City Council Votes to Restore Weekend Library Hours

After months of debate and a petition signed by more than four thousand residents, the city council voted six to three on Tuesday night to restore Saturday and Sunday hours at all five branches of the public library, beginning in March.

The weekend hours were eliminated two years ago when the council cut the library's budget by eleven percent. At the time, officials said the reduction was temporary and that the hours would return once sales tax revenue recovered.

Library director Maria Castillo told the council that weekend visits had once accounted for nearly a third of all visits to the library system. "Saturday is when working parents can bring their children," she said. "When we closed on weekends, we lost the families who needed us most."

The vote followed a long public comment period in which more than forty people spoke, most of them in favor of the change. Several teenagers described using the library on weekends to study for exams because their homes were too crowded or too noisy.

Council member Robert Hale, who voted against the measure, said he supported the library but worried about committing money before the city's new budget was final. "I want to restore these hours as much as anyone," Hale said. "I just want to be sure we can pay for them next year and the year after."

Library director Maria Castillo told the council that weekend visits had once accounted for nearly a third of all visits to the library system. She added that the library has kept its weekday programs running despite the cuts.

The restored hours will cost about $640,000 a year, most of it for staff salaries. The council plans to pay for the change with a portion of the money the city expects to save by refinancing old bonds at lower interest rates.

Supporters of the change packed the council chamber on Tuesday, many of them wearing green shirts printed with the words "Open on Weekends." When the final vote was announced, the room erupted in applause.

The restored hours will cost about $640,000 a year, most of it for staff salaries, according to the city's budget office.

The library will announce its new weekend schedule in February. Castillo said she expects the branches to be open from ten in the morning until five in the afternoon on Saturdays and from noon until five on Sundays.
