True stories from Minnesota libraries

Across Minnesota, from north to south and from east to west, Minitex works together with libraries to make life better for all Minnesotans. Below, you will find stories that library staff have shared with us that illustrate just some of the groups and endeavors we support together. 

Book Clubs

MNLINK allows our patrons to access materials on specialized subjects and interest areas that may not be available in our system. For example, one of our book clubs recently read a nonfiction book that was not held by any of the libraries in our own system. Through MNLINK we were able to get copies for everyone to read. The variety of materials available on MNLINK is excellent and it is very user friendly to use. We are so grateful for this wonderful service, and our patrons make use of it very frequently (multiple items most days).

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

Community Colleges & Tech Schools

Our small library users would have greatly reduced access to services and resources (especially online databases) without Minitex.

– Academic Library, Northeast Minnesota

This story stands true for us and Minitex: That we offer the best for our students, and Minitex goes above and beyond to make sure we can do that.

– Academic Library, Northwest Minnesota

It's not a new story, but state funding through Minitex for databases and digital resources is a game changer for expanding the content we are able to provide to our students.

– Academic Library, Northwest Minnesota

Minitex services are perfect for the needs of my two-year college library. Without them, our college would have difficulty maintaining quality resources for our patrons.

– Academic Library, Southwest Minnesota

Community Wellbeing

I've had so many happy patrons telling me the library services kept them sane during the pandemic, thanking us repeatedly for the access we have to the ILL shared materials and resources.

– Public Library, Seven-County Metropolitan Area

Cost Savings: College Students

I had a college student come in who wanted a specific book for a course, but who couldn't afford the price at the college bookstore.  Together we found a copy through MNLINK and she was able to use that copy for the 3 weeks she needed it for the course. 

– Public Library, Northwest Minnesota

Cost Savings: Delivery

Without the courier service, our options would be very limited, and expensive.

– Academic Library, Southeast Minnesota

Cost Savings: K-12 School Ebook Collections

We had been subscribing to a very expensive ebook platform. After putting the Ebooks Minnesota collection into our district MackinVIA account, we were able to move away from our really expensive subscription. Ebooks Minnesota allowed us to still provide great ebook options for students and put our savings toward other crucial resources.

– K-12 School, Seven-County Metro Area

Cost Savings: Public Library Collections

Some of our patrons have very unique tastes, and Minitex has enabled me to access materials for them that would strain my budget for a single use or two.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

MNLINK is a huge benefit to our patrons. As a low income community, there have been numerous times when an item has been needed/wanted and not found within our library system.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

Cost Savings: Research Databases

Minitex's Cooperative Purchasing service for databases makes resources available that we otherwise could not afford.

– Academic Library, Southwest Minnesota

Entrepreneurship

Minitex ELM resources provide my health sciences students with opportunities to find out about how to open a private business. Without those free resources, we would have very limited access to business resources.

– Academic Library, Seven-County Metropolitan Area

Healthcare

We obtain medical journal articles all the time that assist health providers in caring for patients.

– Special Library, Seven-County Metropolitan Area

A patron requested research level health information and I was able to get it for her. It was scanned and sent to me as a file that I could print out for my patron to read at her pace.

– Public Library, Central Minnesota

We were able to get a journal article for a local physical therapist to help her assist a client of hers that she wasn't able to get in another way.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

Homeschoolers

A few of the families that homeschool children have become avid users of MNLINK. They are able to access a much larger collection of items than our local system can support.

– Public Library, Northwest Minnesota

We have a homeschooling family that heavily relies on interlibrary loan items to fuel the interests of their children. One of the teen boys is very interested in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes. We have found so many of his requests available on MNLINK. Happy learners are thankful for interlibrary loan.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

Interlibrary Loan

Once upon a time, there was a patron who had highly unrealistic expectations. They could not immediately find the free item they were looking for on the library shelf, but a heroic frontline library staff person swooped in to save the day: "We don't have that item here, but don't worry! There's something called interlibrary loan, serviced by Minitex, that arranges for the free delivery of any library item currently available, anywhere within their service area! Here, I'll show you how it's done." ***Staff person walks patron to computer, places ILL request, patron leaves library glowing with gratitude*** Five to seven days later, the patron returns: "I received an automated email response. It appears my ILL item has arrived!" Patron retrieves item from hold shelf and utilizes self-check out machine, all without staff hand-holding. "Thank you, front line library staff! Thank you, Minitex! Thank you for making my dreams come true!" Exactly three weeks later, said ILL item is safely returned to the drop box without damage. THE END.

