t idiots. My son never wanted to go back. He said it was easier than kindergarten and boring. Maybe if they had more books, the librarians could look up fun science activities appropriate for the age group.
Ah, the librarians. They really take the stereotype too seriously. A nasty bitter bunch of women who are shockingly unhelpful. Once I needed to print something from a computer. When I didn’t understand their un-​intuitive set up, I asked for help. The librarian *literally* rolled her eyes at me & very begrudgingly explained it to me. And I’m computer literate! I feel terrible for all the elderly people and children who might need more help than I did. Also I signed my son up for the Tales to Tails program this summer. My son was a little anxious and asked that I stay in the room. One of the librarians rudely insisted that I leave. Why? No explanation given.
I’m moving this weekend (thank God) and donated literally thousands of dollars worth of books to them over the past week. Yes, maybe I shouldn’t have put them (in batches) in the book drop, but I’m under a time crunch and figured maybe the money made from selling the books might be worth it; several were also best sellers, though not romance, religious or western, so I suppose they seemed foreign to them. And yes, some of the books were a little dusty. Like I said, time crunch, and since I’ve never seen anyone there actually move their butt from behind the circulation desk, maybe wiping a little dust off the spine wouldn’t be such a big deal. I was stopped by Jane today (also the genius behind Newtons for Dummies) and told the books were «filthy dirty». You don’t want them? Fine. Goodwill happily accepted them AND thanked me. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, ladies.
If you live in South Central Iowa, it’s worth the drive to ANY of the Des Moines branches (esp. the downtown one) where the librarians aren’t uppity biyatches and the book selection is FAR superior. ZERO stars.