Upcoming Events

We will eat popcorn and do a fun activity while we watch The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021). Rated PG. 

Join us for the DMPL Writer's Workshop on the first* Monday of the month from 5:30-7:30 PM. Share samples of work and receive feedback from other writers in the group. Email your submission to Julia at jmdunt@dmpl.org by 12 PM the Tuesday before the program. Please include your name on the file and at the top of the submitted document. No registration required.

*Note: In January, May, and September we will meet the second Monday of the month. July will be the third Monday.

Beverly Nagel Ellis will share the story of her family's years-long Holocaust journey, from a Russian slave camp, to a German displaced persons camp, to their emigration to the United States. Personally, she spent most of the first five years of her life in the camp in Germany. She will display artifacts of her family's experiences, including photographs of the Nagel family's life in the DP camp and Jewish artifacts her mother was able to save from her home in Poland.

Bev Ellis has been an educator for over forty years. She was the Facilitator for Elementary Gifted Education for the Urbandale Community Schools for eighteen years. Previously, she was an art instructor for the Des Moines Art Center, as well as a cultural ambassador and teaching artist for CultureALL. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education, studied painting at the Kansas City Art Institute, and holds graduate credits in Environmental Studies from the University of Northern Iowa.

Beyond Birth: Baby's First Year is a free weekly postpartum support group for parents and their new babies. Facilitated by Blank Children's Hospital, each week will feature a guest presenter on a variety of postpartum topics, plus plenty of time to meet other new parents and enjoy time at the library. There is no need to register, and you do not need to be a Blank Children's Hospital or Unity Point of Des Moines patient to attend!

Children ages 0-5 and their caregivers can engage in open play, come and go activities at South. 

Play, Grow, Learn is an opportunity to meet families with other young children and engage in the five simple steps to success - Read, Write, Sing, Play, and Talk.  We will have a variety of toys available that promote learning for little ones.

Do you love to craft? Come paint a hanheld fan or bring your current project and make some progress! Template and free-hand options will be available by choice.

Registration recommended.

¿Te encanta hacer manualidades? ¡Ven a pintar un abanico o trae tu proyecto actual y progresa! Tendras la opción entre un diseño en existencias o a crear uno.

Se recomienda registrarte.

Tweens and teens ages 10-18 can join us after school on Tuesdays to enjoy activities on our meeting room.

This week, play Nintendo Switch Games on our big screen!

The Big Book Sale is back! Stop by Central Library's meeting rooms, May 8-13, to stock up on books, CDs, DVDs, and more. The inventory includes withdrawn library items, and donations from the community. Get everything for a steal at rock bottom prices. Need to pick up some books to read on the beach or by the lake? We've got those! Need an audiobook on CD for your road trip? We've got those, too! 

All sales are final, and proceeds help support programming, and other initiatives at the library.

Open Hours

Weekdays: 9 AM-5 PM

Saturday: 10 AM-5 PM

Sunday: 12-4 PM

Staff from the Evelyn K Davis Center for Working Families are ready to provide one-on-one job search and resume assistance to job seekers. A career coach can guide you through resume building, applying for jobs, referrals to employers and other resources. Walk ins welcome. For more information and additional resources visit https://www.evelynkdaviscenter.org/Pages/careers.aspx.

Services services include:

• Writing and printing a resume
• Locating online job applications
• Contacting employers
• Mock interviews

This program will include a brief overview of where Mindfulness Meditation comes from and why we do it, followed by a 20 minute sitting practice with time for Q&A afterwards. Chair seating will be available. Guests are also welcome to bring a cushion or blanket to sit on. 

About the Teacher

In addition to her role as Health Care Navigator for Primary Health Care's Supportive Service for Veteran Families program, Erin Husmann is a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and the founder of Open Hearts and Resilient Minds, LLC. Since graduating from the Dharma Moon and Tibet House US 100 hour Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program in February of 2022, Erin has been on a mission to share the many benefits of a Mindfulness Meditation practice with all who are ready to live with a greater sense of ease, clarity, and compassion in the present moment. Additionally, to those in high stress environments or at risk of burnout including but not limited to social workers, first responders, military and medical personnel, Veterans, teachers, individuals experiencing homelessness, and victims of domestic violence. 

Drop-in to North Side every Wednesday to enjoy a craft or STEM activity!

This week, we will make spiral paper flowers!

Join us for a special edition of Books That Will Change Your Life: A Nonfiction Book Club.  Each month we have a conversation around a life-changing nonfiction book.  We’ll select a book that will change your perspective, give you new strategies for handling life’s challenges, or deepen your understanding of a topic.

