Adult browsing library books smiling

Make your year-end tax-deductible gift to the library you love by December 31!

A man smiles holding his new library card at the Opportunity Center shelter.

Kindness Can Be Such an Antidote

Imagine the challenges you might face each day without a place to call home. Barriers to employment, hygiene, safety, nutrition, and more.

Now, imagine the comfort of getting lost in a story…gaining skills from an excellent how-to… healing with a self-help workbook….

Read how your library is reaching out to neighbors experiencing homelessness.

Read the full story
Rosa poses on her bike outside Sumner Library

Tour de Library: A Two-Wheeled Adventure

The "Tour De Library” is a passion project for Rosa Marroquin. Since June, she and her husband have kicked off each weekend by mapping a route to a handful of libraries and then hopping on their bikes – eager to enjoy a day of library visits filled with surprise and delight. 

Read the full story
Explore Your Library
Community Based Hiring mentors and new hires stand together wearing their Hennepin County Library lanyards.

Building Libraries That Reflect Neighborhoods

“I would like to see our workforce look more like our residents. People should be able to come in and feel like they see themselves." Learn how Community Based Hiring Pathways creates a more inclusive workforce at Hennepin County Library.

Read the full story
Launching careers
Gale Cannon, Development associate at Friends, is captured candidly in a smile as she speaks to a FHCL donor on the phone.

Meet Gale

You may have heard her voice leaving a message to say thank you or seen her handwriting on a birthday card. Now, see the face and read the story of this kindhearted human being and integral part of the Friends team.

Meet Gale
Your library friend
open staircase at Minneapolis Central Library

Explore the wonders of Minneapolis Central Library!

With more than one million books and visits per year, Minneapolis Central Library sparkles with ideas, activities, and unique resources. This landmark, the heart of the library system, is home to many stories, including yours. Discover the features of this stunning location, designed to help you write life's next chapter.

Step inside
Feed your curiosity
Nancy with her latest library books. Behind her is a photograph of her three smiling sons.

A Cup of Tea with Nancy, Who Reads a Book Every Day

From childhood to age 93, and all around the country, voracious reader Nancy has leaned on books for companionship, adventure, and community building. Now finding herself often at home, she relies on At Home Service to fuel her lofty reading habits (one book per day!) and transport herself to different worlds. Meet the person with a lifetime of literary memories to share!

Meet Nancy!
Irfan wearing Hennepin County Library batch and smiling

Franklin Library Helped Irfan Find New Community

Irfan is an exceptional young person who established a free tutoring center in his village in Afghanistan at age 14. However, when Afghanistan was evacuated in August 2021, he was forced to abandon the work he felt called to do. Transitioning to life in Minnesota, Irfan faced alienation and uncertainty. Read the full story to learn how his encounter with the library supported building community and the next chapter of his education. 

Read Irfan's Story

Upcoming Events that Support the Library

Pen Pals

Geraldine Brooks

Mar 14-15
Ticketed Event - In-person + Virtual
Pen Pals

Abraham Verghese

May 6-7
Ticketed Event - In-person + Virtual
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Detail of eleven 22 x 4.5 inch panels illustrated with printed with trees and insect fairies

Discover the Treasures of Special Collections

Show me the Book Arts
torrin greathouse portrait featured on Off the Shelf brand background

The secret reading lives of local authors revealed!

In the newest Off the Shelf interview, poet torrin greathouse talks about pushing poetic forms, making space for the stories of trans women, and what book saved their life. Read their full interview and then explore the reading lives of the rest of our Off the Shelf authors!

Read the interview
Read the interviews!
hand picking book of the shelf

Off the Shelf

The secret reading lives of local authors revealed

Read the interviews with local authors
Mohammed Lawal portrait

Get to know Mohammed Lawal

Learn what role does the library play in the life of Mohammed Lawal, the CEO & Principal Architect of Lawal Scott Erickson Architects, Inc. and FHCL board member. 
 

Read the interview
Meet library friends