– Public Library, Central Minnesota

Almost daily we use the interlibrary loan service to get books that are not available in our system.  Patrons repeatedly are amazed and grateful we can get the books they are looking for even if they are more obscure.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

From a patron: "I'd be lost without ILL Services. You folks and the ILL Service are worth your weight in gold. I recommend ILL to everyone who'll listen to me!"

– Public Library, Northwest Minnesota

I can't tell you the number of times I've handed a patron an Inter Library Loan and had their face light up and had them say something like "I can't believe you were able to get this for me!"

– Public Library, Southeast Minnesota

Legally Blind Minnesotans

We have a large population of legally blind individuals who very much appreciate getting large print materials through Minitex. We also were able to borrow Braille books for one particular patron. For many of these individuals, books are the main avenue of interaction and fulfillment. They send notes of appreciation regularly.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

Lifelong Learning

I can't imagine how much poorer our resources and services would be without the support of Minitex. We are also very grateful for the range of resources to which we can point our Minnesota alumni as they move beyond currently enrolled or employed status. Our region's residents are very well served in their lifelong learning endeavors through the wonderful resources and services that Minitex provides. 

– Academic Library, Seven-County Metropolitan Area

New Minnesotans

Through interlibrary loan, I was able to provide a book in Russian to a new immigrant in my school.

– K-12 School, Southwest Minnesota

Online Schools

Our district now has an online schooling option, and it is nice to be able to have a large library of ebooks for those students to access.

– Public Library, Southeast Minnesota

Parochial Schools

We are a small Catholic High School with a shrinking budget. Having quality print resources available for research for interlibrary loan is AMAZING!

– K-12 School, Seven-County Metro Area

Rural Communities

Having access to library materials in libraries across the state is a great service, but I'm afraid that many of us take it for granted.  For our patrons to know that we can request materials from libraries in other parts of our state, and have those materials arrive in our library within a few weeks is just an awesome service and a great use of our tax-payers' dollars!

– Public Library, Northwest Minnesota

Minitex offers the opportunity for a small local library to open up a wealth of resources to our patrons. Patrons especially appreciate interlibrary loan and are excited to be able to borrow some fairly obscure materials.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota

We have a retired couple that are regular patrons who like to read current events, politics, and biographies. Since we are a small library, we can't cover these topics as well as a larger metropolitan area could. So being able to order books through MNLINK is wonderful for these patrons.

– Public Library, Southwest Minnesota

Senior Citizens

A senior patron who is limited by disability doesn't have streaming or cable and she relies on the library for DVDs. We are able to get her a vast range of TV and movies on DVD through MNLINK's ILL, much more than we can offer locally. She loves and appreciates it every week.

– Public Library, Central Minnesota

Student Help

24/7 chat (AskMN) is very helpful for our patrons. Students especially use library resources at all different times of day, and being able to chat at times our library workers couldn't staff chat ourselves is great for them.

– Academic Library, Northeast Minnesota

Student Research

Access to fantastic resources for all staff and students. We use the databases of articles and historical data for research projects. We work hard to steer our students to factual, well-written and researched information. 

– K-12 School, Seven-County Metro Area

We regularly use the ELM databases in our school. Our district no longer purchases databases (hasn't for at least 3-4 years now), so we rely heavily on ELM. Without that resource, our students would have access to ZERO quality databases! Every research project we do in our school features at least one ELM database as a core resource for students.

– K-12 School, Seven-County Metro Area

My students LOVE eLibrary Minnesota and randomly ask if they could have class time to explore for more information. They also go back to their classroom and show their teachers how to use it.

– K-12 School, Southwest Minnesota

Young Readers

I've helped a number of kids and teens find books on MNLINK that we don't have in the Duluth libraries. They've always been so grateful to find their favorites and one library can't possibly have it all, so the network is much appreciated.

– Public Library, Northeast Minnesota