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Hugo might be next.

Intrigued by Lake Elmo’s breakaway library, Hugo officials are looking into the possibility of setting up their own city-owned library.

On the agenda for Monday’s city council meeting is a presentation on the possibility of dropping out of the Washington County library system.

“We didn’t know we had that choice,” said city council member Chuck Haas. “We need to understand this and then decide.”

The council will hear from enthusiastic Lake Elmo library workers.

“I would encourage them to do it. Our library is wonderful,” said Judy Gibson, who has volunteered for the Lake Elmo library since it was founded in September 2012.

The council also will hear from county library director Pat Conley. When a city drops out of the system, she said, residents lose access to hundreds of thousands of books, e-books, CDs and other materials.

“The beauty of the Minnesota public library system is that it’s built on collaboration and partnerships,” Conley said. “Anything that reduces those partnerships is unfortunate.”

Last year, Lake Elmo became the state’s fifth city to drop out of a county library system.

As a cost-cutting move, Washington County had closed small libraries in Lake Elmo, Newport and Marine on St. Croix. The Lake Elmo library was tiny, with annual circulation just 3 percent of what was checked out at the neighboring county library in Woodbury.

When Lake Elmo dropped out of the system, it kept collecting $260,000 annually in library taxes — but kept the money for its new library.

“Our city council felt we were not getting the services according to the amount of library levy we were turning over,” Gibson said. “It did not compute.”

The city bought a building in the historic downtown area. Today, the library has one paid employee and about 70 volunteers.

The lessons of the Lake Elmo library may or may not apply to Hugo, according to council member Haas.

Lake Elmo residents were upset because the county was closing a library, after years of trimming hours. But Hugo has never had a county library.

The county has recently improved services in Hugo, adding a library kiosk where residents can request and pick up checked-out materials. Hugo residents also can use the county library about six miles north in Forest Lake.

So while Lake Elmo’s volunteer corps was inflated by community resentment, Haas said there is no widespread frustration in Hugo.

“I am completely satisfied with the libraries, with how I am using them,” he said.

But he said that until recently, Hugo officials didn’t realize they had the option of bailing out of the county system.

Haas said that Hugo, which has more residents than Lake Elmo, collects library taxes of about $350,000 annually.

Civic pride was a big factor in the formation of Lake Elmo’s library. Haas doesn’t think that emotion is quite as dominant in Hugo.

“For us, it’s a matter of dollars and cents,” Haas said. “We have to spend the money wisely — there ain’t that much of it.”

Haas said he is not pushing for a city-run library but is only seeking information.

“Is it a fact that we need our own library, and we’d be better served?” he said. “Hugo is a growing community. Should we have more kiosks? What is the service people are getting?”

Library director Conley said county library users have access to 600,000 books, CDs and other materials — compared with about 11,000 mostly donated books in Lake Elmo.

The county offers thousands of e-books, to be downloaded on reading devices. Lake Elmo doesn’t have e-books.

When a city drops out, residents who want to continue to use the county libraries must pay $60 a year for a county library card. In Lake Elmo, the city reimburses residents who choose that option.

Conley said kiosks are a good alternative in smaller towns. In the first six months of 2013, fewer materials were checked out in Lake Elmo than from a single kiosk in Marine on St. Croix.

But Lake Elmo’s Gibson said her library is on the rise.

It checked out five times more materials in June than in January. Morale of the volunteers is excellent, she said, and the library has just hired a new librarian.

She said the library has adjusted to its biggest problem — lack of access to the county system.

When someone wants a book, the library often orders it on Amazon.com, and it arrives in a few days.

The most important task for a new Hugo library, Gibson said, is to assemble a core group of volunteers.

“You need some people in the city really committed to it.”

It’s worth the effort, Gibson said.

“People come in and say: ‘What a nice place. Why would I want to go anywhere else?’ ”

Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433. Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.

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