Wisconsin Library Stories

Anne Cherrier, who turned 101 this month, will be honored for her life-long love of reading at a reception on May 18th at the Menomonie Public Library. The reception is being sponsored by the Library and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and will include the presentation of a certificate from the National Library Service. Read the full story in the Dunn County News.

After joining the library in 1995, Paula Kiely's route to the top was rapid. Read the recently published story of the 11th city librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library System.

Academic and public libraries are using social networking to appeal to patrons. Read an article in the Capital Times about how libraries in the Madison area are using these new tools.

The Milwaukee Public Library was honored for its "Excellence in Individual Teamwork" by the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum recently as one of its 2007 "Salute to Local Government" award winners.

The management team at the Milwaukee Public Library partnered with the Northwestern Mutual Foundation as the primary private source of funding to provide free computer training programs at the Central Library and several neighborhood libraries. For those seeking to upgrade employment skills or those without computer access at home, the programs are invaluable. All classes are taught as hands-on instruction in a computer lab. Each class is two hours long, and students adhere to a curriculum and receive a certificate upon completion.

(Reprinted with permission from Channel Weekly, Vol. 9, No. 39, June 28, 2007)

In most communities, the decision to build a new library revolves around questions of design, access and its effect on taxpayers. But in the city of Fitchburg and village of Cottage Grove, organizers are concerned with an even more basic element: The books. Unlike communities looking to expand or build new branches, the two Dane County communities have no libraries at all.

Read the full story.