Farewell To The Express Library “Branch”

There is now one fewer public library branch in the city.

Since 2014, the Milwaukee Public Library operated an express branch at the corner of N. 64th St. and W. Silver Spring Dr.

But unlike the 13 remaining libraries — offering in-person staffing, air conditioning and thousands of items — the express library more closely resembled a large vending machine.

The machine, one of four in the country at the time of its installation, held approximately 350 items. Billed as a 24-hour library, patrons could use their library card to grab a book or DVD like one might use a credit card to buy a soda.

But the machine, located at the edge of the Westlawn Gardens development, was beset by downtime in recent years. It was ultimately removed on Dec. 8.

“We decided it was in the best interest of the library to have it removed,” said Anne Rasmussen, MPL associate director of strategic initiatives and public services, in an interview.

She told Urban Milwaukee that in recent years the machine was out of order approximately 10% of the time. The amount of downtime, MPL believes, reduced the machine’s usage for more than just the periods it was unavailable.

“We were basically doing a return on investment [calculation] to know where we were,” said Rasmussen.

It may have been cheaper to just give away the items in the end.

Rasmussen said a calculation revealed that the machine cost the library approximately $40 per use in recent years. In the end, it represented just 0.1% of the library’s total circulation.

Provider EnvisionWare had a $19,000 annual service agreement with the city and MPL needed to pay extra for certain repairs. Rasmussen said the library had no issues with the service EnvisionWare provided, but recognized the first-generation machine was reaching the end of its useful life.

“We are sad about it, at the same time I think we learned some valued lessons about having that connectedness with community. The engagement on a face-to-face level is really important,” she said. “I was really proud to be part of a team that takes educated risks to serve our community.”

Rasmussen, who joined MPL in 2019, was able to negotiate for EnvisionWare to waive its contract fee in her first year. “That was a win for the city for sure,” she said. But the machine was showing its age and its infrequent use hastened its demise. “We understood that this was something that was not going to be fixable.”

MPL, however, has no plans of abandoning Westlawn, the state’s largest public housing development.

“We will continue to provide programming opportunities, especially the Wild Wednesdays,” she said. The once-a-month summer programs connect area residents to nature, offer arts-and-crafts activities with librarians and allow people to sign-up for library cards. “It was very popular. We would get between 200 and 300 people.” The pandemic halted the programs, but they are planned to return.

She said the machine’s usage data clearly showed events were held because checkouts would spike.

Children’s librarians visited Westlawn to read books to area families. “We are committed to bringing that back,” said Rasmussen.

Neighborhood residents impacted by the closure can find full-service branches by heading in three of the four cardinal directions. The 2011-built Villard Square Library is located to the east (2.2 miles), the to-be-replaced Capitol Library is located to the south (2.6 miles) and the new Good Hope Library is located to the north (2.8 miles).