The James J. Hill Reference Library said its board decided to move forward with plans to bring a business incubator there.
The library will start looking for partners, from academic to entrepreneurial organizations, to help launch the library's on-site incubator and online training programs, said Tom Triplett, director of strategy development. The partnerships will be finalized in February, he added.
The library hopes to have the incubator open during the summer, Triplett said on Wednesday.
An earlier proposal indicated the library would turn 10,000 square feet of office and floor space into working areas for start-ups and related service providers. The incubator could be funded in part by fees paid by the entrepreneurs who use the library and grant dollars, the proposal said.
The James J. Hill Library opened in 1921 but has been slowly collecting dust in recent years. The speediness of Internet adoption has made it challenging for the library to compete and charge for its research services. To make matters worse, the library's financial lifeblood its endowment, shrank by 23 percent during the recession.
