Brown: High costs? Budget cuts? Even more reason to protect public libraries.
If they’re allowed to fail, don’t expect the private sector to step up.
By Aaron Brown, The Minnesota Star Tribune, January 5, 2026 at 3:00AM
Sun Ray Library in St. Paul. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Libraries touched every stage of my life.
In first grade, I repeatedly checked out a Godzilla book from the Forbes Elementary library. Later, my mom took me to a paper airplane contest at one of my favorite places, the Hibbing Public Library. As a teenager, I drove my sister to dance class every Monday after school, spending the evening doing homework at the Virginia Public Library.
As a remote-working parent, I was bailed out many times by the Grand Rapids Area Public Library, which allowed me to work while our three little boys played and read books. In more recent years, several libraries supported my research as I wrote a Minnesota history book.
So for me and legions of library patrons from all walks of life, what’s happening these days feels personal. Economic uncertainty and political neglect are quietly smothering public libraries across Minnesota.
“Communities are just having to face really tough decisions,” said Sarah Hawkins, legislative director for the Minnesota Library Association and assistant director of the Anoka County Library. “When you’re facing trickle-down budget cuts it’s easier to cut the library because it [seems] a little bit more discretionary.”
This is shortsighted. When we reduce library access, we aggravate our most pressing challenges: increased social isolation, inaccurate information, barriers to new technology and a higher cost of living. Libraries address all these problems efficiently, despite far too little political support.
In Minnesota, about 70% of public library funding comes from city and county governments, said Hawkins. The remaining 30% comes from state funding. Federal grant funding filters into both state and local sources. State funding has been stagnant and most federal grants have dried up under the current administration.
This pressures our cash-strapped local governments.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: Budget cuts are smothering Minnesota’s public libraries
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