Edina Library is a branch of

Hennepin County Library Hennepin County Library is a public library system serving Hennepin County, Minnesota, US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban Minneapolis Public Library and suburban Hennepin County Library on Ja ...

serving

Edina, Minnesota Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

, United States. The library shares facilities with the Edina Senior Center. It has of floor space, and includes a meeting room,

great room A great room is a room inside a house that combines the roles of several more traditional rooms such as the family room, living room, and study into one space. Great rooms typically have raised ceilings and are usually placed at or near the center ...

with fireplace, and a children's room.

History

The current library facility opened in 2002 The previous library was built in 1967 at 50th and Vernon Avenue at a cost of $439,807. Approximately 25% of construction costs were paid in part by a federal library

grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

. The Edina library was the first library in

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

to receive

federal funds In the United States, federal funds are overnight borrowings between banks and other entities to maintain their bank reserves at the Federal Reserve. Banks keep reserves at Federal Reserve Banks to meet their reserve requirements and to clear ...

toward library construction costs. From the earliest planning meetings, Edina Library was intended to be joined by a regional library elsewhere in Edina.

Southdale Library Southdale Library is an American public library. It is located in Edina, Minnesota, United States. At 60,000 square feet, it is one of the largest in the Hennepin County Library system. The building is part of a complex that also houses district c ...

opened in 1973.

An early library in Hennepin County

Edina's library roots go back to September 1921, and predate

system. Four months before Hennepin County Library began its county-wide library services, Edina opened its first library in a school in the

Linden Hills Linden Hills is a neighborhood in the Southwest community of Minneapolis on a hill overlooking Lake Harriet. It was one of the last areas to be developed in the City of Minneapolis. A majority of the land around where neighborhood is today was ...

neighborhood. In 1926, the library relocated to 50th and Wooddale, and in 1939, moved to the Westgate Theater building in the Morningside neighborhood. This move allowed Edina to have its first free-standing

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

, and it became known as the Edina Morningside Branch library. The Morningside library was closed by the Hennepin County Board, effective December 31, 1976. In 1954, a second Edina Branch Library opened at 4120 West 50th Street. The former residence of James Bull, it was given to the City by Russell Lund and George Kruse. With room for between 6,000 and 7,000 books, space was limited to

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

and young adult books, and

general fiction A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

and

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

. The space was considered quite small by the standards of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

. As a result, the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

began campaigning in 1962 for a larger library for Edina. In 1967, following considerable preparation, plans were announced to build on 50th Street and Eden Avenue. The building, known as the Edina Community Library, opened in September 1968 at 4701 West 50th Street next to the Village Hall. Construction costs totaled $410,000, with 15,500 square feet of floor space. The space was designed by Arthur Dickey, an Edina resident, and included a reading room for adults, a children's room, a drive-up service window, and a multi-purpose room. Art reproductions, displayed near the entry vestibule, were available for checkout by patrons. Edina was the first branch library in the Hennepin County Library system to loan art prints. When the current library opened in April 2002, Edina razed the old library to make way for a new city hall and policy department.

Amenities of the Edina Library

A Chrysalis Room anchors a dedicated space for children's and teen events program. Patrons can also use the room for help with homework, story time, or learning

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

. The library has a special collection of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

materials, along with

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

resources for children. Programming ranges from Girls Only and Guys Read Book Clubs to author events, and Baby and Family Storytimes.

A City of Innovation

The Edina Art and Book Festival, which began in 1966, was established to generate revenue for building a new library for Edina. Also of note, Edina librarian Dorothy Dunn, who began her tenure as a librarian in Edina at the Morningside Library in 1963, created the Friends of the Edina Library program, which is widely regarded as a prototype for similar library support programs across the country.

Art in the library

A variety of media are on display within and outside the Edina Library. Janey Westin, a Minneapolis-based

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, has permanently loaned her work, “Laura Reading,” a marble and limestone sculpture to the library. Edina resident Doug Lew's “Mother Daughter Book Club” was dedicated in 2006 to the memory of Christie Blackwood.” “Who Has Seen the Wind,” a stained glass commission funded by One Percent for Art, is William Saltzman's multi-panel celebration of nature.

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

art professor Katherine Nash's eleven-foot high commission in copper, “Heritage of Edina”Hennepin County Library“1968 Publicity Scrapbook Summary,” http://www.hclow.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HCL-SCRAPBOOK-1968-final.pdf, p. 3 exterior sculpture contrasts with Tom Montemurro's miniature sculpture, titled “Children on Parade” in the children's area.

References

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