Hennepin County Library Administrative Subject Files

Hennepin County Library (HCL) was established in 1922 to provide services to suburban and rural areas of the county outside the City of Minneapolis. Founded by Minneapolis Public Library Director Gratia Countryman, the library began as a bookmobile delivering books to homes, schools, and community centers. The library initially housed its collection at the Minneapolis Public Library (MPL), though local residents in places such as Champlin, Wayzata, and Osseo soon arranged for library space in their communities, with staff and books funded by Hennepin County.

Expansion continued, with setbacks, throughout the Depression era and World War II, and by 1952 had grown to 24 libraries. Circulation surpassed one million for the first time by the end of the decade, demonstrating increasing demand and leading to the construction of dozens of new community and reference libraries in the 1960s and 1970s.

Shortly after the failure of a merger proposal between HCL and MPL in 1971, HCL administrative staff moved from offices at the downtown Minneapolis Public Library into the newly constructed office space adjoining Southdale Library. Around the same time, the creation of the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA) regional library system, provided reciprocal borrowing and return not only between HCL and MPL but throughout the nine library systems in the Twin Cities area.

Hennepin County Library continued to add new libraries in the 1980s, again moving its administrative offices in 1982 to Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka. It also focused attention on modernization with automated circulation systems and an expanded range of formats such as paperbacks, films, and a variety of audio formats. Circulation at both the Southdale and Brookdale libraries surpassed one million in the 1980s and topped 10 million systemwide in 1996.

In the mid-2000s, budget cuts to the Minneapolis Public Library resulted in the indefinite closure of three libraries and renewed interest in a merger with HCL, a proposal which had been intermittently discussed for decades. Finally, in May 2007, following the recommendation of a committee formed by the Minneapolis Public Library Board, the City of Minneapolis, the Hennepin County Library Board, and Hennepin County, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law legislation consolidating the two systems. The merger officially took effect on January 1, 2008, creating the 41-library system that today serves all of Hennepin County.