Outreach Services
Mobile Library
Serving the communities of Braham, Duquette, Giese, Hill City, Isanti, Jacobson, Mcgrath, and Onamia.
East Central Regional Library provides Outreach Services to serve many of the smaller communities in the region where there is not a full service library.
What if you can't make it to the library?
For many people the joy of visiting a public library may be out of reach.
East Central Regional Library Outreach Librarian serves those individuals who do not have the opportunity to visit a traditional library.
The Outreach van makes numerous stops to several areas in East Central Regional Library counties carrying materials for patrons to browse through and check out. The East Central Regional Library Outreach van provides adult, teen, and children’s fiction and non-fiction books along with books on CD and movies on DVD. Patrons may also request specific items at any time from the Outreach Librarian and ask about our digital services including our downloadable eBooks, eAudio and magazines.
Outreach Schedule
Monday
No outreach services
Tuesday
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Onamia Depot Library
204 Roosevelt Rd, Onamia, MN 56359
Wednesday
Braham Event Center; NOTICE: Effective May 11, the Library Lockers will continue to be filled with holds, however the Outreach Librarian will no longer staff hours at the Braham Event Center.
655 8th St SW, Braham, MN 55006
Isanti City Hall; NOTICE: Effective May 11, 2026 we will no longer provide Outreach Services to Isanti, due to a reduction in county funding.
Thursday (every other)
Giese
Effective 6/29/2026 we will no longer provide Outreach Services to Giese, due to a decline in attendance.
Duquette
Effective 6/29/2026 we will no longer provide Outreach Services to Duquette, due to a decline in attendance.
Thursday (every other)
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | Jacobson
Jacobson Community Center
65534 Great River Road, Jacobson, MN 55752
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Hill City
City Community Room
125 Lake Avenue Northeast, Hill City, MN 55748
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. |McGrath
*Winter
Zion Luthern Church
207 First Street North, McGrath, MN 56350
*Summer
McGrath City Pavillion
303 West Main Street, McGrath, MN 5635063506-64472
Looking forward to seeing you around!
The ECRL outreach van makes various stops every week across the region.
If you have any questions, concerns, or if you’d like to request specific items for your stop, please contact us.
Access your library entirely from home.
Read eBooks, listen to eAudiobooks, page through Digital Magazines, and browse through our eResources and Databases, all from the comfort of your home.
Check out our online services
Bookmobile through the years
Did you know ECRL once had a very active bookmobile service? It began with a unit borrowed from the Minnesota State Library in 1959 and continued to May, 2009, marking 50 years and an untold number of miles throughout the region.
By February 1960, the system’s own bookmobile was on the road. It was a green and yellow Gerstenslager unit that had a 2400-volume capacity. The schedule allowed for 39 stops — 11 each in Isanti and Mille Lacs counties and 17 in Pine County.
Providing library services to the remote areas of the region was welcomed by bookmobile users. With the addition of Aitkin County, ECRL’s number of square miles almost doubled and a second bookmobile was added in 1963. The second bookmobile also served Kanabec County when it joined the system in 1967. When Chisago County joined ECRL, the service area for the bookmobiles expanded again, with Lindstrom being the only town to have a library, the other towns in the county relied heavily on the bookmobile. With the addition of the North Branch library in 1982 and the earlier additions of libraries in Pine City and Rush City in the late 1970s it was decided that one bookmobile would be sufficient.
There were several different bookmobiles throughout the years. The “library on wheels” discontinued in May 2009. Since there were still residents of remote areas who could not travel to a branch library, Outreach Service was implemented, and it still runs today under the Outreach Librarian.
