Four chairs sat empty as the board of the newly merged Hennepin County library system met Wednesday at the Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center.

Minneapolis may gain its three representatives at next week's County Board meeting. But they couldn't be appointed in time for the first board meeting because the city hadn't forwarded any names as required by the library merger law.

That's now changed. City Council President Barbara Johnson said she and Mayor R.T. Rybak have given the county board four recommended names. They are Sheldon Mains and Gary Thaden, who served on the city's now-defunct library board until the Jan. 1 merger, former trustee Kathleen Lamb, and former Tennant Co. president Roger Hale, chairman of a Minneapolis library study group that supported a merger.

Although Minneapolis by law is guaranteed three seats on the initial revamped board, there is a fourth seat that may be filled by any county resident. The County Board has 20 applications to choose from.

So what did those who will fill the four empty seats on Wednesday miss?

Expanding hours

The seven seated suburban members of the board were asked for feedback on plans for expanding library hours. Under state law, the sales tax that supports the new Twins ballpark is expected to generate $2 million annually to pay for expanded library hours countywide. Deputy Director Lois Langer Thompson said that the public has been asking for more weekend and night hours. The new hours also need to be financially sustainable and balanced geographically, taking population density into account, she said.

The downtown Minneapolis library has been open five days and 48 hours weekly. By comparison, the Southdale library in Edina, one of three flagship suburban libraries, is open every day and 63 hours weekly.

Thompson said she hopes to announce new library hours in March.

Plans for 2008

They also got a proposed work plan for 2008 from Library Director Amy Ryan. Ryan termed the merger "wildly successful" and said that the staff managed to get paychecks out to the 1,100 employees of the merged system. She also updated the board on eight building projects and said the merged library will create a new identity by adopting a new logo soon.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438