page_title: Dakota County Library
section_title: Era of growth
hierarchical_section_title: Dakota County Library / History of the Dakota County Library / Era of growth
caption_attribution_description: English: The Burnhaven Library in Burnsville, Minnesota.
context_page_description: Dakota County Library system is a regional public library system in Dakota County, Minnesota, headquartered in the Wescott Library in Eagan. The system includes 9 libraries and shares borrowing privileges with the City of South St. Paul public library.
context_section_description: Bolstered by the post-World War II influx to suburban areas as well as the passage of the 1956 Congressional Library Services Act, public libraries in Dakota County were ready to expand. To maximize resources, the County entered into a partnership with its neighbor to the west, Scott County and in 1959, the Dakota-Scott Regional Library System was formed. Originally operated out of 2 classrooms in a Savage elementary school with 9 people on staff, the system quickly expanded, with the Farmington and Hastings libraries joining by the end of the year. By 1968, the system had opened a new library in Hastings, acquired a 6,000 book capacity bookmobile, purchased land off of County Road 42 in Burnsville for a new branch location and was using a storefront location in Burnsville as a temporary library to help alleviate demand on the other outlets. However, throughout this time, Dakota and Scott County had been growing apart from one another - both in terms of population growth and in their vision for the library's future. As a result, the assets of the collection were divided proportionately to county population and by December 31, 1968, the two-county system was dissolved.
caption: The Burnhaven Library in Burnsville
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