A small sign sprouted from the lawn outside the Southeast library, 1222 SE 4th St. “Closed libraries make MPLS stupid,” read the white letters printed over a stop-light design.

The message greeted library visitors and passersby on Dec. 29, the last day of operation – at least the for foreseeable future – for the Southeast library.

Southeast was one of three Minneapolis Public libraries closed in December as a result of a shortfall in the Minneapolis Public Library’s (MPL) operating budget. Roosevelt library also closed Dec. 29; the Webber Park location in North Minneapolis was shuttered the day before.

Library patrons and supporters joined staff and public officials for an informal send-off for the Southeast branch, which opened in the Ralph Rapson-designed savings and loan building nearly 40 years ago.

In some ways, it was like any other day at the library, with a handful of people browsing the shelves or sitting at the computers and library staff busy at the shelves and reference desk.

Como resident Kathy Dahl and her son Joey calmly collected books to check out, but both were well aware that this was the library’s last day.

“We’ve been coming here since my 15-year-old daughter was little,” Dahl said. “We’ve been to the downtown [Central] library, and we’ll adapt, I guess, but it’s nice to have this library in the neighborhood.”

Joey, who is seven-and-a-half, said he’d miss the library, too. “This is the first place I got the Junie B. Jones books,” he said, showing off his most recent find from the series. “I’ve read almost all of them.”

William Lee, who lives in Prospect Park, was there with his son Andrew.

“He was three weeks old the first time he came here,” said the elder Williams of his now-20-year-old son, a student at the University of Minnesota who said he grew up with the Southeast library. “It’s a sad moment,” said Andrew. “It shouldn’t be happening.”

“The library is being shuttered, not closed,” said Kathleen Reilly, who organized the informal event. Reilly has chaired the Save the Southeast Library Committee since 2003, when talk of closing the library first began.

Reilly said it’s been a difficult time since the Dec. 20 decision to shutter the library, but she said it does not feel like a defeat. Reilly recollected more than three years of work to save the library. She credited supporters, such as the task force that has moved forward with renovation preparations; the 1,000 people who signed a petition in 2003; supporters of the other recently closed libraries and City Councilmember Diane Hofstede (Ward 3), whom Reilly said has been a “strong voice for all libraries.”

Hofstede and fellow councilmember Elizabeth Glidden (Ward 8) attended the event and discussed the future of the library and library system with concerned citizens. Hofstede, a member of the library board for 20 years before her election to the council, gave a warm embrace to Eric Heideman, head librarian for more than five of his eight years at Southeast library.

Heideman will work as a “rover,” shuffling between other MPL locations until the library’s fate is decided. Until it does reopen – or is closed for good – the computers will be removed and the collection stored on the shelves, unavailable to the public.

“It makes me sad, of course,” said Heideman. “It’s also a time of reflection. It’s been a privilege to serve the community. The community has been very supportive.”

Heideman hopes to return to a reopened Southeast branch, but there is no telling if and when that will happen. Asked what needs to be done to reopen the library, Hofstede said the Library Board must “send a strong message” and “take aggressive action to tell the Mayor and City Council that it is unconscionable to have libraries closed.”

In a separate interview, Marcy-Holmes resident Carol Roos said residents must lobby the city council, the mayor and the state legislature for increased LGA funding. “I expect to see more [LGA] with the budget surplus,” she said. Roos has contacted city officials and state legislators to call for a return to “full-time library hours, six days a week,” she said, and she hopes to see an increase in state aid across Minnesota, “instead of rebates,” she said.

Hofstede said that an increase in aid from the state would strongly benefit the libraries, and she hopes the mayor and city council – through which the state funding would be directed – would support the funding of libraries.

Still, even with the best future scenario, the Southeast library is likely to remain shuttered for months, at the very least.

Visiting the library that day with his family, Prospect Park resident Ebenezer Nikoi was obviously angry to learn of the closing. “Are we less human than other people?” he said aloud, spreading his arms in exasperation. Nokoi drove to the branch with his wife Rita and two young sons, three-year-old Ebbie and infant Ezekiel. The family visits the library weekly and read books, checked out from the Southeast branch, to Ezekiel during Rita’s recent pregnancy.

“I guess others are more worthy of a library,” said Nokoi. “Hopefully that is not the case.”

last revised: July 25, 2007

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