About

Northern Waters Library Service (NWLS) is a joint agency of Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Vilas, and Washburn Counties. It is a federated public library system which includes as members all 29 public libraries in the eight participating counties.  Collectively NWLS and its member libraries provide public library service to the 155,000 residents of the eight-county area.

NWLS is established under Chapter 43 of the Wisconsin Statutes, and receives state funding through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. State statutes define the parameters and requirements under which the system must operate. 

Formed in 1959 to provide bookmobile service to communities without a public library and rotating book collections to public libraries with an agreement between Ashland, Bayfield, Iron, and Price Counties.  At that time, the organization was known as Multi-County Library System.  In 1962, Price County withdrew from the system and Douglas County joined.  In 1965, Vilas County became a member, followed by Burnett County in 1966, Washburn County in 1967 and Sawyer County in 1969.

In 1972, Wisconsin passed legislation that enabled counties to form public library systems.  The goal of the new law was to give every Wisconsin resident access to public library service and to improve the quality of public libraries in the state.  The Multi-County Library System became Northwest Wisconsin Library System; in 1989, the name again changed, this time to Northern Waters Library Service.

NWLS has changed dramatically since 1959.  Bookmobile service and rotating book collections (later supplemented with rotating collections of non-print media) ended in 1999.  In 2000, the Merlin shared automation system began and NWLS began to support internet service to its member libraries.  This change from direct service to patrons to service through member libraries and a related change in focus to technology-related services reflects the  changing expectations of society, similar to other library systems in Wisconsin. In 2021, the Merlin Consortium changed its name to the Northern Waters Library Network (NWLN.)

NWLS continues to be a leader in the state, forging new partnerships with other library systems to provide the best service to our member libraries. NWLS has a formed technology partnerships with Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS) and IFLS Library System called LEAN WI and has a reciprocal consultant agreement with WVLS for Continuing Education and Inclusive Services.