In 2025 the Arrowhead Library System offered 40 Mini Grants. Presented here are the Mini Grants that have been completed so far.
Member Libraries of all types used their creativity and these funds to provide their community with helpful technology, programs, books, and more! Thank you to all libraries who applied for these Mini Grants in 2025. Read more to see the successful outcomes of this year’s Mini Grants, and to find inspiration for your own Mini Grant and project ideas!
Project Name: Fact Forward: Revitalizing Nonfiction for Middle School Minds
Jennifer Hiltner, Lincoln Middle School Library
Outcomes of the Project:
Parts of Lincoln Middle School’s nonfiction collection are outdated. We sought money to purchase new nonfiction titles in the areas of health and military weapons. Twenty-two new titles were ordered from Permabound, including a series on the effects of different drugs, the dangers of social media, and new books about the human body.
Students will benefit from highly engaging, new materials in topic areas that are rapidly changing. These books provide a safe way for students to find accurate information about drugs, alcohol, and their bodies.
When the table display was set up with the new books, students couldn’t resist! These new books are being read and browsed daily by our students.
Project Name: Early Learning STEAM Kits
Anna Amundson, Mountain Iron Public Library
Outcomes of the Project:
This grant project included purchases of STEAM Kits and Books for a rock polishing kit. We hosted several Stay & Play Fridays during November, and they were very well attended. We created a play space in our children’s section that has been utilized by families almost daily! These kits will find their home in our kit check out area during our Winter Reading Program, and I am confident they will be going out the door every week. We are looking at attendance numbers, the length of stay (increasing), and anecdotally surveying our patrons with families to see what they appreciate about this added service. We are pleased with the soft launch and looking forward to the new year.
Project Name: Information Literacy Community of Practice Speaker Series
Kim Pittman, University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A Martin Library
Outcomes of the Project:
The University of Minnesota Duluth hosted a public presentation by Don Fallis and Kay Mathiesen from Northeastern University on October 16. This presentation focused on the impact of digital fakes on our ability to know what is real, and is part of a year-long Information Literacy Community of Practice that seeks to encourage faculty to incorporate information literacy concepts across the curriculum and empower partnerships between instructors and librarians. This event was originally scheduled to take place in person, but due to a last-minute change in circumstances, the presenters were unable to travel, and the presentation took place on Zoom. The mini grant amount helped cover a portion of the speaking fee for Don and Kay (the rest of which was covered by a UMD grant). This speaker fee will also cover an additional presentation by Kay Mathiesen on Information Justice that will take place in the spring.
The community of practice has provided a forum for librarians and instructors to discuss a variety of information literacy issues, including AI and algorithmic literacy, the ACRL Information Literacy Framework, changing access to government information in 2025, and critical social media consumption. This grant-funded event allowed members of the UMD campus and Twin Ports communities to learn more about the challenges posed by misinformation and disinformation in our information environment.
Kay and Don’s presentation was attended by 42 members of the campus and Twin Ports community, who asked thoughtful questions about the impact of digital fakes on our ability to know what is real. The event was recorded and the recording has been viewed nine times. The event was also covered by Fox 21 local news: https://www.fox21online.com/2025/10/21/umd-seminar-explores-ai-deep-fakes/
“How Serious is the Epistemic Threat of Digital Fakes?”
Abstract: It has been suggested that digital fakes—deepfakes, fake news, and bots posing as humans, etc.—could lead to an “infopocalypse” where we can no longer tell what is real. The most obvious epistemic threat is that people can end up with numerous false beliefs about the world if they take these digital fakes to be genuine. But perhaps more importantly, digital fakes can undermine our trust in valuable epistemic resources, such as videos, newspapers, and human testifiers. Recently, several philosophers (e.g., Harris 2021, Atencia-Linares and Artiga 2022, Chalmers 2022, Habgood-Coote 2023, Simon et al. 2023) have downplayed the epistemic threat of digital fakes. Leveraging philosophical work on art forgeries and counterfeit currency, we offer a conceptual analysis of fakes. We use this analysis to show that the arguments of these philosophers fail.
Project Name: Bringing Printmaking to Patrons
Julia Luger, Mt. Royal Library, Duluth
Outcomes of the Project:
In the project “Bringing Printmaking to Patrons” the Mt. Royal Public library purchased 20 sets of Speedball Linoleum Block Carving Tools and hosted a “Block Printing Cards & More” program for 20 participants. The library used other programming funds to purchase paper, printing ink, brayers and trays that were also utilized for the program. Printmaking can be an expensive craft to try and this program allowed our patrons to try out this craft for free!
