End of story for Minneapolis Library Board

First, Anita Duckor fought back her tears Wednesday night. Then she adjourned 122 years of history for a most unusual institution.

It was the last meeting for the Minneapolis Public Library Board of Trustees, assuming that the City Council ratifies a merger with Hennepin County on Friday as expected.

It was a meeting when tears flowed often amid the mundane business of running a library system that is going out of business.

With six of eight members elected by the public, the Library Board is a rarity in Minnesota, and even nationally.

"I believe Minneapolis is the only [elected] one in the state of Minnesota," said Chris Olson, executive director of the seven-county Metropolitan Library Service Agency.

Minneapolis initially will have three seats on the 11-member county library board, which is filled by appointment. The library board sets some operating policies, but the County Board controls financial and building issues.

Some in Minneapolis fear a loss of control. "You are giving our libraries in our neighborhoods in our city to Hennepin County," resident Steve Petermeier told City Council and Library Board members at an October public hearing.

Until now, if Minneapolis residents were dissatisfied with libraries, they could vote to replace six of eight members, he said. (The mayor and City Council each appointed one member.) 'The best possible outcome'

City and county officials who voted for the merger describe it as a matter of financial necessity, with budget deficits looming ahead and three smaller city branch libraries closed for lack of money. Southeast, Webber Park and Roosevelt libraries will reopen Jan. 3 after the merger.

It's unclear how the library board came to be an elected body, along with the Park and Recreation Board and two members of the city's fiscal Board of Estimate and Taxation.

City Council Member Diane Hofstede, who once served on the Library Board, said elections allowed women and others without connections to win a library seat and develop their leadership.

Nellie Stone Johnson became the city's first black elected official when she was elected to the Library Board in 1945. Hussein Samatar, appointed by Mayor R.T. Rybak in 2005, became the first Somali to sit on a city governing board. The last endorsed Republican to serve in a city elected office, Mary Doty, was a library board member. A storied history, sad ending

Established in 1882, the original library board opened the city's first public library in 1889 at 10th Street and Hennepin Avenue. Two successor libraries downtown opened on the Nicollet Mall in 1961 and 2006. Fourteen branches were built.

The city library system also offered service to Hennepin County residents outside Minneapolis under the leadership of noted librarian Gratia Countryman. The library board ran both systems until 1965. There were merger talks but the systems went their separate ways, and accumulating financial pressures crippled the ability of Minneapolis to keep its libraries open.

"In a way, it's the stepchild now readopting the parent," said Bruce Benidt, who wrote a centennial history of Minneapolis libraries.

Laurie Savran, the dean of the city library board, opposed a merger until she realized shortly before a key board vote that budget deficits would only worsen. "It was a sinking ship. It was an all-nighter for me," she said of her decision. "I shed tears."

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438