Wisconsin Valley Library System could fold, says DPI

The “ripple effect” of the Marathon County Public Library joining the South Central Library Service (SCLC) would include Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS) losing most of its book collection and 20 percent of its budget, a representative of the Department of Public Instruction told county library board members on Monday.

Shannon Schultz said the loss of the Marathon County library would likely cause WVLS to fold and force it to attach itself to another adjacent library system.

The DPI representative appeared at Monday’s meeting to answer library board questions about the proposed switch to SCLS.

Schultz said that Marathon County’s departure would mean WVLS would no longer have a required resource library with a minimum of 100,000 volumes in a city of no less than 30,000.

She said WVLS could choose other adjacent library systems to join. These include those headquarters in Appleton, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Madison or Superior.

Schultz said WVLS would lose $80,000 in revenue and from Marathon County plus $375,000 in state aid from the Department of Public Instruction should Marathon County join SCLS.

She said other counties, such as Wood, Portage and Adams, have previously left WVLS to join SCLS.

Schultz said state law leaves it up to local counties to decide what library system they wish to join, but that state law frowns on library systems being either too big or too small. An objective of state law, she said, is to have equal library service across Wisconsin.

To date, the county library board voted to leave WVLS, but the county’s Extension, Education and Economic Development Committee requested the library board review its recommendation.