About Our Library...

​​​​History
Between the years of 1962 and 1967, former

Camanche Mayor Lewis Westgate made it his

duty to bring a library to the small river town;

it was his campaign strategy, his target of success

and his dream. The first step in establishing a

library was to appoint a board of trustees, which

Westgate did on October 1st, 1963. From there, a

location for the library needed to be established by the board. That opportunity came after Clark DePue III offered the former home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. Arthur DePue, to the city for a price within its budget. In 1965, the grand opening of the Camanche Public Library was held.

The Library sits on the banks of the Mississippi River and has an amazing view of the river year round. The property also boasts a beautiful dock where many people can be found fishing and enjoying the sights of the river. The dock was originally built by Mr. DePue, of the former Central Steel Tube Co. in Camanche, for his grand all-steel pleasure boat. The boat, called "The Rambler," was nearly 65 feet long and weighed 55 tons. The boat was built by the steel company workers when business was slow in 1952, and it boasted six state rooms that each featured two twin beds and a bathroom. Mr. DePue spent many years taking colleagues and friends out on the river in his masterpiece.

Mission
The Camanche Public Library will strive to promote literacy, facilitate the use of technology, and meet the informational and recreational needs of our community. The library will continuously improve its materials and services.

Library Staff​

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Camanche Public Library Board

Shannon McManus, President

     Term Expires: July 2030

Linda Foster, Vice President

     Term Expires: July 2030

​Bill Goble, Secretary

     Term Expires: July 2030

Amanda Hoerschelmann, Board Member

     Term Expires: July 2030

Bambi Blaess, Board Member

     Term Expires: July 2030

The Camanche Library Board meets at 4:00pm on the first Wednesday of each month.

Meetings are open to the public.

Camanche Public Library OrdinancefromCamanche Code of Ordinances

Camanche Public Library Bylaws

Board Agendas & Minutes

Five Primary Functions of Public Library Boards
1.  Advocate for the library in the community and advocate for the community as a member of the library board. To be a library advocate is to work for the betterment of library services for the community. Advocacy includes working to obtain adequate funding for the library; pursuing opportunities to meet and speak with community groups; getting to know the mayor and city council; making sure the community’s needs and interests are paramount when making board decisions.

2.  Plan for the future of the library. Planning is one of the most important trusts that the community gives to the library board. Planning is deciding what is going to happen with library services over the next few years. It is taking charge of the library’s future and creating it to be responsive to what the community needs.

3.  Monitor and evaluate the overall effectiveness of the library. The community puts its trust in the library board to make sure the library is operating the way it should. For example, the library board is familiar with the library’s budget - where the money is coming from and how it will be spent. The board monitors monthly financial reports and approves the bills so they can be paid. The board also helps determine whether the community is satisfied with the service received from the library.

4.  Set library policies. The library boards spends much of its time on policy issues - developing policies and monitoring the effectiveness of those policies. (A 'policy' is a carefully designed, broadly stated, written guideline for actions and decisions of the library.) Once adopted by the board, library staff carries out the policies on a day-to-day basis.

5.  Hire and evaluate the library director. The board hires a qualified director to manage the day-to-day operations of the library and works with the director, carefully respecting each others' roles.  The board also regularly evaluates the director to make sure the library operates well and in the best interest of those the library serves.

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Friends of the Library 
Friends of the Library members are library lovers and community volunteers who promote library services and resources, encourage library use, share their love of books with the community, and have fun donating time to help our Camanche Public Library. Our purpose is to secure volunteers and to raise funds to lend financial support to the library. Over the years, the Friends have provided funding or volunteers for:

     Summer Reading Programs
     Senior Outreach Programs
     Book Club Books
     Library Furniture
     Interactive Children's Items
     Computers
     TVs and Stands
     Library Garden
     100 Days, Kindergarten Books
     Usborne Books

Membership in the Friends of the Library is open to any person or organization interested in our mission. Your membership dues help the Friends achieve many goals for the library. The time you give is as important as monetary donations. Friends are indispensable to the operation of the book sales, and volunteers lend a
hand at library events. Members have the satisfaction of knowing that they have helped make possible the programs that make the Camanche Public Library a tremendous asset to our community.

Click HERE for the Friends of the Library Membership Form

Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV.  Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V.  A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI.  Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups representing their use.

VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.

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Adopted June 19, 1939

Amended:

   October 14, 1944

   June 18, 1948

   February 2, 1961

   June 27, 1967

   January 23, 1980

    January 29, 2019

Inclusion of "age" reaffirmed January 23, 1996, by the ALA Council.

Gail Grim

Library Director

Shaina Paarmann​

Director's Assistant

Melissa Zamora

Children's Librarian

Avery Draper

Library Clerk

Nicole Dohse
Library Clerk

Address: 102 12th Avenue

Camanche, Iowa 52730

Phone: (563) 259-1106

Fax: (563) 259-0917

E-mail: camanchepl@camanche.lib.ia.us

​Mon-Tue-Wed     9:00am - 6:30pm

Thu-Fri                 9:00am - 4:00pm

​​Sat                        9:00am - 1:00pm

Sun                       Closed