The Waukesha Public Library is owned by the city of Waukesha and governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees. As the Resource Library for the Waukesha County Federated Library System, it serves over 100,000 area residents. Nearly 82,000 people have registered for and used their Waukesha library cards within the past four years.

The current 60,000 square foot building was completed in 1988. It houses 342,000 items, accessible in-house and by dial-in through an online catalog. The warm and inviting children's room features a walk-in reading house, a large storytime area, and a mural featuring characters drawn from children's literature. The original 1904 Carnegie Library portion of the building is now a large newspaper reading room.

The Waukesha Public Library is one of the most heavily used libraries in the state, consistently circulating more than 1.1 million items annually. In fact a record was set in 2002 when we circulated 1,523,265 items. Usage analyses show that 59% of the library's usage comes from city of Waukesha residents, 31% from residents of Waukesha County who do not support a local library, and 10% from residents of other municipalities in Waukesha County who do support their own libraries. The library's 2003 budget is $3,346,336.

Contact information:
Waukesha Public Library
321 Wisconsin Avenue
Waukesha, WI 53186
Phone: (262) 524-3680