About Us

About Our Cooperative

The mission of Lakeland Library Cooperative is to strengthen member libraries in eight west Michigan counties by providing the means to share resources, services, and expertise for the benefit of individuals and communities. The Cooperative provides consulting services, delivery, continuing education, advocacy, group purchases, and a shared public access catalog to member libraries.

This Cooperative approach preserves local initiative and control while taking full advantage of the efficiencies that a larger service area makes possible. Lakeland policies are set by the membership as a whole and govern inter-cooperative activities. Individual member libraries are governed by policies set by their local boards. The primary funding for the Cooperative is State Aid to Public Libraries.

The Lakeland Library Cooperative is organized under Michigan Public Act 89 of 1977, which provides for the establishment of cooperative libraries. Lakeland’s members include 42 public libraries in 82 locations across Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, and Ottawa counties, which serves 1,289,504 patrons.

For more information, or if you have specific questions that we might be able to answer, please send an email to: Carol Dawe, Cooperative Director, at carol@llcoop.org