New Mobile App for Catalog
NWLN Mobile App
The Friends of the Library will be hosting Jeff Hein at the Mellen Library Senior Center Wednesday, April 23rd at 6:30pm. His newly released third novel in the Cimbrian War series, “Terror Cimbricus” will be available for purchase. Please join us to hear about the research, writing process, and publishing of the Cimbrian War series. Invite your friends & neighbors as we wish to celebrate Jeff’s success and welcome him back to Mellen.
Looking ahead to May, the Friends will host Ryan Long to give a presentation on Wills & Trusts on Friday, May 16 at 10am. More to come in next week’s article.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent federal agency, had their staff put on administrative leave as of March 31, 2025. Due to this change library staff and patrons alike are wondering how this will affect our local library services. Northern Waters Library Service (NWLS) and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) will be directly affected, which will in turn trickle down to our local libraries. It should be noted that the bulk of funding for our Mellen library is from the City of Mellen and Ashland County, but we benefit from Federal funds though the services that NWLS and DPI provide.
NWLS is our centralized support system which provides consulting services, continuing education opportunities, digital media support, grants, interlibrary loan and delivery services, integrated library services (cataloging, circulation, and public catalog), and technology infrastructure, training and support. This is not a complete list but a quick summary. We receive their support along with 29 other Northern Wisconsin libraries from 8 counties. NWLS will receive about 8% of their total budget from Federal funding this year.
The DPI Library Service Team has the potential to lose 85% of their staff as they are paid for with federal funds. These losses will have an impact on services. At this time, it is thought that WisCat our statewide inter-library loan service, will be affected as well as continuing education opportunities and the director certification process. Libby, our state electronic library service (eBooks, audiobooks, and magazines) and BadgerLink, Wisconsin’s Online Library (NoveList, Newspaper Archives, ChiltonLibrary, and many others) may also be affected. You may find more information here: https://mywisconsinlibrary.org/ . If you do not have internet, you may view this site from our public computers at the library.
You may help by contacting your representatives and letting them know how you use the library and/or its online services like Libby & BadgerLink. Let them know if the library and its services have aided you in any way. We have printed out postcards available at the library for you to fill out and send to them. Or you may send your own notes. Be specific and be positive. Thank you.