The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Dr., Minnetonka, regarding the proposed consolidation of the suburban Hennepin County Library system and the Minneapolis Public Library.

The public hearing will be an opportunity for the public to ask questions and offer comments on the proposed consolidation.

The merged system, to be called Hennepin County Library, will include 26 suburban libraries and 15 Minneapolis libraries. Customers will have access to more than five million books, CDs and DVDs and nearly 1,600 public computers. For the merger to be effective, it must be approved by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, the Minneapolis Public Library Board and the Minneapolis City Council. Three temporarily closed Minneapolis libraries — Roosevelt, Southeast and Webber Park — are scheduled to reopen if the merger is approved.

There also will be a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27 in the Hennepin County Board Room, 24th floor of the Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S. 6th St., Minneapolis, to consider the existing Minneapolis Public Library fine and fee schedule. The existing schedule will continue in Minneapolis libraries if the merger goes into effect and will be reviewed in 2008.