2 New Hennepin County Library Board Members

Minneapolis MN

01 April, 2021

4:15 AM

Description

Press release from the Hennepin County Library: March 31, 2021 On February 16, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners appointed two new members to the library's 11-member advisory board. Karin Amal of Minneapolis and Lynn Stetler of Wayzata will serve a three-year term with the Hennepin County Library Board. Growing up, it was important for Karin Amal to get a library card wherever her family lived. "I always feel calm and peaceful when I enter a library and positively bursting with civic pride that libraries continue to be a space with a core mission of being accessible and helpful to all," she said. "Since moving to the Twin Cities five years ago, I have been regularly impressed by the quality of many of our public institutions - and the Hennepin County library system ranks highly among them." Amal has a variety of reading interests including historical fiction, literary nonfiction, cozy mysteries, and interesting social science nonfiction. In addition to serving on the Library Board, Amal also serves on the board of East Side Neighborhood Services in Northeast Minneapolis. "I'm excited to contribute to the Library Board's vision of facilitating a healing, communal space dedicated to learning and leisure," Amal said. Lynn Stetler received her first library card at the former Robbinsdale branch of Hennepin County Library. She was an avid library user in her youth, including volunteering at her high school library. Stetler had a long and varied career at Hennepin County Library and served as a union leader. She got her first job at Hennepin County Library working in cataloging and collection management. She later worked for Outreach, staffing the Bookmobile and serving parts of the county without libraries. Stetler also worked at Penn Lake and Oxboro libraries. Hopkins Library was Stetler's last stop for her library career. After retirement she became a member of the Friends of Hopkins Library. Her leadership work, "…required good listening skills, compassion and advocacy for fair services to the public we served as well as the workers at all levels who provide those services," said Stetler. "Libraries bring so much joy to people's lives….I look forward to the next chapter and plan to listen to people's stories and why and how they love their libraries," said Stetler. This press release was produced by the Hennepin County Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.