The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in layoffs and many libraries reduced their hours due to a loss of funding from city partners. This unfortunate event turned into an opportunity to reassess open hours across the entire system and create a consistent, standardized set of open hours instead of what in the past had been an inconsistent mix of schedules. The previous practice of inconsistent open hours also resulted in the library relying primarily on part-time staff, which created an ongoing recruitment and retention issue.

Prior to Fiscal Year 2021, libraries that were only open the county-provided base of 35 open hours were closed one day in the middle of the week. This meant that almost all staff at those libraries were part-time employees. Standardizing the open hours to a Tuesday through Saturday schedule allowed the library to maintain and implement mostly full-time positions despite budget cuts. This shift also meant that libraries could open one hour earlier than normal each day, which bumped the weekly open hours from 35-40.

In a recent survey of library patrons, the most frequent request was for more open hours. By increasing and standardizing the county-provided base, library patrons have more access to library services and have a better likelihood of knowing when libraries are open. Additionally, cities that fund extra open hours have seen a reduction in their costs, meaning they have more funds to apply towards facility upkeep. And finally, we anticipate that the increase in full-time positions will improve recruitment and retention.