Hugo has no plans to secede from the county library system but will participate in a study group to evaluate the current kiosk at City Hall and whether library services should be expanded, City Administrator Bryan Bear said last week.
"Responsible government would ask itself whether it's providing a good service, what the citizens expect and whether it's doing it at a good value," Bear said after the City Council heard a presentation from Patricia Conley, the county's library director.
Not long ago, before major housing developments brought scores of new residents, Hugo was a sleepy farming crossroads. It's never had a city library, even as the city's population nears 14,000 and many residents borrow from libraries in Forest Lake, White Bear Lake and cities in Anoka County.
Washington County, in 2010, opened a book kiosk in Hugo, and business is brisk. In 38 months of operation, county library figures show, 13,800 books and other items have passed through Hugo Library Express.
"We do get a lot of very positive comments about the kiosk," said Bear, describing how the original 20 lockers were doubled because of demand.
Conley told the City Council that Hugo residents borrow predominantly from two county branch libraries: Hardwood Creek in Forest Lake and Wildwood in Mahtomedi. The 7,608 library-card holders will borrow more than 70,000 books and other items from county libraries in 2013, she said.
"There really is significant access gained as being part of the regional library system," said Fran Miron, a longtime Hugo mayor who now is a county commissioner.
Hugo residents have a long history of borrowing from the Forest Lake City Library, which became a branch of the county library in 2000. They still borrow considerably more books in Forest Lake than from their city kiosk, Bear said, and that will be studied by a new library subcommittee.
