MoCo to expand library hours starting in October

Bethesda LibraryAn extra $800,000 in this year’s Libraries budget means Montgomery County will keep many of its branches open longer, further restoring hours that were cut because of funding difficulties during the recession.

Beginning Oct. 5, 16 branches of the Montgomery County Public Libraries system will have expanded hours, joining the five branches where hours were increased in 2012.

The $800,000 bump in library funding was recommended by County Executive Isiah Leggett and approved by the County Council earlier this year. Leggett and members of Council will be on hand Tuesday with MCPL officials and library advocates at the Rockville Memorial Library to announce the expanded hours.

The county said the added service hours will total 106 hours, almost 10 percent more than last fiscal year.

The 2012 increase added and reinstated hours to five MCPL branches, including Bethesda. Monday-Thursday hours were extended from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. to 9 a.m.-9 p.m. The seven libraries that were open on Sundays, including Bethesda, opened at noon on Sundays, an hour earlier than before. The libraries were also opened on the Sundays closest to Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, days the libraries had been closed before.

From 2008-2011, spending on libraries dropped by more than a quarter, from $40 million to $29 million, as Montgomery County grappled with the recession.

The new funding will allow four additional branches to have Sunday hours and more staffing and materials to support the new hours.

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