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The Prairie Lakes Library System Board of Trustees is the governing body of the library system. Trustees are appointed by each participating county board of supervisors. Six trustees are appointed by Racine County, five trustees are appointed by Rock County, and four trustees are appointed by Walworth County – for a total of fifteen trustees. Before the development of public library systems in Wisconsin, many state residents had no legal access to any public library. In addition, many other state residents only had access to substandard library service. The goal of library systems has been to provide all Wisconsin residents with access to the high-quality library service needed to meet personal, work, educational, and community goals. To address the limitations of relying solely on local support and local coordination of library service, the Wisconsin legislature passed legislation in 1971 enabling the creation of regional public library systems. The actual creation and development of public library systems in Wisconsin was a voluntary and gradual process. No county or public library is required to be a member of a library system; yet, as of this writing, all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties and 381 public libraries are library system members.