Lakeland Times Series Takes a Look at the Presque Isle Community Library

Looking back on Presque Isle Community Library's beginnings. (The Lakeland Times, 4/20/2012)

Excerpt:   The Presque Isle Community Library goes the extra mile for its patrons to ensure they find what they seek, bringing the world to the small Northwoods community. 

Working with the Northern Waters Library Service, the MERLIN automated catalog system, and the WISCAT catalog service, the library has borrowed books from across the nation, and beyond. 

"Our slogan is, 'Our library has no walls.' We've gotten books from California and Ohio. If Northern Waters can't find it nationally, we have on two occasions gotten international interlibrary loans," Presque Isle Library director Pam Eschenbauch said. "You can get anything you want, and we would be very happy to help you do that." 

Since the Presque Isle Library sends out more materials than it receives, it is known as a net lender. In March, the library sent 537 items out using MERLIN and WISCAT, and received 118 items. A currier comes three times a week just to deliver MERLIN book requests. Once the library patron has received the material, they can return it to any other library that uses the MERLIN consortium. 

"We have a unique collection, as do other MERLIN libraries," Eschenbauch said.