There are 41 branches of the Hennepin County Library, which serves Hennepin County, Minnesota. The branches are spread across 24 cities and towns. Fifteen of the libraries are located in Hennepin County's largest city, Minneapolis, and were originally part of the Minneapolis Public Library, which was founded in 1885 to serve the city. Hennepin County established a library service of its own in 1922 and took control of some of the county's smaller towns' libraries. Hennepin County and Minneapolis first discussed the idea of merging their systems in 1967, but the merger debate ended in 1974. In 2007, the merger was revisited and the Minneapolis Public Library officially joined the Hennepin County Library system at the beginning of 2008, creating the current 41-branch system. Four branches were founded as Carnegie libraries. (Full list...)