Programs

The Oelwein Public Library offers programs to further the library's mission to serve the needs of the community.

 

                                                          

Pages & Play Club
The Oelwein Public Library offers a weekly Pages & Play Club for 3-5 year olds with Miss Katie on each Wednesday at 10:00 am. This event meets in the library's meeting room.  Contact Katie by email at kschuelke@oelwein.lib.ia.us or by calling the library at 319-283-1515 with any questions.
We will read a story and share fun activities.

 

Theme Thursdays
This is an after school program every Thursday from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. 
Theme Thursdays is intended for elementary and secondary children. Each week will be different theme and activity. Lego Club will feature the 2nd Thursday of the month.
 

Summer Reading Program is offered every year in June.
Find more information here.

 

Book Talk
Join Book Talk. Contact Deann at dfox@oelwein.lib.ia.us or by calling the library at 319-283-1515 with questions. This group meets on the last Monday of each month at 10:00 am. For more information visit the Book Club page.

 

Special Programs:

 

 

Join Iowa historical fiction writer, Ann Hanigan Kotz, as she takes you through the early 20^th century in her program, Iowa’s Prohibition & Bootlegging Legacy. You’ll discover the state’s Prohibition journey along with why many families turned to bootlegging. Ann takes you through the distant past, beginning with the murder of a pastor in Sioux City, the tarring of an official by the Iowa City Beer Mafia, the rum running of Iowa’s infamous rye whiskey in Templeton, and ending with the current exploits of today’s underground whiskey business. We will also have a whiskey tasting during this program.

Ann Hanigan Kotz was born in Denison, Iowa, and lived on a farm southwest of town with her parents and five siblings. During her summers, she spent time at the Carnegie Library, reading becoming a passion early in her life. After high school, Ann attended the University of Northern Iowa and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English. She started her education career in 1988 and continued teaching high school English for 33 years, finishing at Waukee High School in central Iowa. She also received a Master of Arts in Education from Viterbo University.As a teacher, Ann was passionate about making her students better writers and readers. She credits her writing ability to studying and teaching the craft. Later in her profession, Ann taught college-level classes to high school students who themselves wanted to become teachers. Ann considers teaching one of the most honorable professions. Retired from teaching, Ann Hanigan Kotz currently resides in Adel, Iowa, with her husband John Kotz.

Summary for Moonshine by Moonlight:

By the light of the moon, hidden in the rolling hills of 1923 Carroll County, Iowa, illegal whiskey flows from homemade stills. Defying Prohibition, farmers-turned-entrepreneurs turn their hog houses, barns, and basements into moonshine operations to feed their families and save their land while dodging the ever-present federal regulators, led by Alvin Truly, the newly deputized agent of the northern district. To stay ahead of the law, the distillers band together into a syndicate, led by a kingpin unknown to all but one man. The anonymous bootleg king builds an empire of whiskey with thousands of gallons of moonshine flowing over Iowa’s borders while conjuring bigger and better ways to get their product across state lines—some going to the famous Chicago mobster—before federal agents can discover their schemes. Agent Truly, however, has his own plots to trap the bootleggers and bring them to justice. Federal agents against farmers, Wets against Drys, Protestants against Catholics, Moonshine by Moonlight weaves together a fictional story of the bootlegging era while representing the authentic legacy of Carroll County’s underground whiskey industry during one of the most raucous periods of American history.

Ann Hanigan Kotz’s third novel exposes the power struggle between the law and the lawless and once again brings readers to Iowa’s past.