Library History
The library had a humble beginning in 1899 with 272 books in English and 65 books in the German language.
In 1914 the Carnegie Foundation granted $10,000 for a library building at 121 East Green Bay Street. The building also housed the Cit
y Clerk and City Treasurer in the basement, along with rooms for the Woman's Club meetings and other civic organizations.
When county library service was started in Shawano County on November 1, 1934, it was unique not only in Wisconsin, but in the entire country. The idea of bringing the library to county residents through library stations in the villages and townships had never been tried before. As of August 1937 there were 17 branches of the Shawano Library.
Shawano received one of three bookmobiles brought to the state by the Federal Government in 1939. This proved to be so 
successful that the county purchased their own and at one time operated two bookmobiles at a time.
The current bookmobile was purchased in 1996 and operates 2 weeks of every month serving nursing homes, child day care centers, schools, and making stops for patrons in small villages.
In 1960 the current facility at 128 South Sawyer Street was completed. The Shawano City-County Library merged with the Nicolet Library System to provide greater services in book lending in 1976.
A major remodeling and addition was completed in 1990. Square footage went from just under 12,000 to over 21,000. 
This provided a separate audiovisual department and a greatly enlarged adult reading area as well as a large and bright Children's Room, plus a theatre for children's programs.
The computerization of the entire library was completed in 1996 enabling the library to become a member of OWLSnet, the Outagamie-Waupaca System's shared automation network. The main library and 4 of the 5 branches qualified as recipients of a Gates Foundation grant in September 2002. This enabled us to offer 4 additional Internet locations to our patrons. Since that time we have been able to offer a hubless WiFi Internet service and 3 additional computers for public use.
The library staff continue to look for new and innovative ways to serve the public and offer unique opportunities to its patrons.
