Minneapolis Central Public Library by Cesar Pelli

Hennepin County Library is a

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 ...

system serving

Hennepin County, Minnesota 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 ...

, US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban

Minneapolis Public Library The Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) was a library system that served the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Library Board by an amendment to the Minneapolis ...

and suburban Hennepin County Library on January 1, 2008. The system has 41 library locations, deposit collections at nursing homes and correctional facilities, mail service to the homebound, and extensive outreach services. The library is a department of Hennepin County Government. The library headquarters are in the Ridgedale Library in suburban

Minnetonka Minnetonka ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about west of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. The library system has an eleven-member advisory Library Board appointed by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners. It is a member of the

Metropolitan Library Service Agency The Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA) is a regional library system in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota. It consists of eight library systems in seven counties, with a total of over one hundred member libraries. ...

, a consortium of eight

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

library systems.

History

was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Public Library Board by an amendment of the Minneapolis city charter. Minneapolis Public Library's first building was the Main Library, opened in 1889. Minneapolis Public Library later added community library branches to supplement the main library. The first branch was North Branch, established in 1890, more branches in south and east Minneapolis followed, and the system grew with the city. Hennepin County Library started in 1922 as a horse-drawn "

bookmobile A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...

" to areas outside the core city of Minneapolis. The system saw a large increase in use in the period between 1950 and 1980 as more people moved into suburban areas of the county. By 1952 there were 24 libraries in the system; additional city libraries, such as Hopkins, were incorporated into the county system. Hennepin County Library opened its first area library, Southdale, in 1973. In the early 1970s plans were in place to merge the Minneapolis Public Library with the Hennepin County Library. However, the Minneapolis library system reconsidered, and merger plans were put on hold. Ultimately, the two library systems reached an agreement, and the merger was finalized on January 1, 2008, under the name of Hennepin County Library.

Branches

Minneapolis

Suburban Hennepin County

City locations

Bookmobile

The Hennepin County Free Library started operating a

(then called a book wagon) in 1922.

Library directors

* Gratia Countryman, 1922–1925 * Ethel Berry, 1925–1947 * Helen Young, 1947–1969 * Robert H. Rohlf, 1969–1994 * Charles M. Brown, 1994–2004 * Amy Ryan, 2005–2008 * Lois Langer Thompson, 2009–2018 * Janet Mills (interim), 2018-2020 * Chad Helton, August 24, 2020 - February 25, 2022 * Dan Rogan (Interim), February 25, 2022 - OngoingFurst, R. (2022, February 25). Hennepin County Library Director Chad Helton resigns. ''StarTribune''
https://www.startribune.com/hennepin-county-library-director-chad-helton-resigns/600150680/
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References

External links

Hennepin County Library

Hennepin County Library merger page
(Archive)
History of the Hennepin County Library

RECOLLECTIONS: History of the Hennepin County Library Bookmobile 1920s and 1930s
How Bookmobile service started in 1922 and developed over the years, and how it established the foundation for all Hennepin County Library service.
RECOLLECTIONS: History of the Hennepin County Library Bookmobile 1940s
How Bookmobile service continued its growth in rural Hennepin County during the war and post-war years. {{authority control County library systems in Minnesota Education in Hennepin County, Minnesota 1885 establishments in Minnesota