Hennepin County Library

Last updated
Hennepin County Library
Minneapolis Central Library and night skyline.jpg
Location Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States
Established1885
Branches41 (list)
Other information
Website www.hclib.org
The Minneapolis Central Library in downtown Minneapolis, designed by Cesar Pelli, completed in 2006 Minneapolis Central Public Library by Cesar Pelli.jpg
The Minneapolis Central Library in downtown Minneapolis, designed by César Pelli, completed in 2006
The first central Minneapolis Public Library, early 1900s Minneapolis-Public-Library-190n.jpg
The first central Minneapolis Public Library, early 1900s
2011 Hennepin County Library card Librarycard.png
2011 Hennepin County Library card
Ridgedale Library, the location of the Hennepin County Library headquarters Ridgedale Library.jpg
Ridgedale Library, the location of the Hennepin County Library headquarters

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 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. [1] The library system has an eleven-member advisory Library Board appointed by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners. [2] It is a member of the Metropolitan Library Service Agency, a consortium of eight Twin Cities library systems.

Contents

History

Minneapolis Public Library 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. [3]

Hennepin County Library started in 1922 as a horse-drawn "bookmobile" 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. [4] Ultimately, the two library systems reached an agreement, and the merger was finalized on January 1, 2008, under the name of Hennepin County Library. [5]

Branches

Minneapolis

Suburban Hennepin County

City locations

Bookmobile

The Hennepin County Free Library started operating a bookmobile (then called a book wagon) in 1922. [4]

Library directors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hennepin County, Minnesota</span> County in Minnesota, United States

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 Minneapolis to the suburbs and outlying cities in the western part of the county. The county's natural areas are covered with extensive woods, hills, and lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minneapolis–Saint Paul</span> Metropolitan area in Minnesota, United States

Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities after the area's two largest cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Minnesotans often refer to the two together simply as "the cities". The area is Minnesota's economic, cultural, and political center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnetonka, Minnesota</span> City in Minnesota, United States

Minnetonka is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Minneapolis. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 53,781.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osseo, Minnesota</span> Town in Minnesota, United States

Osseo is a small city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, it has a population of 2,688.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayzata, Minnesota</span> Small lakeside town in Minnesota, United States

Wayzata is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,434 at the 2020 census. The city is about 12 miles west of Minneapolis and is situated on the northern shore of Lake Minnetonka, the ninth largest lake in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southdale Center</span> Regional mall in Edina, Minnesota, U.S.

Southdale Center is a shopping mall located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It opened in 1956 and is both the first and the oldest fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. Southdale Center has 1,297,608 square feet of leasable retail space, and contains 106 retail tenants. The mall is owned by Simon Property Group and the anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, AMC Theatres, Hennepin Service Center, and Life Time Athletic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Rivers Park District</span> Park district in the Twin Cities

Three Rivers Park District is a special park district serving the suburban areas of the Twin Cities including suburban Hennepin, Carver, Dakota, Scott, and Ramsey counties. Three Rivers's mission is "To promote environmental stewardship through recreation and education in a natural resources-based park system." Three Rivers operates twenty parks and ten regional trails, with at least two more regional trails planned. Nearly seven million people visit Three Rivers facilities each year. It has over 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) of parks and trails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classic Lake Conference</span> Minnesotan state high school conference

The Classic Lake Conference was a conference for high schools in the west metro area of the Twin Cities, Minnesota. The Classic Lake Conference was one of many in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area that divide schools in proximity into different conferences. The mission of the conference was to promote and recognize excellence by providing quality experiences for students in programs of academics, arts, athletics and activities. The Classic Lake Conference conducted its activities under the auspices of and in concert with the Minnesota State High School League.

