Amanda Burger, the director of the Henry C. Adams Memorial Library in Prophetstown, is working to sharpen the knowledge of local residents through learning from other local residents.

“I reach out to people I know who have a skill or talent and people reach out to me and say ‘I want to give back to the community.’ If you have a talent, you should share it,” Burger, the library’s director since 2022, said.

Case in point is the library’s ukulele lessons.

“We have someone who’s teaching ukulele lessons. We have 10 ukuleles who are going to be down in the lower level of the library every Thursday night for 10 weeks,” she said.

The Henry C. Adams Memorial Library opened in May 1929. Funds to build the library were donated by the widow and children of Henry C. Adams, who was part of the Eclipse Lawn Mower Company in Prophetstown.

“He served as village president and he was instrumental in building our city hall. The family cared about our town and they made their living here and they wanted to give back to the town,” Burger said.

The library carries on that legacy through service to all sectors of the Prophetstown community.

“We have a crafting hour with STRIVE and Winning Wheels. They come once a month and they look forward to it so much. I deliver a tub of books to Allure, the nursing home here in town. We take books and activities to them since they can’t get out,” Burger said.

For young people age 10 and up, a Dungeons and Dragons Club meets every week at the library to play. The library hosts craft and story hours as part of its children’s programming and local 4-H chapters teach classes in topics like food preparation and clothing and sewing.

“We want to utilize the talent and skills we have from people in the local community,” Burger said.

Those skills include traditional knowledge, like crochet and knitting, to newer crafts, like Cricut. Cricut is a smart, electronic cutting system that can be used to cut, write and draw on a variety of surfaces, from paper to fabric.

“We got a technology grant from the state and we have a Cricut machine. We have an awesome tech lady who is a Cricut expert and she is going to teach a class, then we will have the machine here for people to come in and use,” Burger said.

While the library’s collection offers the latest in fiction and nonfiction, including local history, new methods of delivering the written word are available through the library. The Henry C. Adams Memorial Library is a member of the Prairie Cat library consortium, a group of 138 libraries that share an integrated library information system.

“If we don’t have it, all you have to do is order it through the consortium and it gets delivered here,” she said.

For those who prefer their books by ear or tablet, patrons get access to the Libby mobile app for library users that grants access to audiobooks and e-books.

Burger said one of her goals is to not just get the community coming to the library but to get more families reading.

“We want to get young people reading so we have those future readers and library patrons. It’s a challenge to get them reading, not just playing games on the computers, but to really get them reading and to get families reading together,” Burger said.

Burger joined Prophetstown Proud, the local chamber and tourism group, a year ago. One of the aims of the group is to get residents to shop local and Burger said that includes their local library.

“We want residents to shop local and that also includes their library, visiting their library, whether it’s to check out a book, to bring their kids to a craft or story hour or to come and check out one of our clubs or activities,” she said.