Pierre Bottineau Library — Attraction in Minneapolis

I used to enjoy the Hennepin County Libraries. They offer technology services in the form of printing services to all patrons $5 per week. Black and white copy services, on the other hand, have always been free of charge. Until last month, that is. And this loss in services was not recuperated in an increased allowance of printing services. Is it too difficult to increase printing allowance from $5 to $10? No, it is not.

But they complain about how expensive it is for the library to offer copy services free of charge. But was there any appeal to the Library Services and Technology Act to increase the funding they provide for precisely these services? The LSTA reads, "Around the country, librarians use LSTA funding to address and ever-growing demand for important services to the community. LSTA supports such work as workforce development, résumé building, interview preparation, and accessing and applying for jobs on-line; assisting patrons to complete education or training certification; supporting family literacy classes; helping students with homework, mentoring programs, and summer reading programs; delivering access to government information; providing a community forum for enhanced civic engagement; and so much more."

It continues, "Every fiscal year, Congress provides funding for LSTA in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Federal resources help target library services to people of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, to individuals with disabilities, and to people with limited literacy skills."

And so I'm not sure why in June, 2025 they decided to take away such a service that is paid for by these funds. Where is all the saved money going? Not knowing of the change, I used my $5 printing to design flyers for a workforce development event and print out speeches in color, which can only be printed at five times the cost of grayscale. When I went to make copies of the black and white designs I had made, I was out of "credit". Thankfully, I went to a bank and asked to use their copy machine, to which they obliged.

What an unnecessary step: to have to go to the bank for copy services now that libraries won't provide it. Banks are not the place I want to be, but one thing is for sure: a bank will never be able to say they don't have money for such an inexpensive task as making...

Striking library. Really cool architecture, both exterior and interior. From the outside you can see a tall smokestack and a weathervane on the roof, plus an interesting, abstract metal sculpture, while the inside has lots of natural light and cool industrial ceilings and brick that give it a very cozy, romanticized-version-of-a-library-y feel. The facility itself is a combination of two historic buildings, and one of them has been converted into a really awesome children's wing—it's bright, colorful, and has a whole host of playthings and activities. The fact that it is so tucked away from the rest of the library means that the acoustics are a lot better overall, too. There is info on a lot of events hosted by the library, and it also offers assistive technology, bike locks, and a cold weather clothes donation box. Because of its location right in NE Minneapolis, it's very transit accessible and surrounded by a lot of fun places. There's also a whole section dedicated to learning about hyper-local history, including the surrounding historically Russian immigrant area, and it has a large Russian language section to boot. The distinct ceiling beam pattern was replicated in miniature on the genre signage and ornamental bits on the end of bookshelves, which was a small but incredibly charming detail....

Love it here just wondering if they never seen a black family go to the library? We never get greeted when entering the library ( the other races do ) also we get weird stares and not from the guest the actual staff themselves! Just a heads up Black People read books and do puzzles as well (: infact for a little fact BLACK WOMEN are the most educated in the United States