Current
The long-held goal of having a branch library serving eastern Marathon County was realized in June 2005 when a branch library was built in Hatley. Due to the increase in branch libraries, the bookmobiles, which had been so vital in providing library service countywide, were retired that year as well.
In 2005 almost 74,000 Marathon County residents had library cards. Library programs drew in 36,000 people of all ages. Over 550,000 people visited the Wausau library or one of the branches. Library customers checked out over 810,000 items.
The Wausau Public Library received the Library of the Year Award from the Wisconsin Library Association in 1965, and again in 1997 as the Marathon County Public Library. Three Wausau/Marathon County librarians received Librarian of the Year awards: Dorothea Krause 1957, Florence Hensey 1973, and Wayne Bassett in 1979.
Tremendous progress in public library service has been seen in the past 100 years in Marathon County. The concept of a public library has evolved from small, privately funded collections maintained by local women’s clubs to an integrated, countywide system linked by computers offering service at nine different locations.
As of December 15, 2009, as part of its "March to a Million" initiative, the Marathon County Public Library surpassed its goal to lend 1,000,000 items within a single calendar year. It was the first time the seven-figure threshold has been breached by MCPL.
The Marathon County Public Library is open seven days a week and serves a population of 126,031. Free Internet access is available, including wireless internet at all locations, accessible anywhere within the library buildings.
Read more about this topic: Marathon County Public Library
Famous quotes containing the word current:
“We all participate in weaving the social fabric; we should therefore all participate in patching the fabric when it develops holes—mismatches between old expectations and current realities.”
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)
“But there, where I have garnered up my heart,
Where either I must live or bear no life;
The fountain from the which my current runs
Or else dries up: to be discarded thence,
Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads
To knot and gender in!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“For the purpose of knowledge, one must know how to use that inner current that draws us to a thing, and then the one that, after a time, draws us away from it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)