About the Oakland County Research Library

The Oakland County Research Library was originally created by the Planning Commission, and the first librarian was hired in 1972. It was first known as the Oakland County Governmental Reference Library. The Oakland County Library Board assumed fiscal control on January 1, 1975.

In August of 1994 the Library moved to the West Wing Extension of the Courthouse. It currently shares this building with the Library for the Visually and Physically Impaired, the Adams Pratt Law Library, Corporation Council, Youth Assistance, and the Prosecuting Attorney's offices.

The Research Library is open to the public and much of the collection circulates. A person is eligible to check out materials from the Library if they live, work, go to school or own property in Oakland County.

The collection includes information on planning, census, transportation, business and finance, management and public administration. It serves as a depository for county, state and federal government documents. The Library also subscribes to more than 250 magazines ranging from professional journals to general interest titles.

Computers are available for public use. Access to the Internet is provided, along with the Microsoft Office suite of programs. These include Word, Powerpoint and Excel and Access. Also available are a variety of online databases for searching for information on a wide range of topics.

The Library is a member of The Library Network (TLN) cooperative, which includes libraries in Oakland, Wayne, Livingston, Washtenaw, and St Clair counties. The Library has interlibrary loan services.