We measured success by the number of patrons that were able to attend but we will continue to be able to reuse these supplies so we will continue to be able to reach more and more individuals. In our first program, we had 19 patrons able to try out the printmaking process.
Project Name: Book Repair and Processing supplies
Liv Mostad-Jensen, Coleraine Public Library
Outcomes of the Project:
This project aims to resupply and improve our book repair supplies and equipment to increase processing efficiency and safety and to extend the life of high use items, particularly in our juvenile collections.
The new supplies have really been a game changer. They allow us to do much quicker repairs, often on the spot with children’s books for students who have spotted an issue with a book they want to check out. The supplies allow me to quickly fix the problem so that they can check out the book then and there. The Carl Heavy Duty Trimmer has also helped improve staff workflows when it comes to paper cutting tasks (which we have a lot of in our library). We no longer have to risk life and limb with the old-fashioned (and dull-bladed) machete style paper cutter! I measure the success of the program through general observation and experience getting formerly damaged books quickly back into the hands of patrons and the fact that no library staff have lost fingers or limbs due to paper cutting since we received the new trimmer. Huzzah!
Project Name: Staff Retreat
Madeline Jarvis, Two Harbors Public Library
Outcomes of the Project:
The Two Harbors Public Library received a $250 mini grant for our first Staff Retreat. We used funds to hire Amanda Sand of Library Leverage Consulting for a keynote focused on rural customer service and readers advisory through the lens of the Library Bill of Rights. We received permission from our board to close for the day and our Friends of the Library covered the cost of staff lunch. We plan to do an annual retreat based on this year’s success.
We were able to work directly with a consultant on our staff’s needs, designing a keynote adapted for our community’s demographics and concerns. Without this grant we would have watched a webinar together; although time together learning is important, it would not have been interactive and would have required additional staff time to design our retreat.
We measured success through feedback from participating staff. All staff agreed it was a valuable training and have made reference to the lessons learned in the past month since the retreat.
Project Name: Securing Jigsaw Puzzles
Mary Ellen Higgins, Eveleth Public Library
Outcomes of the Project:
Eveleth Public Library currently has 230 jigsaw puzzles circulating from in our collection ranging from 28-piece floor puzzles to over 1000-piece puzzles, with another 50+ puzzles yet to be cataloged. One consistent issue with this collection is keeping the boxes closed. This grant would allow us to purchase enough H-style rubber bands in a variety of sizes for each puzzle that checks out to our patrons.
Patrons can now return puzzles in our outdoor book drop during hours Eveleth Public Library is not open to the public with peace of mind, not having to worry if the box opened when put into the drop and spilled pieces inside the book drop. 31 puzzles have circulated since we received the H-style rubber bands and all of the patrons checking out puzzles expressed thanks at the time of check out.
Project Name: Minnesota Library Association Conference
Morgan Reardon, Cloquet Public Library
Outcomes of the Project:
This grant was used to purchase a registration ticket to the Minnesota Library Association Conference in St. Cloud, MN. This conference is a gathering of librarians from all corners of the state and all types of libraries. This conference is a gathering of librarians from all corners of Minnesota and all types of libraries that features sessions, speakers, and networking.
Throughout my two days in St. Cloud, I attended valuable presentations, including a presentation on AI, a session on connections between school and public libraries, and a Minnesota author’s panel. I led three sessions myself, which included a program brainstorm for youth services librarians, a book talk, and a business meeting for my subsection of the Minnesota Library Association, the Children’s and Young People’s section. Leading these sessions allowed me to share my knowledge and grow as a leader and public speaker. I also made valuable connections, which is imperative to my development as a librarian and provides motivation in my career. The direct benefits of my attending this conference are: quality new books being purchased for our library based on suggestions from the conference, new programs based on ideas I gathered from other librarians, and a renewed sense of confidence, motivation, and inspiration that I am putting into my work.
Project Name: Cook’s Country Connection Mobile Zoo
Melanie Lefebvre, Calumet Public Library
Outcomes of the Project:
This visit provided a hands-on educational experience through the mobile zoo. By bringing live animals directly to our location, families had an opportunity to engage in interactive, sensory-based learning that fosters curiosity and connection with the natural world. We saw many families coming together to spend time as a family. We counted over 98 people that enjoyed the mobile zoo. Lots of happy smiles!
