The Hennepin County Library System is one of many community agencies serving individual children, children in groups, parents, and other adults who work with children. The primary focus of Children's Services is that of an information center and children's reading center. The secondary focus of Children's Services is to provide a link to other organizations working with children.

As an Information or Learning Center, the library system provides:

• professional staff offering quality information service and committed to working with children
• free and open access to all library materials
• quality in-house programming designed to support the library as an information/learning center

• professional staff offering quality reader's advisory service and storytimes based on in-depth knowledge of children's materials
• fiction, nonfiction, and audiovisual materials that reflect quality, current trends, are popular with children, and are available in sufficient quantities
• an introduction to the wide range of childrenŐs reading and viewing materials through storytimes, book talks and other presentations

• shares resources, information, and referrals
• avoids unnecessary duplication of programs and services by maintaining awareness of the goals, objectives and clientele of other agencies, organizations and schools and by working with them to better serve children
• helps identify issues affecting the needs of children and the adults working with them
• acts as a child advocate particularly on library related issues promotes services and materials by providing programs and workshops to interested users and nonusers
• participates in community-wide committees, cooperates in jointly sponsored activities.