Mpls.-Hennepin plan proceeds: compromise on wage issue means union signs off on consolidation.(NEWS)(Minneapolis Public Library , Hennepin County Library)(Brief article)

The potentially stalled consolidation of the cash-strapped Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) into the better-supported suburban Hennepin County Library (HCL), Minnetonka, MN, has finally gotten over the hump, as the MPL union reached agreement on terms and the state legislature passed a law enabling the merger.

The consolidation could occur as early as January 2008 but must be completed in that year; the expanded HCL will include 15 Minneapolis and 26 suburban facilities. "This merger moves us from a 20th- to a 21st-century structure for financing and governing our libraries," said Hennepin County commissioner Peter McLaughlin, who introduced the concept of the merger, …