The Nampa Public Library is located in historic downtown Nampa, Idaho at 101-11th Avenue South. The library is a member of the Lynx! Consortium of libraries in the Treasure Valley. The library offers materials in a variety of formats including books, magazines, audiobooks, CDs, VHS tapes, DVDs, eAudiobooks and a variety of databases. Nine Internet computers are available on a first come-first-serve basis.
In fiscal year 2006, the library had over 290,000 customer visits, averaging 968 per day, and a collection of over 143,000 items. Nampa Public Library employs 21 full-time employees, and 9 part-time employees. 6 staff members hold master’s degrees in librarianship.
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The Woman’s Century Club created the first library in Nampa—a traveling collection of books obtained from the Idaho State Traveling Library. In 1904, the collection was settled into two rooms of the Hickey Building and patrons were charged an annual card fee of $1.00. The Century Club Library Committee obtained a commitment for a Carnegie library in 1908[1] and opened with a collection of 1312 books. In 1966, the library moved to its current location in the former First Security Bank building when it was donated to the City of Nampa. In 1985, an addition of the neighboring E.H. Dewey Stores building doubled the space of the library to 23,500 square feet (2,180 m2).
In March 2008, the Nampa library board ruled in favor of removing two books containing sexual content. The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex were removed from the shelves at the library and only available upon request in the library director's office.
In June 2008, board member Bruce Skaug resigned his position after posting a comment on a local blog. The comment written on the blog "The Unequivocal Notion" said those who opposed the board’s decision had a “messed up view of sex” and “cannot understand people who wish to protect children from becoming people like you.”
In September 2008, The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex were restored to the shelves of the Nampa Public Library in an effort to avoid a potential lawsuit. The library board voted unanimously to rescind its policy decision “as a matter of fiscal responsibility”. Board member Kim Keller said. The vote came after Nampa City Attorney Terry White told the board it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate a First Amendment lawsuit.
The library is preparing for a new building which will be 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) situated in downtown Nampa. Funding for this library is part of an Urban Renewal Project recently approved by the City of Nampa. In the next year, the city and the library will be finalizing site selection, gathering public input, and coordinating with developers, architects and consultants to start the building project. Construction of the new library facility is anticipated to begin in 2008.