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Benton County commissioners back continued funding for Minitex library services
Summary
After a presentation from Great River Regional Library staff, the Benton County Board voted unanimously to support a resolution urging continued state and federal funding for Minitex, the statewide interlibrary loan and shared electronic resources program; county impact was described as modest but service risks were emphasized.
Benton County commissioners voted to support a resolution urging continued funding for Minitex, the statewide cooperative that coordinates interlibrary loan and shared electronic resources.
Great River Regional Library Associate Director of Collection Development Jamie Trenum and Communications and Development Coordinator Brianne Fruth told the board that the library system depends on Minitex to deliver materials between institutions and to provide access to subscription databases used by county residents. Trenum said federal funding administered through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is funneled through the Minnesota Department of Education to Minitex, which in turn funds services that are passed on to regional libraries.
Trenum and Fruth told the board that the immediate direct fiscal impact to Benton County would be small — roughly $7,000 to offset interlibrary loan costs to local colleges — but that the service impact could be larger. Fruth said the eLibrary of Minnesota and statewide database subscriptions reduce local purchase costs and expand access to authoritative resources, and that more than half of the roughly 50 databases available to Benton County residents are state-funded. They said Minitex staff layoffs tied to federal funding uncertainty could reduce those shared services.
Several commissioners expressed support for the resolution while also noting that if the state ultimately eliminates broad funding, counties would face difficult choices about backfilling lost services. Commissioners and library staff agreed that, under current circumstances, Great River was not requesting additional county funding at this time; Trenum said any local gap would first be considered by the Great River Board of Trustees before coming back to counties.
The board moved, seconded and approved the resolution to support continued funding for Minitex (vote recorded as "Aye; carried").
