In Minneapolis-St. Paul area libraries, a pivot away from security gates
By Mike Kaszuba
After years of what has been described as marginal results, public libraries in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are lessoning their reliance on security gates.
Public Record Media (PRM), a non-profit based in Saint Paul, interviewed library officials in the Twin Cities metro area who said that the anti-theft gates were costly, did not necessarily deter theft and often provided an unwelcoming feeling at the facilities. Although the overall dollar amount allocated for security gates in the Twin Cities is difficult to pinpoint, library officials indicated that hundreds of thousands of dollars were ultimately spent on a technology that many are now moving away from.
“The gates did act as somewhat of a deterrent, [but] if someone really wanted to steal an item, it was possible despite the gates. Additionally, they don’t present a welcoming feel to the buildings,” Margaret Stone, the director of the Dakota County library system, told PRM.
“When I balance all of that, it’s not worth the cost,” she added.
Stone said the last security gate installed in the county library system was at Heritage Library in Lakeville in 2019, at a cost of $30,000. She said that there are still security gates at nine locations, but “we are slowly removing them.”
Hennepin County, Minnesota’s most populous county, decommissioned most all of its security gates starting in 2018 and 2019. There are now no security gates at the county’s 41 libraries – except at the Minneapolis Central Library in downtown Minneapolis. Those gates will likewise disappear as part of an upcoming building remodeling, said Joshua Yetman, a county spokesperson.
“Sounding false alarms”
“At Hennepin County, the technology was persistently faulty, sounding false alarms that were a distraction or induced anxiety among visitors,” Yetman said in an email. “The gates [also] introduced accessibility challenges. Visitors sometimes confused them for metal detectors.”
“There were more than 12 million checkouts at [our libraries] last year, all without a receipt check. Theft is a rare behavior and rather unnecessary – everything is free to borrow,” he added.
Yetman also said that the county library system’s decision to go “fine-free” in 2021 – like eliminating security gates – did not led to large increases in missing items. He said studies showed that the average length of time a patron kept a checked-out item increased by just three days, from 24 days in October 2019 to 27 days in October 2021.
“I share this as a parallel to the deactivation of the anti-theft gates,” he said.
Of all the metro library systems, Ramsey County may be the most committed to staying with its security gates.
The library system’s facility in Maplewood was remodeled in 2023, and received a new $18,562 security gate. All seven of the system’s libraries have security gates, and a spokesman said there were no plans to remove them.
The gates are used mainly to record visitor numbers, and the system does not use them to keep statistics on theft, said Casper Hill, a county spokesperson.
But he added: “Of the more than 500,000 physical items made available for checkout at Ramsey County libraries, we currently have 213 items listed as ‘missing’ [as of late March 2025], which may be due to theft.
“Another 488 items are listed as ‘trace’, which means we need to do additional searches before they are considered ‘missing’,” he added.
The Carver County library system meanwhile has a security gate only at its facility in Chanhassen, which was installed in 2017 at a cost of nearly $25,000. After a series of problems, including “frequent alarm issues”, the security gate was replaced last year at a cost of $15,453.
“We identified Chanhassen for a security gate due to it being our largest collection in the system, particularly as it relates to DVDs,” Ari Lyksett, a county spokesperson, told PRM. Although Lyksett said the county does not collect data on library theft since the security gate was installed, “we do believe less theft has taken place.”
In Scott County, library officials have taken a different direction – using security cameras instead of security gates.
The cameras, which cost $9,800 a year to maintain, have since 2021 been placed at all library entrances and exits. “We’ve historically had few concerns about theft, so it was neither necessary nor financially responsible to implement gates,” said Kristy Rieger, Scott County’s library technology manager.
“Theft is also less likely to occur when borrowing items [and returning them] feels easy and convenient,” Rieger said in an email to PRM. “Overall, a lost and disengaged reader is far worse than a missing item.”
Colleen Haubner, Anoka County’s library director, said she too has begun studying whether anti-theft gates are necessary. “We are in the process of evaluating the need for them,” she told PRM. “We’re just moving slowly.”
Haubner said five of the county’s eight libraries still have security gates. But, she said, “the gates tend to be more of an aggravation.”
Public Record Media would like to thank state Data Practices Act expert Rich Neumeister for his assistance with this article.
(Supporting documents for this article can be accessed by contacting Public Record Media at admin@publicrecordmedia.org , or at 651-556-1381)