Hennepin County, Minneapolis library catalogs to merge
The Hennepin County and Minneapolis library catalogs will be consolidated later this summer into a single system containing more than five million books, CDs, DVDs, and other items.
Starting Aug. 27, the system will merge its suburban libraries' catalog of 300,000 unique titles and 2 million items, with its Minneapolis libraries' catalog of 1.3 million unique titles and 3 million items.
Once it's combined, the new catalog will become the 12th largest public library collection in the country, according to Hennepin County library officials.
The Minneapolis and Hennepin County libraries merged in January 2008. Since then, library users have had to search two different catalogs to access the entire Hennepin County Library collection.
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Customers who are registered in both the suburban and Minneapolis systems' catalogs will have their accounts combined in the consolidated catalog. They will be able to access the new, consolidated catalog with their current library card, whether it's a Minneapolis or suburban card.
No libraries will be closed during the transition from two catalogs into one, and customers will continue to be able to check out items, place requests, and pay fines during the transition, according to library officials.
Officials did caution that there may be disruptions in access to the catalog at times, as hardware and software are tested and data is moved from one catalog to the other.
For more information on the consolidation, visit the Hennepin County Library's Web site.