MANNING, Iowa — One Iowa library is not only a big deal to its small town, but also across the globe. The Manning Public Library doesn’t only exist in Carroll County, Iowa but also in West Africa.

Manning’s main street starts with a splash pad and ends with the public library. The 10,000 square foot library is a huge attraction in the small town of just 1,400 people. Library director Linda Muhlbauer said over 11,400 people came through the library last year alone.

“The library’s pretty big for a town as small as we are,” she said. “We like to say we’re the heart of a community. We’re a safe place for kids to go. It’s a place for people to learn, a place for people to gather.”

Manning residents aren’t the only ones gathering in the library. It serves as one of the many stops for Mandela Fellows, who are business visionaries and nonprofit leaders from West Africa who visit Central Iowa through a program at Drake University.

Ron Reischl is a Manning native and member of the Manning Betterment Foundation. He got Manning to be a spot for the program.

“I describe it as a six weeks masters program in learning how American business work and how American government works,” he said.

The Mandela Fellows stay in Manning for two days, learning how local business owners and leaders work. Reischl said the fellows value learning from Manning residents because their villages and communities at home are similar to this small town in Carroll County.

Muhlbauer meets with the fellows and explains how she runs the library. This includes things like funding, creating strategic plans to involve the community, and the accreditation process that determines if the library is successful.

During last year’s trip, a cart with free books caught the attention of one fellow. Muhlbauer said he asked her if she can mail the books to Africa, but the weight of the books would have made mailing them too expensive for the library.

Instead, the fellow packed a spare luggage with 40 books and took it home to Conakry, Guinea where he later opened his own library, calling it the Manning Public Library.

Right now, the new library is just one shelf with the 40 books on display, but the fellow’s goal is to grow the unit and expand the collection. The books are helping Guinea residents learn English as the main language spoken in the West African country is French.

The fellow created an Amazon Wishlist with books he would like to add to the library collection. Muhlbauer said books purchased through the wish list go directly to the library in West Africa.

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