The Columbus Junction Public Library is coming off of a fantastic 2025, with the numbers to prove it. According to library data, in the last year, 6,883 visitors came to the library, with 5,563 books put into circulation. An additional 3,117 books were circulated digitally through the loaning of Chromebooks and tablets.

The library also answered 722 reference questions. Those questions can range from what to read, to things such as citizenship forms, Medicaid applications, FAFSA, job help and more. Additionally, the library offered 93 programs with 1,365 people attending, for an average of just under 15 per event. 

Mandy Grimm, Director of the Columbus Junction Public Library, says obtaining funding to continue the library’s various services remains the biggest challenge, “I think the thing that kind of gets me going on social media, is when I see those mean posts that are like, ‘Do people even use libraries anymore?’ Because I really think that these stats show that they are, so library funding would always be something. The popular perception, but also the funding for the myriad of services especially in rural areas that we provide to our populations, where sometimes, other local offices are a lot further away and so we kind of fill in the gaps. So I would say library funding.”

Programs that the library will offer in the first few months of 2026 include the Space Stations program in partnership with the Iowa Children’s Museum, a birthday party celebrating 100 years of Winnie the Pooh, and a presentation on the “Founding Mothers” of America.