Ola Babcock Miller Building

Ola Babcock Miller Building
View On Black

The Ola Babcock Miller Building was once the Iowa Historical Building. Today, it houses the State Library Services for Iowa. The building is named for Ola Babcock Miller – one of the state’s most distinguished public servants. Today she is best known as "The Mother of the Iowa Highway Patrol."

Her consuming passion was to reduce deaths and improve safety on the state’s roads.

In 1932, Miller was elected the state’s first female secretary of state, and in ensuing years became one of Iowa’s most popular elected officials

Here are some amazing Facts about Iowa Libraries
From the State Library of Iowa’s website

Iowa has 543 public libraries (21 branches), 79 academic libraries, and over 1,400 school libraries.

Of the 543 public libraries, 415 serve populations of less than 2,500.

There are more than 2 million registered borrowers in Iowa public libraries, a 19.3 percent increase from 2000 to 2010. 68% of Iowans were registered card holders in 2010.

Nationally, Iowa public libraries rank 14th in library visits per capita. On average, 53,810 Iowans visited their public libraries a day in 2010.

Iowa ranks 4th nationally in the number of public libraries and 13th in the number of books owned per capita.

Since 2000, library visits to Iowa public libraries increased 40 percent and the number of materials checked out rose 17 percent (2000 to 2010). On average, Iowans checked out 80,588 items a day from their public libraries.

The average number of public access Internet computers in Iowa public libraries is 8.

In FY09, 96,595 children and 12,757 young adults participated in Iowa’s Summer Library Programs at their public libraries.

Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie helped build thousands of libraries across the United States. In all, 101 communities in Iowa were granted more than $1,500,000 from Carnegie for the construction of public libraries.

Some other quick facts:
www.iowadatacenter.org/quickfacts
www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/t-z/tell-library-story/plot…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Moines
www.statelibraryofiowa.org/about/history/miller

Shot with a Canon 7d and 15-85 using multiple shots.

Follow me here, too!
Google+ | Facebook | Twittert | Tumblr
By w4nd3rl0st (InspiredinDesMoines) on 2011-12-30 15:43:29