The Minneapolis Public Library, North Branch building is a former

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, United States. It was designed in 1893 by architect Frederick Corser. When it was opened, it was claimed to be the nation's first branch library to have open shelves so patrons could browse for books on their own, without asking librarians to retrieve them. The library set a precedent for future library development in the

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

system. The building has a slender tower, a stepped front gable, and an arched entrance shaped like a basket handle, roughly fitting into the Chateauesque style. It includes

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

ornamentation and sculptured stonework. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1977, and is the

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 stat ...

' oldest surviving public library building. It was replaced in 1971 by the North Regional Community Library at 1315 Lowry Avenue North, and officially closed in 1977. The Minneapolis Library Board voted to give the building and land to the Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) via a quit claim deed on December 15, 1977. As of October 2014, the library building is being renovated by EMERGE Community Development. This renovation has stayed consistent with requirements to keep both the interior and exterior of the building on the historic register. The building will reopen in December 2014 as the EMERGE Career and Technology Center. Starting in January 2015 it will house an open access computer lab for North Minneapolis residents, a computer-based classroom environment for teaching computer classes, a lab space for Hennepin Technical College manufacturing students, community and event space, EMERGE's administrative staff, EMERGE's youth program, EMERGE's training program and EMERGE's financial education classes. The EMERGE Career and Technology Center (ECTC) will bring training for in-demand careers to North Minneapolis.

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* {{Registered Historic Places Former library buildings in the United States Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Library buildings completed in 1893 Minneapolis Public Library National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis