City libraries expand hours

Expanded hours at two of Spokane’s busiest branch libraries are being greeted as a positive development by library patrons, but Spokane’s libraries still lag behind others in the region when it comes to open hours.

The Shadle and South Hill branches are now open on Mondays, giving them both six-day-a-week operations.

Budget cuts in 2005 and in earlier years had forced a reduction in library hours citywide, and some of those lost hours are slowly being restored, officials said. Cuts had resulted in some crowding and lines at the branches.

“Staff at Shadle and South Hill say the customers are thrilled to be able to come in on Mondays,” said Eva Silverstone, spokeswoman for the city library system.

Both branches are open Monday through Saturday. In addition, Shadle and South Hill branches open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, increasing their total number of weekly hours from 40 to 52 each. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

The Downtown Library remains closed on Mondays.

Two part-time librarians were hired to accommodate the extra branch hours, Silverstone said.

The Library Board had been seeking to expand hours in recent months and was given a large enough budget for 2008 to implement the increases. However, the board did not have enough money to restore Monday service at the Downtown Library.

“Spokane Public is still really behind,” Silverstone said about its hours.

The board’s top priority for any future increases in service would be to add hours at the Hillyard Library, she said.

At 52 hours a week, Shadle and South Hill lag behind Spokane County Library District branches and the cities of Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene. The county branches in Spokane Valley and North Spokane are open 64 hours a week; Coeur d’Alene has 62 hours; and Post Falls has a 60-hour week.

In Spokane, the Downtown Library had a 60-hour week as recently as 1999. It is down to 44 hours a week, but continues to draw the most users in the city system, while the South Hill and Shadle branches have the largest circulations.

In December, 20,450 people walked through the gate of the Downtown Library, while 26,000 pieces of library material were checked out.

By comparison, the Shadle Library had 11,800 users with a circulation of 27,800 last month. The South Hill Library had 11,500 users for a circulation of 29,000.

The Downtown Library has a larger gate count because of its research opportunities, including Web browsing, periodical collection, genealogy section and Northwest Room for historical books and documents.

The Northwest Room at the Downtown Library is open three additional hours on Thursday mornings, when it opens at 10 a.m. rather than the old opening time of 1 p.m. That was done to accommodate users who cannot get to the Northwest Room during the afternoons.

Slight adjustments were made to the schedules at the city’s three smaller branches – East Side, Hillyard and Indian Trail. They are opened for limited hours on Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Those three smaller branches are open one hour later on Wednesdays, until 7 p.m., and one hour earlier on Saturdays, when they open at 10 a.m. instead of 11 a.m.

The library system has reduced the number of managers for branch libraries and trimmed spending in research assistance by streamlining that operation. Changes were also made in children’s story services to cut costs.