New Castle County libraries will see changes to their schedules as a result of county-wide budget cuts July 1.
The FY 27 budget called for an 11% reduction in library operations.
New Castle County Department of Community Services General Manager Carrie Casey said library officials had to be creative in making the cuts, starting with closing all New Castle County libraries on Sundays in July and August.
“We looked at how we do it without really affecting patrons as much, but also programming – [it’s] quiet in the summer sometimes,” Casey said. “And so that's why we decided, ‘let's save the money [on] summer hours. And then in the fall, we'll be back up on Sundays, and there will be a library open every day of the week starting after Labor Day.’”
Because the Newark Free Library is still under construction and is closed, that leaves funding for some libraries to be open on Sundays in the fall.
Library programming will continue to run aside from Sunday programs.
“Not a lot of programming happens on Sundays, that's another thing…” Casey said. “We shaved hours off Fridays. We looked at days where we weren't doing a lot of programming to begin with.”
Bear, Hockessin and Kirkwood Libraries will start six-day per week schedules, cutting one day from their previous schedules for the summer.
Libraries have a separate schedule for the fall, which includes some libraries being closed two days per week and others having reduced hours Friday.