The Lake Conference a high school athletic conference with seven member high schools in the western and southwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Minnesota State High School League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota's 3rd congressional district</span> U.S. House district for Minnesota

Minnesota's 3rd congressional district encompasses the suburbs of Hennepin and Anoka counties to the west, south, and north of Minneapolis. The district, which is mostly suburban in character, includes a few farming communities on its far western edge and also inner-ring suburban areas on its eastern edge. The district includes the blue collar cities of Brooklyn Park and Coon Rapids to the north-east, middle-income Bloomington to the south, and higher-income Eden Prairie, Edina, Maple Grove, Plymouth, Minnetonka, and Wayzata to the west. Democrat Dean Phillips currently represents the district in the U.S. House of Representatives, after defeating incumbent Republican Erik Paulsen in the 2018 midterm elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunds & Byerlys</span> American supermarket chain

Lund Food Holdings, Inc is an American supermarket operator. Headquartered in Edina, it owns the upscale supermarket chain Lunds & Byerlys. The company opened its first supermarkets in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. In 2015, it changed its name from Lunds to Lunds & Byerlys. It operates 28 stores in Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area of Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridgedale Center</span> Shopping mall in Minnesota, United States

Ridgedale Center, colloquially known as Ridgedale, is an enclosed shopping mall in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a western suburb of the Twin Cities. It is directly located off I-394/US 12 between Ridgedale Drive and Plymouth Road. Ridgedale Center comprises 1,105,337 square feet (100,000 m2) of leaseable retail space, and contains approximately 140 retail tenants. It is currently jointly owned by Brookfield Properties and CBRE Group, and managed by Brookfield. The anchor stores are JCPenney, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Dick's House of Sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Hockey</span>

Minnesota Hockey is the statewide governing body of amateur hockey in Minnesota and an affiliate of USA Hockey. Since 1947, Minnesota Hockey has been providing volunteer services for the development and promotion of all youth hockey in Minnesota. Robert Ridder was the founding president of the MAHA, and affiliated the state group with the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States.

The Dakota Rail Trail runs 28.1 miles (42.6 km) from Wayzata to Lester Prairie, Minnesota. It is on part of the former track bed of the Hutchinson Spur of the Great Northern Railway. The railway line helped bring wheat and raw materials from Central Minnesota to the flour mills, factories and warehouses in Minneapolis from 1885 until 2001. The railway line, from which there are views of the countryside, was also designed to bring tourists to the communities on Lake Minnetonka in the late 1880s.

France Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Edina, and Bloomington, with shorter segments in several other suburbs in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brookdale Library</span> Building in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota

Brookdale Library is a branch of Hennepin County Library serving the community of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United States. The library opened in its current location, 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway, in 1981. As the first structure in Hennepin County to be built in compliance with Minnesota's Sustainable Design Guide, it is one of three Hennepin County structures with a library, county courthouse, licensing and records services office, and social service and community corrections offices. Initially, the library's space was 31,400 square feet (2,920 m2), including three meeting rooms. As the building abuts a swamp and nearby Shingle Creek, native plants were included in the landscaping, using trees, shrubs and plants that thrive in Minnesota's weather and support native animals and insects. A library in Brooklyn Center was part of Hennepin County's long-range library construction program which was published by the 1969 Minnesota State Legislature, authorizing three libraries: Southdale-Hennepin Area Library ; Ridgedale Hennepin Area Library ; and Brookdale Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southdale Library</span> Public library in Edina, Minnesota

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 courts. The library offers materials in English, Chinese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

The 2022 Hennepin County Attorney election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the County attorney of Hennepin County, Minnesota. On September 1, 2021, incumbent county attorney Michael O. Freeman announced that he would retire at the end of his term after 24 years in the role. Former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty defeated former Hennepin County judge Martha Holton Dimick and became the first openly LGBTQ woman elected as Hennepin County Attorney.

References

  1. "About Hennepin County Library". Hennepin County Library. Archived from the original on 2010-02-25. Retrieved March 24, 2010. Hennepin County Library launched in 1922; its headquarters are at Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka, Minn.
  2. "Hennepin County Library Board" . Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  3. Benidt, Bruce Weir (1984). The Library Book: Centennial History of the Minneapolis Public Library. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center. ISBN   9780961371609.
  4. 1 2 "History of Hennepin County Library" (PDF). p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-03. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  5. "Library Merger Updates." Hennepin County Library. Retrieved on October 4, 2010. "[...]allowing the merger to take place Jan. 1, 2008."
  6. Furst, R. (2022, February 25). Hennepin County Library Director Chad Helton resigns. StarTribune. https://www.startribune.com/hennepin-county-library-director-chad-helton-resigns/600150680/
  7. McKinney, M. (2023, August 23). Hennepin County's new library director is eager to expand library's impact — and live in Twin Cities. StarTribune.