Cedar Rapids Public Library celebrates 10 years in new downtown and Ladd locations

CEDAR RAPIDS — Director Dara Schmidt can define the Cedar Rapids Public Library’s last decade in two words: resilient and flexible.

As the library celebrates 10 years in the west side’s Ladd Library and the new downtown facility on Fifth Avenue SE, she’s not just referring to recovery from natural disasters. Even after the flood of 2008, the derecho of 2020 and the pandemic, the bulk of the library’s growth has been in responding to a community’s ever-changing needs.

“As we’ve seen our community change, the library as a trusted and respected institution has had to be flexible and serve the community when and where they need us most,” Schmidt said.

But as an institution built on pillars of access and inclusivity at a time when the two ideals weren’t buzzwords, the newer locations haven’t just provided a new home for books and media. A decade in, they’ve further cemented the standing of an institution that’s more than 125 years old.

Today, the library’s literacy mission is more than books and reading, Schmidt said.

“What we’ve learned in the last 10 years is — absolutely — people come to us for books, CDs, materials,” she said. “But they’re also coming to us for our educational programming, community events and to really experience each other’s culture and learn things. That requires space that’s dedicated to it.”

Impact

Five years ago, when library staffers saw statistics showing more than 50 percent of children entering Cedar Rapids schools weren’t ready for kindergarten, they researched successful interventions in literacy growth and development.

Then, the library and its foundation became the first organization in the area to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to life — distributing 200,000 free books to children from birth through age 5.

When the polar vortex brought life-threatening, subzero temperatures across Iowa in 2019, the library extended its hours to shelter those in need.

When the derecho damaged public schools already battered by the pandemic, students taking classes online made the library their classroom.

In the digital age, electronic and technology literacy means bridging the gaps for those with a lack of exposure to technology due to age or socioeconomic factors.

With a grant, a mobile tech lab partnership has given thousands of families exposure to 3D pens and Sphero robots that teach children how to code. Mobile clinics have set up stations at job fairs to help adults prepare their resumes for a world where job applications have moved online.

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“Few institutions are able to have that amount of variety and breadth in what they can deliver,” Schmidt said. “That’s something we’re proud of — that we can help.”

Whether staff are helping students find tutoring, helping patrons with critical documents for daily needs or emphasizing that its services are, indeed, free, leveling the playing field for those without resources touches lives in immeasurable ways.

For patron services specialist Sampurna Ghosh, one notable example was simply helping a man copy torn and tattered receipts.

“Holding the pages, he says, ‘I don’t have a phone. I don’t have a home. I don’t have a family. I have no one,’ ” Ghosh recounted. “I said, ‘But you have us, the library.’ ”

“He thanked us enormously and (left) happy, holding aloft the photocopies like a little child. That such a small gesture could bring so much happiness to him … made my day,” she said.

That service has earned the library multiple awards at national and international levels. In 2017, the Cedar Rapids Public Library earned the National Medal for Museum and Library Services — the nation’s highest honor for libraries. Last year, it was awarded the Klein Community Impact Prize, given to one institution every year with a $250,000 purse.

“We commend our library for an outstanding 10 years in the downtown and Ladd libraries,” said Jeff Pomeranz, Cedar Rapids city manager. “Our library is not only award-winning on a national scale, it is an accredited public library that is a strong example of collaboration and community.”

While the library has always been committed to access, its understanding of how to best provide access in the last 10 years has changed, too. Schmidt said the library, like others around the country, is embracing flexibility as the best way to be responsive and sustainable for everyone who needs it.

Vision for the future

For the next 10 years and beyond, its strategy hopes to address not just access to information but how to navigate the inundation of information becoming more pervasive in the 21st century.

That applies to both online searches and in-person resources.

“We do so much that is it hard to track. There’s so much information available to people all the time, so we’ve decided to stop trying to do that,” Schmidt said. “We’re not Google, we’re not Amazon. But what we can do is target our marketing and outreach to get to the right people at the right time.”

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In 2026, the Ladd Library, now leased, will be traded for a new $25 million facility twice the size of the current one to serve Cedar Rapids’ west side, which accounts for about one-third of all library activity.

“We will continue to do the work, but hopefully thinking not just in crisis response, but in big picture to what we want our community to be in 10 years and how we can position ourselves to make that happen,” the director said. “A place where everyone feels welcome, providing access to whatever information people are seeking.”

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