Who We Are
The Piper City Public Library system is located at 39 W. Main St., Piper City, IL. The Piper City Public Library provides free services to all residents living within the Brenton and Pella county boundaries with services available to others for a Non-Resident card fee of $67.00.
The Piper City Public Library was started in 1927 by the Monday Night Reading Circle of Piper City. They rented a small vacant building on Peoria Avenue and started with donated books. The Women took turns donating their time as librarians and the library was open two afternoons a week. In 1941 the taxpayers of Brenton and Pella townships approved a referendum for a free public library. In 1967 the library became a member of the Lincoln Trail Libraries System which gave us the opportunity to share materials through interlibrary loan. In 1987 the Geraldine Cooke family donated the former Harness Shop Gallery building to be used as the public library. In 1995 the library, which was actually two township libraries, were each converted to district libraries, merged into one library, and then renamed the Piper City Public Library District. In 2013, all the Southern Library Systems in Illinois merged into one system and is now called the Illinois Heartland Library System. A special program for the children is held usually in the fall and the spring, along with a summer reading program. Since becoming a district library, newer technology has been added, including a fax machine, microfilm reader/printer, and computers for public use. For a small rural community, visitors seem amazed at all we have to offer.
The library system holds over 425,615 materials including over 394,000 books, and 28,000 compact discs, cassette tapes and books on cassette. Over 315 CD-ROMS are also now available for check-out.
In total, over 3 million items were checked out of the system during fiscal year 2004-2005! In addition to these items, thousands of people entered the library to utilize print and electronic reference resources, access the Internet through the Library’s fiber-optic connection, enjoy state-of-the-art Wi-fi service, participate in computer and Internet training, view a Library exhibit, or attend one of the Library’s many events.
Our friendly and professional staff is eager to serve you. Welcome to the Public Library!
Our Mission
The mission of the library is to provide access to informational, educational, cultural and recreational library materials and services in a variety of formats and technologies; to provide programs and services that reflect the composition, diversity and ages of all the people of the community in an attempt to improve their quality of life; to be responsive responsible; and to uphold the public’s freedom of access to information.