Minnesota county library addresses public health

Key Takeaways

Recognizing libraries’ vital role in the community as a safe space for all, Dakota County, Minn. is using them to address public health priorities. All 10 of the county’s libraries now serve as community health hubs, in a collaborative effort to reduce opioid overdoses, improve breastfeeding support for families and expand access to mental health resources. 

Dakota County Public Health identified a need to connect residents with critical health resources in familiar, trusted spaces, and the accessibility of libraries, which are located across the county and have broad hours of service, makes them ideal spaces for community health hubs, according to James Johnson Jr., Dakota County Public Health program coordinator. 

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Dakota County’s Community Health Hub initiative was the 2026 NACo Achievement Award “Best in Category” winner in the Health category.

Last year, there were 1.5 million visits to Dakota County libraries, and residents ranked it the top service the county offers, along with its parks, according to Jennifer Reichert Simpson, Dakota County Library director. 

“The libraries are a special place … We’re really valued, and we’re really trusted, and part of that trust is because we have these great community connections,” Reichert Simpson said. “We lead a story time, so we may have known you as a baby, and we know you now as an adult. 

“The way we go about our work is really creating a sense of belonging, so we’re like the county’s porch to residents.”

As part of the community health hub initiative, Dakota County libraries provide free naloxone kits and opioid education, host lactation support groups and connect people to mental health support through CredibleMind, a digital mental well-being platform.

Libraries are “really the lowest barrier and most friendly way to distribute these kinds of services,” Johnson said. 

In the community health hubs’ first year, the libraries distributed more than 1,200 naloxone kits, hosted more than 80 breastfeeding support sessions and connected more than 1,000 residents to mental health resources.

Dakota County Public Health provided the clinical expertise, training and program resources needed to implement the initiative, including staffing the libraries’ lactation support groups with public health nurses and lactation consultants. The community health hub services have felt like a natural extension of the library’s offerings, Reichert Simpson said.

Johnson “introduced it in such a way where it was really like, ‘All you’re doing is providing access and pointing people to information and back to Public Health,’” she said. “And we were like, ‘Oh, we can do that. We do that with jobs, we do that with careers, we do that with learning how to read. We can point people back to information.’

 “So, in some ways, it was really right along our role.”

According to a 2023 Community Health Assessment, 31% of adults in Dakota County reported needing mental health care in the past year, and more than half experienced delays or were unable to receive care. Promoting mental health resources available through CredibleMind has helped people get the support they need, Reichert Simpson noted. 

“We had a resident who came up to a library staff person and said they were in crisis,” Reichert Simpson said. “They said, ‘You have this display, is this something I can talk to you about? Can you help me with this?’ And they were able to connect that person to the crisis line right away and get assistance immediately.”

Prior to the libraries becoming community health hubs, free naloxone was only available at Dakota County service centers, which aren’t located throughout the geographic area of the county. Since 2015, the county has experienced more than 500 opioid-related deaths. Making naloxone more readily available saves lives and creates more community awareness around the opioid crisis, decreasing stigma, Johnson noted. 

“When we’re at naloxone trainings in the libraries, and people learn about how the opioid crisis came about, they leave there thinking, ‘I need to get this to my son or daughter who’s going off to college,’” Johnson said. “So, not [just] the immediate need in the community, but the expanded need out there, or precautions and prevention.”

The community health hubs have strengthened the relationship between the library system and Public Health, resulting in more collaboration across the departments. Dakota County libraries are now working with another Public Health team on cultural visit Alzheimer’s kits that are tailored to the county’s immigrant communities, including Somali, Hmong and Latinx cultures. The kits are designed to trigger memories and conversations, Reichert Simpson said. 

“Our brand is books, and that’s really important and we’re always about reading and learning, and then more and more, the way we design ourselves, and also the way people use us, is that we are that community gathering space,” Reichert Simpson said. “… [The library] really is that place where people want to come together and create something positive for learning, and it’s creating that social infrastructure and fabric.”