Photo by Deb Gau During an annual update to Lyon County commissioners, Plum Creek Library System Director Elizabeth Hoffman speaks about how statewide program like interlibrary loans are important to area library users.

MARSHALL — The director of the Plum Creek regional library system urged Lyon County commissioners Tuesday to voice support for statewide library services.

During part of an annual update to commissioners, PCLS Director Elizabeth Hoffman said the Plum Creek system has heard a lot of concerns from library users over threatened federal cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

“We’ve had patrons, library board members, staff, come to the Plum Creek system and ask about concerns with library funding,” Hoffman said.

Plum Creek doesn’t receive any direct funding from IMLS, she said.

“I’m sure you’re all aware that local public libraries — the Marshall-Lyon County Library, the Tracy Library, the Minneota Library — all of those receive their funding locally. It comes from the cities and the counties that those libraries reside in,” Hoffman said.

However, Minitex — Minnesota’s publicly funded library consortium — does receive IMLS funding to provide statewide services, she said. In 2023, Minitex received $1.69 million for services like a statewide library catalog, interlibrary loan services, and online research tools.

“Someone living here in Marshall can get materials from Duluth within a couple of days,” Hoffman said. “This is a great opportunity for researchers, for individuals who are working their way through a series. We see a lot of use of the interlibrary loan program.”

Plum Creek patrons borrow about 11,000 items a year through the statewide interlibrary loan system, Hoffman said. Libraries in the Plum Creek system also loan out about 10,500 items a year to other Minnesota libraries through the program.

Minitex also helps fund statewide databases, Hoffman said.

“A lot of schools in our area use those databases very heavily. I personally like to highlight the LearningExpress Library, because that’s a resource that provides career and job building opportunities to patrons throughout the state,” she said.

The LearningExpress Library offers resources for people getting ready to take GED or college entrance tests, as well as resume and career building skills, she said. “It also offers U.S. citizenship prep programming.”

Hoffman gave commissioners a letter from the Plum Creek Library Board, urging county commissioners to voice support for Minitex programs.

In her update, Hoffman said PCLS also had good news to share. One was that all of the library directors in the Plum Creek system had completed required training in selecting library materials. Marshall-Lyon County Library Director Michele Leininger led the training.

“We’re very, very fortunate to have someone who had the qualifications to provide that,” Hoffman said.

The Plum Creek system also purchased a new delivery van, Hoffman said.

“That new delivery van was done through cooperative purchasing to reduce the price,” she said. “One of the big accomplishments with that delivery van is that the previous time Plum Creek purchased a van, they had to make a difficult decision between having full staff or purchasing a van. This time around, we have a balanced budget and we were able to purchase a van without having a reduction in staff.”