Some of the books have been recommended by local community leaders who told us which books inspired them in their lives and work. Other selections are our favorites or are popular with you, our patrons (based on length of holds lists or number of checkouts), or have otherwise won acclaim.

This month we will be reading Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond, in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a new and bracing argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.

The Library Talk: Poverty in Iowa series is co-sponsored by UpLift Iowa.

Limited copies of the book will be available at the Central Library Pickup Window starting April 18.

If you're between the ages of 12-18 and looking for a fun and rewarding volunteer opportunity, give the library a try! We would love to have your help!

The Des Moines Public Library is partnering with other Iowa libraries and Uplift - The Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot on a series of programs aimed at having important community conversations about poverty and its effect on Iowa. For more information about the series and about Uplift, please go to dmpl.org/poverty.

Join us for a special edition of Books That Will Change Your Life: A Nonfiction Book Club.  Each month we have a conversation around a life-changing nonfiction book.  We’ll select a book that will change your perspective, give you new strategies for handling life’s challenges, or deepen your understanding of a topic.

Some of the books have been recommended by local community leaders who told us which books inspired them in their lives and work. Other selections are our favorites or are popular with you, our patrons (based on length of holds lists or number of checkouts), or have otherwise won acclaim.

This month we will be reading Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond, in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a new and bracing argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.

Limited copies of the book will be available at the Central Library Pickup Window starting April 18.

Join Joel with Des Moines Parks and Recreation to learn about what City of Des Moines Parks & Rec has done with Natives in their Parks program and with their Neighborhood program! Joel will also go into specific species that attendees could used around their houses and how to incorporate them in their gardens and yards. 

The Big Book Sale is back! Stop by Central Library's meeting rooms, May 8-13, to stock up on books, CDs, DVDs, and more. The inventory includes withdrawn library items, and donations from the community. Get everything for a steal at rock bottom prices. Need to pick up some books to read on the beach or by the lake? We've got those! Need an audiobook on CD for your road trip? We've got those, too! 

All sales are final, and proceeds help support programming, and other initiatives at the library.

Open Hours

Weekdays: 9 AM-5 PM

Saturday: 10 AM-5 PM

Sunday: 12-4 PM

Learn how to use the Glowforge Plus Laser Engraver at Tech Central! This program takes the place of the 1 on 1 Glowforge tutorial, so you will be fully qualified to book and use the Glowforge on your own after this program. 

A library card number and email address are required to register for this program and to use the Glowforge. If you do not have a library card, please sign up for one prior to registering. You will also need to set up a Glowforge account prior to the start of the program using the email you provided when registering.

Please note that the class starts promptly at 3 PM. Due to the nature of this program, anyone more than five minutes late unfortunately cannot be admitted.

Join us at South Side Library to learn about and read to a therapy pet. Youth and their caregivers will have the opportunity to ask questions, practice reading, and, of course, pet a therapy animals from the Animal Rescue League's TheraPets program.

Learn about butterflies and plants with the East Side Library and the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department! Kids can listen to a story about butterflies from Miss Nichole and learn more information about plants and butterflies from Environmental Educator Joel Van Roekel. Each child will also get to decorate a flower pot and receive a plant to take home.   

Registration is recommended, to ensure enough plants are provided. 

Connect with others interested in environmentally friendly gardens. The focus is on native plants which foster and nourish wildlife. Come to learn and to share your favorite gardening tips, design ideas, seeds, plants, and more!  

This program happens the second Thursday of the month.

Join us once a month to discuss books by underrepresented authors. Our goal is to amplify these voices and experiences while discussing social issues in the context of fiction and non-fiction books.

'There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless.' There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard." -Arundhati Roy

Our May selection is A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power. Copies will be available for pick-up at the Franklin Ave Library Help Desk starting April 12th.

The Big Book Sale is back! Stop by Central Library's meeting rooms, May 8-13, to stock up on books, CDs, DVDs, and more. The inventory includes withdrawn library items, and donations from the community. Get everything for a steal at rock bottom prices. Need to pick up some books to read on the beach or by the lake? We've got those! Need an audiobook on CD for your road trip? We've got those, too! 

All sales are final, and proceeds help support programming, and other initiatives at the library.

Open Hours

Weekdays: 9 AM-5 PM

Saturday: 10 AM-5 PM

Sunday: 12-4 PM

Snippets: A Writers' Workshop for Shorter Works Please email your submissions to Julia at jmdunt@dmpl.org if you would like them printed out. This group will read and discuss works out loud. Seating is limited. Registration is required.

Snippets will always be held the same week as Writers' Workshop which is on the first Monday of the month unless we have a holiday.