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employed by nineteenth century Wisconsin citizens to meet the
educational and recreational needs of its members and
subscribers. Its library predecessors were dogged by the
problems of unstable library association membership, insufficient
and fluctuating sources of revenue, and the sometimes infuriating
indifference of the public-at-large who had not yet acknowledged
nor accepted responsibility for a library free and accessible to
all. The Janesville Public Library was born at the zenith of the
Public Library Movement in nineteenth-century Wisconsin, yet was
very nearly still-born in the face of public apathy. Its
survival in its "modern" form was left to the unfranchised, but
not powerless, women of Janesville who organized a fund-drive to
save from auction the library collection of the Young Men's
Association. In the next several months, they pleaded and
exhorted the citizens and city of Janesville to assume municipal
control of the library. Central to the ladies'.efforts to save
the library was a view of the library as a valuable educational
institution, as well as a moral one capable of providing a
wholesome alternative to the city saloons.
The objectives of the Janesville Public Library are
consistent with national and state trends of library
development. Major goals have centered on the provision of
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