Brighton District Library Increases Saturday Hours, Closes Thursday in 2012

Two changes in hours at the will go into effect in 2012. 

Beginning Jan. 5, the Library will be closed every Thursday. At the same time, Saturday hours will be restored to a 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. schedule. Library hours in 2012 will be Monday - Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Thursday: Closed; Friday - Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sunday: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the school year (closed Sunday during the summer).

These changes are in response to continued decreases in library funding, most significantly, a 4 percent decline in property tax revenue. This is the fourth year in a row of such reductions, and marks a decrease of 13 percent in this revenue since 2007.

During the last four years, the library has responded to these shortfalls by freezing staff wages and reducing staff benefits, making substantial cuts to budgets for books and other materials, finding economies in energy use and building maintenance and scrupulously disciplining use of supplies. In 2011, the library also reduced its Saturday hours of operation, which have been restored for 2012.

“After four years of cutting and economizing in the library budget, the Board of Trustees had no easy or attractive choices for balancing this year’s budget,” said Jeanette Hill, Board President. “The Board and Library Administration felt that the savings that can be realized by this change in our hours of operation were preferable to cuts that would reduce the strength of the collections and services the library provides.”

Thursday was selected for closing because it has been the least busy day for public use, and caused the least disruption to ongoing programs and other uses of the Library. The library will be rescheduling several popular programs that have fallen on Thursday, such as the Open Computer Lab and youth book groups.

While the building will be closed on Thursdays, many library resources are available around the clock online to assist students, researchers and other users. Among these are ebooks, full-text databases and business directories, as well as the library catalog for requesting or renewing items. A guide and links to these resources can be found at www.brightonlibrary.info/now.

For more information, please contact Dr. Nancy B. Johnson, Brighton District Library director, at 810-229-6571, ext 203, or nbjohnson@brightonlibrary.info.

The Brighton District Library is located at 100 Library Drive, Brighton, Michigan. Visit us at brightonlibrary.info or call 810-229-6571.