Power failure closes Central Library in downtown Minneapolis

There was no immediate explanation for the outage.

March 5, 2017 at 6:36PM
Central Library, downtown Minneapolis
Central Library, downtown Minneapolis (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A power failure Sunday has shut down the Minneapolis Central Library for the day, officials said.

The electrical outage struck shortly after 7 a.m. and was reported later in the morning by Hennepin County Library officials on their website and Facebook.

Normal business hours for the downtown location on Sundays are noon to 5 p.m.

Repairs were underway and the library was "expected to open tomorrow morning, so we should be good," county spokeswoman Carolyn Marinan said.

The failure "impacted several systems," Marinan said, "including air circulation in the entire building along with the system that deals with fume exhaust in the parking garage, and the ability to properly heat the building."

She said workers are replacing equipment that runs those systems and troubleshooting to learn what caused the failure.

A spokeswoman for Xcel Energy said the utility has detected no other downtown locations experiencing trouble with electricity supply, but an Xcel crew was dispatched to the library to assist with repairs and diagnosis.

The library this weekend has been hosting Geo: Code 2017, a two-day public conference designed to teach participants about government data and technology.

Conference officials said they would be wrapping up Sunday's session by 1 p.m. because of the power failure.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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Paul Walsh

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Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.

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