Sugar Grove Library takes hard look at reduced hours of operation
Sugar Grove Library users will likely have even less time to peruse the shelves once the new building opens in August. But the library board late last week postponed deciding how much less, and when the library will be closed.
Library director Beverly Holmes Hughes had proposed they cut nine hours from the library's weekly schedule. She suggested having the library open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Currently, the library is open from 2 to 9 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.
But trustees asked her to try to get more afternoon hours into the schedule. "It is truly a challenge," she said.
Voters in 2004 approved borrowing money to build a new library, but in nine referendums (the most recent in April) have said "no" to increasing the operating tax. Without more operating money to pay workers, hours of operation are also affected. The next election in which the board could ask is in February. But even if voters say "yes," the money would not be received until June 2011.
The five trustees at Thursday's meeting felt all seven members should vote on the hours of operation decision. They tabled the hours issue to special meeting later this month, on a date to be determined.
The hours Hughes proposed would spread out the existing staff in the larger building, rather than hiring more people. At the current library there is one desk for circulation, youth services and reference, so only two people are needed on night duty, she said. In the new library, those services will be at separate desks, plus there will be a computer laboratory for staff to monitor, so at least three people should be on duty, Hughes said.
Bills for utilities, including Internet access, are also expected to increase when it moves to the building, which is four times larger than the existing library.
A survey of patrons indicated "Sunday (hours) wasn't high on anyone's wish list," she said. Libraries in adjacent towns are open Sunday afternoons. The Town and Country Library in Elburn and the Messenger Public Library in North Aurora are open 67 and 68 hours a week, respectively.
The suggested standardized morning hours are a departure from the current hours. Patrons wanted morning hours for children's programming, and morning hours will be key to the success of the Book Nook cafe that will open in the new building, Hughes said. The cafe, operated by Catering Gourmets, will serve beverages, snacks and sandwiches.
This summer, the library will be closed for most of July for the move. Hughes said it won't hire back returning college students, as it has in the past, to do tasks such as reshelving books. Instead, she will rely more on volunteers to do that. And she worries that Sugar Grove residents might be taking unfair advantage of nearby libraries, where they can borrow materials because they all belong to state and suburban reciprocal systems.
Hughes hopes that people will be impressed enough by the new library to eventually support raising taxes to hire more workers and have the building open longer.