KAAL televison came to the library last night (http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S1873989.shtml?cat=10219) to talk to us about our Saturday closing. They had numerous phone calls about the closing and wanted to know what can be done. We told KAAL last night as a budget saving measure the Library Board of Trustees and Library Director are committed to closing the library on Saturdays and cutting staff hours to save money and balance our 2011 budget.Like all other small businesses the library has been hit financially by the State of Minnesota 's financial woes. The library depends on the money from the city and county to run the library each year. Both entities have experienced reduced funding from the State of Minnesota and it trickles down to all of the city and county offices.
The Library Board and the Library Director looked at many different options to cut the budget with the least impact to patrons. Saturday's were chosen as we are open only two hours and the fewest number of patrons use the library on that day. We as a library staff have realized for the past few years, for many patrons we are part of their weekly destination for all of their errands.
We have further noticed over the past 3-4 years an upswing in people using the library for WiFi access, job searches, unemployment benefits (all on-line), borrowing books, DVD, CD's, audio books. Families are once again realizing the local library is a good way to cut cost and still have entertainment all for free.
No comments:
Post a Comment