Marathon County Public Library

August 25, 2017

We’ve recently completed our months-long Pennies for a Cause campaign at the library’s Wausau Headquarters! The campaign, which ran 6/12-8/12 in the children’s area, gave kids and parents the chance to donate coins to be given to a local charitable organization. With each donation, folks also voted for which organization they wanted to receive the money. And now, the votes are in! Nearly $100 was raised throughout the summer and will be donated to the Humane Society of Marathon County, which garnered the most votes, with a total of 54! Runners up include New Life Pet Adoption Center, which received 43 votes, and Stable Hands Equine Therapy Center, with 29 votes. MCPL sincerely thanks all of the generous...

August 15, 2017

With this year’s smash cinematic hit, Wonder Woman, the comic world’s best-known female superhero is back in the limelight. While her superhuman strength, intelligence and determination for justice are inspiring, there are some real life superheroes out there that are just as noteworthy.   Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston, came of age at a time when suffragettes where marching for the right to vote. The two most influential women in his life, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, an attorney and psychologist; and Olive Byrne, the niece of birth control pioneer and activist Margaret Sanger, had a great impact on his work. It was these women and movement taking place around him that inspired...

August 15, 2017

I hope that all of our readers have enjoyed this pleasant, temperate summer season. We have seen a lot of changes at MCPL, and I would like to share some news about more changes you will see in the near future.  To begin, we have been using the new Wausau Community Room on the second floor of our Wausau Headquarters, and the public loves it! There is easy access via stairs or elevator, and the reviews have been very positive. If you have the need for a meeting of your nonprofit group or club, please consider using this meeting room for your next gathering of twenty or more people. Remember that all meetings at the library must be open to the public. Next, I am deeply saddened to announce that our longtime...

August 10, 2017

The Marathon County Public Library is working with other community partners to present the first-ever Central Wisconsin Book Festival, starting Friday, September 29, and continuing through September 30 with a diverse lineup of events. The festival begins Friday night with “Fact or Fiction,” a live and interactive storytelling event at the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) in Wausau. Other events include, but aren’t limited to, a presentation on early childhood literacy from Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, a conversation with comic writer and artist Tim Seeley and a discussion about Alzheimer’s disease with former Wisconsin governor Martin Schreiber, who recently co-authored a book on Alzheimer’s care...

August 8, 2017

As our Summer Library Program draws to a close, a number of our "year-round" story times will be taking a short break toward the end of August. Of course, our "September - May" story times will kick into gear shortly thereafter -- in the second week of September unless otherwise specified. These changes and other relevant dates are described below in brief. For our complete story time schedule and related information, please visit www.mcpl.us/story-times. If you have any questions about story time during this transition period, please don't hesitate to contact us! Family Story Time MCPL Wausau — Weekly on Saturdays, 10:30am (year-round) (2017: will not meet 8/21-9/4) MCPL Athens — Weekly on Tuesdays, 10:...

August 7, 2017

If you’re like us, you’ve been eagerly anticipating the total solar eclipse that will happen on August 21, 2017. This out-of-this-world event is something that’s a long time coming, with the last total eclipse to be visible across the entire contiguous United States having happened in 1918 (and not since 1979 has a total eclipse been visible from the mainland United States). The next one will not occur until 2024, and who wants to wait that long to see one again? We here at MCPL have been talking about and planning our own Solar Eclipse Viewing Party for over a year and have tons of fun activities planned for patrons of all ages! Beginning at 11 a.m. on August 21 at our Wausau Headquarters, we’ll show...

July 26, 2017

Now that Wausau's city council has voted to allow chickens within the city limits, local residents may be wondering just exactly how to make their dreams of backyard poultry a reality. Well, first things first, we recommend you read the actual ordinance (8.08.012, page 10) and make sure what you're planning aligns with what is permitted in your area. And for those of you in other Marathon County municipalities who are curious about owning chickens, we can point you to the ordinances that may affect you; just contact us at the Reference Desk. Then, when you're ready, check out some of the books offered by your local Marathon County Public Library on the topic of raising chickens, some of which we've listed...

July 12, 2017

This summer, children can brush up on their reading skills by attending our weekly Paws to Read events, happening at our Wausau Headquarters, Mosinee Branch and Rothschild Branch. During these sessions, kids have the opportunity to read to very relaxed and well-behaved therapy dogs, courtesy Therapy Dogs of Central Wisconsin. They can sit with their parent, guardian or caretaker as well as the dog’s handler and read from a book of their choosing. Reading to a therapy dog can be a great benefit for a child because it gets them to read out loud without fear of being ridiculed. Some children don’t have a sibling, parent or friend willing to listen to them, or may have been teased in the past for mispronouncing a...

July 6, 2017

Escape rooms are all the rage these days and the Marathon County Public Library is getting on board by offering its very own escape room for teens and adults! Will you be able to stop a zombie virus outbreak before it's too late?? Join us and find out! Dr. Johnson (who has been briefing you and your group about the important scientific experiments she's been conducting), has left her office to speak with a colleague. After snooping through the doctor’s files, you discover that Dr. Johnson has something more nefarious up her sleeve—a full-on zombie virus that she’s planning to unleash on the unsuspecting public! Worse yet…it’s airborne, and anyone who comes in contact with this virus is guaranteed to...

June 30, 2017

Borrowers of library e-books and audiobooks, please take note! In June of 2017, OverDrive announced a new mobile app for Wisconsin's Digital Library called Libby. This app is designed to simplify the OverDrive mobile user experience, especially for new users. Libby will be added to Wisconsin's Digital Library in August as the preferred app for new users. Currently, there is no definitive timeline for when the current OverDrive app will be discontinued. Libby is currently available for download in the app stores for iOS and Android (but not yet for Amazon's Kindle Fire devices.) If you have any questions about borrowing e-books and digital audiobooks from the library, please...