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Library Catalog FAQ
What happened and why?
As part of the merger between Hennepin County and the former Minneapolis Public libraries, our two catalogs became one on August 27. This not only reduces operating costs, it also gives customers and staff access to the entire 5-million-item collection in one place, the current suburban catalog. Thank you for your patience during the transition.
Can I request items from any of the 41 libraries now that the catalogs are combined?
Yes! As of August 27, you can place a request on any circulating ("request-able") item in our combined catalog for pick up at any Hennepin County Library.
Why is it taking longer for my book requests to be filled and sent to my library?
First, thank you for your patience and continued use of Hennepin County Library. Customers are clearly appreciating greater access to the wealth of items in all our libraries now that we have one robust catalog. This has increased the demand for items, and we are working on solutions to manage the high usage and continue to meet customer needs. We will continue to make sure requests are filled in as timely a manner as possible. Thank you for your understanding as we develop a plan for accommodating these high volumes.
What about my account in the Minneapolis catalog and does my library card still work?
All customer accounts have been moved to the combined catalog and, yes, your Minneapolis library card works in the combined catalog.
- If you had two accounts (and library cards), one in the former Minneapolis Public Library system and a different one in the suburban Hennepin County Library, they both still work. They are still two separate accounts. These will be combined at a later date.
- If your Minneapolis library card was also registered in the suburban Hennepin County Library catalog, we have combined your two accounts and preserved the information in both of them.
Were my holds/requests and checked out items transferred from my Minneapolis account?
Yes, all the activity on your account was transferred to the combined catalog. Requests from both catalogs have been combined, so your place in the “queue” may change if there are also requests on that title in the suburban catalog. In order to reorder the combined request queues fairly, all requests were ordered by when they got into the queue, relative to when the title became available to request.
What if I had fines or fees on my Minneapolis account?
- Any fines or fees on your Minneapolis account have been transferred to your new account in the combined catalog.
- If you had accounts in both the Minneapolis and suburban Hennepin County Library catalogs, the accounts were combined and any fees or fines were combined as well. If that combination puts you over the limit for borrowing items, you will need to pay down the balance so you can borrow items again.
How do I log into my account in the combined catalog?
- Log in with your library barcode and PIN
- Your PIN has been changed if you had a Minneapolis account only.
- PINs in the combined catalog are four digits long, numbers only.
- Your new PIN is the last 4 digits of your phone number.
- If there was no phone number in your account, the PIN is '0000'.
- You can change your PIN when you log in to your account.
How do I pick up my holds?
- If you had a Minneapolis account, you will be assigned a "pickup number" which a staff member will write on your library card. This number is used to locate your held items on the holds shelf.
- When you go to pick up your held items in a Minneapolis library for the first time after August 26, please see a staff member to get your pickup number.
- You may also look up your pickup number yourself by logging in to your account and clicking on the Personal Information tab;
- If you had accounts in both catalogs, you already have a pickup number, and that stays the same.
How do I designate my holds pickup location?
- If you had a Minneapolis and suburban Hennepin County Library account, your default pickup location is the one that was in your suburban account. You can choose and change your regular pickup location by going to My Account and clicking on the Personal Information tab. Choose your library from the regular pickup location dropdown menu.
Why am I having trouble getting the right items when I order a TV series on DVD, a boxed CD set or other multi-volume items?
After consolidating the city and suburban catalogs, a problem cropped up regarding the way DVD sets, boxed CD sets and other multi-volume items were catalogued. This means that when you place holds on these items, you may get an entire series or set or only portions of them. In the combined catalog, you place a hold on the title (“Lost Season 1”), not on the item itself (Lost Season 1, disks 1-3”), so you won’t know if “Lost Season 1, disks 1-3” will show up for you, or some other set of disks for ”Lost Season 1”, or the entire season.
Fixing this is a top priority, and we have already started working to standardize these items in our catalog so that every item listed under a title is uniform. So if you place a request on the title “Lost Season 1”, or "Lost Season 1 disks 1-4", or "Lost Season 1 disks 5-8", you`ll always get the full set of disks listed for that title. If you currently have a request on a specific item or disk, your request will be automatically expanded so that you`ll receive the first available copy of the full set of disks for that title once you reach the front of the line.
I had turned on "Reading History" in my Minneapolis account. Did that come over?
Yes and no. Reading History is not currently available in this version of the combined catalog, but will be in the near future. On September 23, your Reading History was migrated to a MyList on your new account titled "My Reading History from Minneapolis Catalog." Each MyList can have up to 100 titles. If you have more than 100 titles on your Reading History, multiple MyLists will be created on your account. You can continue adding titles to your new MyList(s), keeping your reading history up to date if you wish. The date each title was checked out was not migrated to the MyList.
When the combined catalog has a Reading History feature in the future, your MyList (Reading History) can be transferred to that feature, still connected to your account.
I had turned on "Ratings" in my Minneapolis account. Did that come over?
Ratings you entered were NOT migrated. That feature is not available in this version of the combined catalog, and there are no plans at this time to develop that feature for this catalog.
I have an account in the suburban catalog only, will I notice any differences?
You now have access to an additional 1.3 million unique titles in the combined catalog. Other than access to this new wealth of resources, your account and catalog looks much the same. (see “Why do some catalog entries look different in the combined catalog?”).
Why do some catalog entries look different in the combined catalog?
- The combined catalog has entries from two formerly separate library systems, each with slightly different cataloging procedures, so you will see some titles where the copies may have different descriptions of where to find them on the shelf, or different kinds of call numbers (Dewey, Library of Congress).
- All the information you need to find your item is in the catalog entry. If you are looking for an item on the shelf, take note of the information for the item that’s in the library you’re visiting.
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