Fiscal Year 2010 Program Administration: Facts & Figures
Elmer L. Andersen Library, home of Minitex.
Minitex, an information and resource sharing program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education
and the University of Minnesota Libraries, is a publicly supported network of academic, public,
K-12 school, state government, and special libraries working cooperatively to improve library
service for their users. Minitex is located at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and is
a division of the University of Minnesota Libraries.
Funding & Reciprocal Agreements
Minitex receives legislative appropriations through the Minnesota Office of Higher Education to
enable Minnesota academic and state government libraries to share their collections to support
their students, faculty, and other users. The Minnesota Legislature also provides appropriations
to Minitex to operate a suite of programs that enhances and supports resource sharing.
Minitex staff also negotiate contracts for services with Minnesota State Library Services (the
Minnesota state library agency) and with the state libraries in North Dakota and South Dakota to
support Minitex services for additional Minnesota libraries and for libraries in the Dakotas.
Minitex collaborates with WiLS, a Wisconsin library consortium, and Wisconsin libraries to operate
an extensive interstate resource sharing program and provide training for staff of Minitex and
Wisconsin libraries. The University of Minnesota receives no direct reimbursement for services
it provides to host the Minitex service program.
Administrative Organization
The Minitex Policy Advisory Council advises the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the Minitex
Director in planning, development, and evaluation of the programs and services of Minitex and
provides a forum for active discussion. Appointment to the Policy Advisory Council is made by the
Director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education based upon nominations from the various types
of Minnesota libraries that participate in Minitex programs. The Director of Minnesota State Library
Services is an ex officio member as are the state librarians of North and South Dakota and the Library
System Director for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.
The Minnesota Office of Higher Education, the Minitex Policy Advisory Council, and the Minitex staff
collaboratively set goals and objectives and define services. During FY10, Minitex carried out the
day-to-day operation of its programs and services with a staff of 72 plus 107 student workers.
In addition to determining general Minitex policies, the Minnesota Office of Higher Education is
responsible for Minitex program evaluation, external relations, and legislative liaison. The University
of Minnesota Libraries provide access to their extensive collections of monographs, serials, services,
and other materials for Minitex participating libraries.
The Hennepin County Library system's Minneapolis
Central Library serves as the second major resource collection searched daily by Minitex staff to fill
incoming requests. Requests not filled from these collections are referred to other libraries known to
have the item available at the time of the search.