Los Angeles City Libraries Now Closed on Sundays & Mondays; All Three Branches On Possible Chopping Block in Camden, NJ
1. "L.A.'s City Libraries Eliminate Sunday and Monday Hours"
Libraries will now be open five days per week/22 hours per week. This is the third reduction in hours since December and is due to a $22 million budget cut.
The Los Angeles Public Library system dropped to a five-day-a-week schedule, with doors closed Sunday and Monday. The system includes the Central Library downtown, eight regional libraries and 64 branches.
The reduced schedule comes after the city cut $22 million and 328 full-time positions from this year's library budget.
Many of the jobs eliminated were vacant or early-retirement positions, but the library system also sent layoff notices to more than 100 employees three weeks ago, library spokesman Peter Persic said. Those laid off included 20 full-time librarians.
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Some libraries in Los Angeles County's Public Library system — which is separate from the city system — will also reduce service hours as of July 26.
Mayor Dana L. Redd is slashing more than two-thirds of city funding for Camden's libraries, a move that could close all three branches.
In the best-case scenario, according to a library board member, one library would remain open with limited hours and a skeletal staff.
But all three branches could shut down, leaving many children in New Jersey's poorest city with no place to do homework, and cutting off Internet access for residents looking for jobs.
Last fiscal year, the libraries operated on $935,000 from the city, plus $88,000 in state aid. This fiscal year, which began July 1, the library will receive $281,666.64, about a third of what the library board requested, according to a letter Redd sent to the library's board of trustees last week. Part of that money, about $20,000, was already spent last fiscal year.
"That's a distinct possibility," said board member Frank Fulbrook.
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