News Release
Great River Regional Library
GRRL Headquarters:
1300 W. St. Germain St.
St. Cloud, MN 56301
320-650-2500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Breanne Fruth
Communications and Development Coordinator
320-650-2532
Subject: Great River Regional Library Announces New Mission & Vision as Part of 2026-2030 Strategic Plan
Great River Regional Library (GRRL) is proud to announce its new mission and vision statements as part of the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan.
Mission: To serve all Central Minnesotans with library collections and services.
Vision: Foster the spirit of exploration, knowledge, and connection for all ages and cultures.
The new mission and vision show why the library is important and who it helps. GRRL wants everyone to be able to explore, learn, and connect at the library.
Approved by the GRRL Board of Trustees on November 18, 2025, the Strategic Plan reflects a yearlong, collaborative process. Beginning in January, a Steering Committee representing management, front-line staff, and trustees guided planning efforts. Additional subcommittees ensured input from across GRRL’s 32 staffed libraries.
Throughout development, former Executive Director Karen Pundsack also gathered valuable feedback from city and county partners across the region – including meetings with mayors and administrators in Long Prairie, Little Falls, Foley, St. Michael, Monticello, Buffalo, Elk River, Becker, St. Joseph, St. Cloud, Waite Park, and Sartell, as well as community visioning from Delano. These conversations helped us learn about community needs, growth, visions, challenges, and opportunities, which better shaped our plan to reflect regional priorities.
In April 2025, the Board of Trustees held a work session with the Library Youth Advisory Council. Together, small working groups refined four strategic directions for the next five years:
- Support learning: Improve programs to help people read and learn new things.
- Share our story: Help more people learn about what the library offers and how it helps the community.
- Welcome all: Make sure everyone can use the library easily.
- Grow partnerships: Work with groups and businesses in the community to do more together.
Our core values of exceptional service, forward thinking, and community focus are unchanged. With this new Strategic Plan, GRRL will keep helping Central Minnesotans get the information and resources they need to do well.
Great River Regional Library (GRRL) provides library services at 32 public libraries and one to-go system in Benton, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, and Wright Counties. GRRL2GO is a locker system that allows you to pick up items at the Sartell Community Center. GRRL supplies the residents of Central Minnesota with nearly 1 million books, CDs, and DVDs, 250 public computers, and information services.
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