The Bay County Library System (BCLS), is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

system serving

Bay County Bay County is the name of three counties: * Bay County, Florida, United States * Bay County, Michigan, United States * Baicheng County Baicheng County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Bay County (pronounced l ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It contains four libraries and one bookmobile. The headquarters library, the Alice & Jack Wirt Public Library is located in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

. The historic Sage Library is a part of this library system.

History

The Bay County Library System was established on January 1, 1974 after the county electorate approved a $700,000 tax levy for five years. The Library System brought together three libraries, the Bay City Public Library and its Broadway Branch, The Sage Library, and The Pinconning Library) which previously were funded separately and independently by the cities of Bay City and Pinconning. These branches, together with the Auburn Area Branch Library, the South Side Branch Library, and the bookmobile would comprise the six "service outlets" of the Library System. In 2000, Bay County voters approved a

millage A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth tax, net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property thr ...

increase and bond issue to support capital improvements to the system, including new buildings for the Bay City and Pinconning branches and additions and renovations to the Auburn, Sage, and Southside branches Renovations to the Auburn and Sage branches were completed in the winter and spring of 2004, respectively. The new Pinconning Branch Library opened in October 2004. In December 2005 the Bay City Branch was replaced by the new Alice and Jack Wirt Public Library. In 2006, voters twice failed to pass the operating millage required the provided 60 percent of the system's operating funds. As a result, the Bay County Library Board voted to close the South Side and Sage branch libraries, suspend Bookmobile service, and open the Auburn, Pinconning, and Wirt branches for restricted hours. Renovations to the South Side Branch are currently on hold pending resolution of the library's current operating funding situation. In 2007, voters passed a reduced millage that allowed the Library System to once again open Sage and allow for more hours and services at all branches.

References

External links

Library Home
{{authority control County library systems in the United States

Library system A library consortium is any cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources and/or activities on behalf of its members, whether they are school, public, academic, special libraries and/or information centers. Consortia exist on a v ...

1974 establishments in Michigan Public libraries in Michigan