Welcome to Musser's Virtual Reference Desk. Here you will find multiple resources to assist you with your questions and research. If you can't find what you are looking for, give us a call at 563-263-3065 or click on this link to fill out an online question form.

To the left in the Quick Links... menu you'll find a series of hyperlinks directing you to different pages within the Reference Section, full of information regading Research, Databases, Local History/Genealogy, and some of our Photo Collections.

This section of the website is still a work in progress so please be patient if some areas are not fully functional.

Exam Proctoring

We offer proctoring services for those students who need to take exams in a semi-supervised environment. In order to request to have an exam proctored, students must contact the Reference Department at least one week prior to the desired test date to ensure that a librarian is available to adminster the exam. After a date has been agreed upon, the instructor for the course must contact the Head of Reference Services (rfiedler@muscatinelibrary.us) with the instructions for the exam. 

We do have a room available for those students who need a quiet space, but we generally need at least a 1 month notice in order to reserve the room although we cannot always guarantee the availability of this space. For additonal information please contact the Head of Reference Services at the above email address or call 563-263-3065 and ask for Bobby.

Obituary Requests

We provide an obituary request service for the general public. For a small fee we will access our local newspaper, The Muscatine Journal, on microfilm, and search for the requested obituary. We charge $5.00 for the first half hour of research and $10.00 for every hour there-after. In addition to the research fee we also charge 15 cents for each copy made and the cost of a first class stamp if the copies need to be mailed. We will only post obituaries domestically.
We can also scan and save an obituary as a PDF and email it along with an invoice. If the patron chooses this option there is no copy or postage fee, only the research fee based on the time spent looking for the obituary.
We cannot guarantee that we will locate the obituary requested, although the research fee will still apply. Therefore, the patron should specify how much they are willing to spend prior to the request being carried out.
For additional information or questions, please contact the Reference Desk either by stopping in or calling 563-263-3065 or emailing us at refmus@muscatinelibrary.us or by filling out a questionnaire form on the website.

Research Requests

Public Documents