Roosevelt Community Library is one of 41 branch libraries in the Hennepin County Library System

Hennepin County Library

Hennepin County Library is a library system serving the entire population of Hennepin County, Minnesota, USA. The Minneapolis Public Library, a separate system for Minneapolis, existed from its founding by T. B. Walker in 1885 until January 2008...

, originally part of the Minneapolis Public Library System as it is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Early years

The Roosevelt Community Library was originally built inside and named for Roosevelt High School

Roosevelt High School (Minneapolis)

Roosevelt High School is a public school located in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is part of the Minneapolis Public Schools. The school is named after US President Theodore Roosevelt...

 (named after Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

) in Minneapolis’s Standish neighborhood in 1922. In this way, it not only served the high school students, but also the adults of the neighborhood. In the 1920s, Standish experienced a 50% population boom consisting mainly of Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 Immigrants, so Roosevelt was available to them for language-learning and job-finding resources. However, Roosevelt soon outgrew the high school as the neighborhood flourished, so in 1926 the Minneapolis Public Library purchased a package of land directly west of Roosevelt High School for $28,000. They hired Klarquist, S.M. and Son to design the new library building. The architectural firm did so, designing a brick and wood building in the Tudor Revival style. The building was modeled after the original East Lake Community Library

East Lake Community Library

The East Lake Community Library is one of 15 branch libraries formerly in the Minneapolis Public Library System and now one of 41 branch libraries in the Hennepin County Library System in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States...

, also a Minneapolis library, although Roosevelt had a small amount of front yard space where East Lake did not. On 18 February 1927 Roosevelt opened to the community at 4026 28th Avenue South.

Steady times

Roosevelt was open five or six days a week for most of the 20th century. Depending on library funding, it was sometimes open on Saturday and other times closed then. Fluctuations in neighborhood population and the changing demographics of the community also contributed to library usage and open hours. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, librarians at Roosevelt held special story times for the children of the area, many of whom had mothers in the workforce and fathers fighting in the European

European Theatre of World War II

The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...

 or Pacific Theater

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II

The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....

. This helped the children take their minds off the war, and also helped curb rising juvenile delinquency

Juvenile delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...

 rates in the Standish neighborhood.
Throughout the rest of the 20th century, Roosevelt’s hours and users remained steady. However, as a new century dawned, Roosevelt was obviously showing its age.

Outlook 2010 options

Roosevelt was small by 1999, as many of the other Minneapolis Public Libraries were 10000 sq ft (929 m²). or greater. It also lacked a public meeting room and failed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Voters chose to support the 2000 referendum which gave money to libraries for capital improvements. In a plan drafted July, 1999 called Outlook 2010, there are four options for Roosevelt.

Option A

Option A had Roosevelt combining with the nearby Nokomis Community Library

Nokomis Community Library

Nokomis Community Library is one of 41 branch libraries in the Hennepin County Library System. Formerly, it was part of the Minneapolis Public Library System as it is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.-History:...

 at an undecided location. The new building would be 25000 sq ft (2,322.6 m²). and both Roosevelt and Nokomis would close. This plan seems unlikely now, as Nokomis is scheduled for capital improvements (including an expansion) of its own.

Option B

Option B included Roosevelt moving to a larger building by itself while keeping Nokomis at its current location or moving it separately. In this plan, the new building would be 10000 sq ft (929 m²).

Option C

Option C called for major capital improvements to the original Roosevelt building, such as the addition of ramps to make it wheelchair

Wheelchair

A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

 accessible and the replacement of the furnace and water heater.

Option D

Option D proposed expanding Roosevelt by 5000 sq ft (464.5 m²). along with complying it to the Americans with Disabilities Act and expanding the library’s collection greatly.
To date, none of the Outlook 2010 plans have been instigated. However, on 26 May, 2000 Roosevelt was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 which meaning it could not be destroyed or greatly altered using federal aid without a public hearing.

Outlook 2010 results

In the decade since these options were suggested, nothing has been done to the library. It continues to operate a few days a week, in the same small, historic building, not ADA-accessible, with obsolete heating & plumbing.

Closure and reopening

Due to funding cuts in the early 2000s, Roosevelt closed on all but three days per week. This continued until 2006 when funding cuts became even more drastic. On 29 December, 2006 Roosevelt and two other Minneapolis libraries closed amid outcry from patrons and neighbors. During 2007, Minneapolis drew nearer to the merger with Hennepin, who promised to reopen Roosevelt when and if the merger was approved. It was, and on 3 January 2008 Roosevelt was partially reopened (only three days per week), now as part of the Hennepin County Library System.