5920 Milwaukee St. · McFarland, WI 53558-8962 (608) 838-9030    mcflib@scls.lib.wi.us

Library Services

E.D. Locke Public Library offers a large variety of services and collections for the McFarland community:

Audiobooks
Book Discussion Kits
Children's and Young Adult Materials
Career and College Information
Class Visits and Tours
Computer and Internet Use
Consumer Information
Copier and Printer
Electronic Books
Events and Classes
Government Materials
Home Services
Interlibrary Loan
Large Print
Local Materials
Magazines and Newspapers
Meeting Room
Movies
Music on CD
Outreach to Daycares
Quiet Reading Room
Reading Suggestions
Reference Service
Rental Books
Software
Study Rooms
Summer Library Program
Tax Forms
World Languages Collections 

Audiobooks
Audiobooks are available on tape and on CD, and can be checked out for 28 days. In addition, Overdrive Downloadable Audiobooks are available online.
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Book Discussion Kits
Kits are available through interlibrary loan, courtesy of Madison Public Library. A number of titles are available, and books, author information and discussion questions are included.
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Children's and Young Adult Materials
Children's and young adult materials are available in a variety of formats, including movies, music, software and audiobooks. Children's books include board books, starter books, easy readers, picture books, bilingual books, graphic novels and older children's fiction and nonfiction. Young adult books include fiction, nonfiction and graphic novels. The Youth Services Librarian can recommend book titles for various needs.
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Career and College Information
A number of books and videorecordings are offered related to career and college information, including test preparation (GED, SAT, etc.), college choice, financial aid, civil service exams, job hunting and resume writing.
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Class Visits and Tours
Youth Services provides library tours and hosts research sessions for McFarland school classes. In May, the Youth Services Librarian also visits classes to tell them about the Summer Library Program.
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Computer and Internet Use
The library has access to the Internet using Microsoft Internet Explorer and a high-speed connection through Charter Communications. Most computers also have Microsoft Word. In addition, there is an Internet Express computer (15 minute limit) and a Children's Internet computer filtered with Cyberpatrol. Wireless access is also available to patrons with their own laptops. There is no time limit for wireless use, but there is a bandwidth limit per day. Reserve a Computer
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Consumer Information
A variety of resources are available to help consumers make wise decisions. Several years of Consumer Reports Magazine are kept, with indexes to reviewed products. Numerous reference and circulating medical books are provided, as well as assistance in finding online information on health topics.
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Copier and Printer
A self-service black and white photocopier with a coin-op unit is available for public use. Paper sizes available are 8.5x11 and 8.5x14. The copier is able to reduce, enlarge, and produce double-sided copies. A black and white laser printer can print pages from the public computers. The fee for both copier and printer is 10 cents per page.
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Electronic Books
Over 8,000 electronic books are available through a partnership with the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium and NetLibrary.
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Events and Classes
The library offers a variety of programs for all ages, from story times for children to books discussions for adults. Please see Adult Programs and Youth Programs.
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Government Materials
Reference materials for federal, state, county and local governments are available. Village of McFarland resources include DVDs of village meetings, tax assessment rolls, annual budgets, and community planning documents.
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Home Services
Home delivery of materials can be arranged through Dane County Library Service.
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Interlibrary Loan
If you are looking for a book that you are unable to find in LINKcat, you may request that we borrow it from another library (interlibrary loan) or that we purchase it.
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Large Print
A growing collection of adult fiction and nonfiction large print books is offered for browsing. The library also carries Reader's Digest magazine in large print. To find large print books using LINKcat, choose an author or subject in which you are interested, and limit to "large print" using the limit options on the top right of the screen.
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Local Materials
The Adelaide A. Adams Local History Room houses a number of materials related to Wisconsin, Dane County and McFarland history. Included are reference books, books to check out, movies, scrapbooks, and bound volumes of the Community Life and McFarland Thistle newspapers. The McFarland Historical Society also maintains a display case with exhibits from their museum.
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Magazines and Newspapers
The library subscribes to more than 120 magazines for children, young adults and adults, with topics including current news, science and hobbies. Magazines can be checked out for 2 weeks, with the exception of the most current copies. Newspaper subscriptions include the Wisconsin State Journal, Capital Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Barron's and the McFarland Thistle. Newspapers are kept for 3 months, with the exception of the Thistle being kept permanently.
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Meeting Room
The library's meeting room is available for use by non-profit community groups during times that it is not being used for library purposes. Room capacity is 134, and there are 14 tables and 50 chairs available. There is a small kitchenette with sink, refrigerator and microwave. Other equipment includes a podium, projector, projector screen/whiteboard, TV/VCR/DVD player, CD/cassette player and microphone. Available hours of use are 7:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Saturday, and 11:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Sunday. Please see Meeting Room Policy and Application Form for more information.
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Movies
A large collection of children's and adult videos and DVDs is available, with a loan period of 7 days. Types of movies include feature, classic, musical, foreign, TV series, anime, documentary, educational, and how-to.
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Music on CD
A large collection of music CDs is offered, including children's, pop/rock, musical and motion picture, jazz, blues, country, new age, folk, holiday and world music.
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Outreach to Daycares
The Youth Services Librarian provides story times to local daycares, both in the library and at the daycares.
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Quiet Reading Room
A large, beautiful room for quiet reading was donated by the Friends of the McFarland Library. With tall windows, dramatic plants and plenty of comfortable chairs and tables, this is an excellent place to relax and catch up on the latest magazines and newspapers.
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Reading Suggestions
The library provides recommendations and a number of booklists for various reading interests. The children's and adult reference collections have a number of useful readers advisory books. Also check out Novelist, a readers advisory database that can help you choose your next book.
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Reference Service
The library's print reference collection includes dictionaries, almanacs, Wisconsin Statutes, encylopedias, atlases, directories, consumer and medical information, and works on a variety of other subjects. The library also subscribes online to ReferenceUSA (business research), EBSCOHost (magazines), ProQuest (newspapers), Literature Resource Center and 2 genealogy databases, Ancestry Library and HeritageQuest. Reference questions are accepted in person, by phone, and by email.
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Rental Books
The library has a small collection of current books with many holds on them, which are available to check out for 1 week for a $1.00 fee.
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Software
A small collection of children's and adult educational software is available to check out for 2 weeks.
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Study Rooms
Two study rooms are available for use on a walk-in basis, for up to 2 hours at a time. Priority is given to groups of 2-6 persons. Group Study Room Policy
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Summer Library Program
Each summer, Youth Services offers a summer-long series of programs, reading incentives and activities. The primary purpose of the program is to encourage children to retain their reading skills over the summer months. See Summer Library Program
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Tax Forms
The library is one of the few places where state and federal tax forms are provided to the public. Tax forms are available (depending on when the government sends them) from January through April of each year. In addition to the most common tax forms, the library provides binders with reproducible state and federal forms that are not so common. For legal reasons, the library does not provide tax advice. Useful tax websites include the Federal IRS and Wisconsin Department of Revenue sites.
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World Languages Collections
Instructional language books, tapes and CDs are available to check out for 4 weeks. The library has a small collection of adult Spanish language books, as well as bilingual children's books. In addition, the library provides foreign films and world music CDs to check out.
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