On Nov. 7 at 6 pm, the Minneapolis City Council and Minneapolis Public Library Board will jointly hold a public hearing regarding the proposed consolidation of the Minneapolis Public Library and Hennepin County Library systems. The hearing will be held at Central Library (first floor), 300 Nicollet Mall.
Minneapolis City Council and Minneapolis Public Library Board
Joint Public Hearing
6 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 7
First floor, Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall
The merged system, to be called Hennepin County Library, will include 15 Minneapolis libraries and 26 suburban libraries and will provide more streamlined services to all Hennepin County residents, offering more than five million books, CDs and DVDs and nearly 1,600 public computers. The merger, which must be approved by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, the Minneapolis Public Library Board and the Minneapolis City Council, can happen as soon as Jan. 1, 2008, and no later than Dec. 31, 2008. Three temporarily closed Minneapolis libraries – Roosevelt, Southeast and Webber Park – are scheduled to reopen on the first date of the consolidation.
Over the past year, two committees – the Committee on the Future of Libraries in Hennepin County and the Library Advisory Committee – examined options for providing the best 21st century library services to all Hennepin County residents, both concluding one united library system was the best solution. The Minneapolis Public Library Board, the Minneapolis City Council and the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners then voted to approve guiding principles and support for state legislation enabling the merger. The legislature passed enabling legislation, including public hearing requirements, in May.
Oct. 30, 2007