The Heart of Our Library
At the heart of our library is the collection…filled with millions of books…always free and available to all. Each and every day, these shared resources are shaping and uplifting the lives of people across our community, connecting one another through the love of books and a shared imagination. With one of the largest public library collections in the country, Hennepin County Library has become a main source of information, entertainment, and support for so many as they build full and successful lives.
“There is such power in finding the first book where you see yourself.” —Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Senior Librarian
Friends Help to Buy More Books
Financial support from Friends helps expand the children’s collection, replace copies of popular, timeworn titles, and add additional copies of the most in-demand new books such as Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. In 2023, Hennepin County Library patrons checked out more than 10.7 million books across the system. Funding from Friends helps ensure that the library’s collection can keep up with demand from our community of voracious readers and continue to be the best resource for the transformative power of books.
How Your Support Benefits Readers of All Ages
Shorter waiting time
Increased circulation
Broader diversity of titles
More Books, More Delight
To ensure our library's collection continues to entertain, inform, and delight patrons across the county, Friends of HCL has made a financial commitment of more than $310,000 in 2024. These funds will be used to purchase new books as well as to preserve the current collection to keep older books in circulation. Your support also helps preserve our history and maintain or restore over 10,000 items – books, maps, photos, personal artifacts, and more – per year, ensuring the longevity, usefulness, and accessibility of our collection! With your gift, our library’s treasures will only increase and will continue to be preserved and made accessible for future generations to come.
Our library's nationally recognized collection goes way beyond books!
E-books
Music and audiobooks
Genealogy and local history
Newspapers and magazines
Large print books
Movies
"Libraries are a cornerstone of democracy—where information is free and equally available to everyone..." —Carla Hayden
The Great Care of a Collection
The care of Hennepin County Library’s collection is threefold: purchasing new books, preserving the current collection, and digitizing material for future use. To the library, the word preserve does not mean to protect by shielding materials from patrons but rather the opposite: to increase access to materials by ensuring their longevity, keeping books circulating from this generation to the next. Digitizing material fulfills the same purpose. By building a robust digital collection, the library is creating a vital bank of resources and knowledge that can withstand the test of time. Your support helps preserve our history and maintain or restore more than 10,000 items – books, maps, photos, personal artifacts, and more – per year, ensuring the longevity, usefulness, and accessibility of our collection!
To help ensure our library's collection continues to entertain, inform, and delight patrons throughout the county, Friends of HCL has made a commitment of more than $310,000 to support the collection in 2024. With your help, our library’s collection will remain a treasured resources for years and decades to come.
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