Lakes Country Public Library expected more people to enter its doors once its expansion was completed last year, but they did not expect such a huge response from the four small towns it serves and surrounding communities.
It’s a pleasant surprise for those who worked for years to raise funds and bring the communities together to turn its tiny library in the Town of Lakewood into an adequate community hub that residents and visitors can use as a resource, not only for literature and entertainment, but for learning and enrichment as well.
Tom Thielke, who was on the expansion committee, noted there are about 3,000 people in the towns of Lakewood, Townsend, Doty and Riverview, and besides those towns, people from Mountain and Silver Cliff utilize the library. However, there is also a swelling of use during the summer when visitors come to their cabins for vacations.
The 2024 annual report shows that 37% of Lakes Country’s circulation of 33,575 items borrowed comes from outside the area, with Lakewood accounting for 31%, Townsend 19% and Doty and Riverview the remaining 13%.
“Our summer population is immense,” Thielke said.
Linda McKenna, who sits on the library board as a representative of Lakewood, noted that the library’s usage occasionally eclipses that of the Farnsworth Public Library in Oconto, Oconto County’s largest library.
“We have a good circulation up here,” McKenna said. “We’re very proud of our circulation. There are six libraries (in the county) and we do really well. What surprised me is that we were the highest visited area in Oconto County.”
McKenna said there are a number of people moving up to the Northwoods permanently, and she figures a lot of those people will use the library.
“That’s saying something, because there’s so many amenities up here, the library being one of them,” she said. “For me, it was one reason I moved here.”
One big plus for Lakes Country is the reliable Wi-Fi connection available. Thielke noted his son and family vacationed in the area and used the library to go online and deal with needed work issues.
“We get all kinds of that here,” Thielke said.
The library even added an outdoor pavilion for people to use their computers on nice days. They can sit at a table with their laptop and use the Wi-Fi to their heart’s content.
McKenna noted that the library’s summer reading program has grown in leaps and bounds, as well. This year, 127 children signed up for the program.
McKenna also ticked off several other items that makes Lakes Country a warm and inviting library, including:
• An extensive DVD collection, which McKenna said is necessary due to home Internet availability making it difficult for residents to utilize streaming services.
• Puzzles set up on tables that patrons regularly work on. Some of the finished puzzles hang on the library’s walls.
• New escape rooms set up monthly for families to practice teamwork and deductive reasoning.
• Programs for elders in the community, including art classes, sewing sessions and social gatherings.
• A Community Connections program held once a month for adults to join together with a hobby, art project or game being held the first hour and a Lunch ‘N Learn program for the second hour with various public speakers. On Aug. 21, Margaret Brubaker will be the featured speaker, talking about German heritage.
• Another speaker series that’s held in the evening.
“We really have improved our programming,” McKenna said. “We’re really just the hub of the community in so many ways.”
She noted that all the activities are helping to keep the communities and visitors to the Northwoods engaged.
“It’s just a matter of finding the things people want,” McKenna said, noting that the library and all of its activities provide warmth for folks.
Neither McKenna nor Thielke think its necessary to look at future expansion, even with all the activities keeping library staff hopping, but they are concerned about keeping everything funded. The library’s expenses were more than $176,000, according to the 2024 annual report, which was partially covered by $81,525 from the county that year. However, Oconto County cut Lakes Country’s funding by about $10,000 for 2025, according to McKenna, and there are concerns library funding could be cut again in the 2026 budget.
“The county has to make budget cuts, and one of the places they go to are the libraries, and that’s what we’re afraid of,” McKenna said. “The reason we became a joint library is so that the taxes that Townsend, Riverview and Doty pay no longer go down there, they go right here.”
One thing helping to cut costs for the library in the future are the recently installed solar panels on the roof. McKenna said it will be a benefit for the library to make its own electricity.
“That’s 30 years of free electricity or something like that,” McKenna said.
The reputation of Lakes Country’s inviting atmosphere has even resulted in a woman pursuing her doctoral thesis using the library’s community room as her subject, according to Thielke. The community room is a benefit to those working to enhance their careers, he and McKenna said.
