Gail Naughton, director of the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said she’s been told that the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic will help the museum and the community with their flood recovery efforts. “The countries themselves are looking at making direct gifts from the government,” she said. “They [...]

Talia and Laterrikha Fleming enjoy reading. In fact, they like it so much they spent part of Tuesday afternoon outside the Union County (S.C.) Carnegie Library urging people to check out books and read them. Talia, 10, and Laterrikha, 8, were at the library when they decided to make signs urging passing motorists to “Beep [...]

Before her death at age 57, Carol Sue Snowden lived in a condo on the east side of Columbus, Ohio, and drove a used Chevrolet. She worked for 30 years in the Whitehall branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and was the picture of frugalness. But when Snowden died of ovarian cancer in January, she [...]

As the overflow from the upper Midwest tributaries made its way to the Mississippi River and southward to Missouri, it has become clear that the historic floodwaters have hit libraries in Iowa and Wisconsin the hardest. But “the story of Missouri flooding is not over, as some counties received about seven inches of rain June [...]

Days of sandbagging could not keep the Cedar River out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Overflowing barriers on June 12, it deluged more than 100 blocks of the city’s eastern side, including the Cedar Rapids Public Library (a YouTube video, above left, shows the library at about the 6:20 mark). Some 64 miles to the northwest, [...]