Libraries Reduce Lending Time To Save Money

Library budget deficits have impacted just about every aspect of operations and now the cuts are reducing the number of weeks a book is on loan.

At the Peters Township Public Library, the regular three-week lending time was cut to two weeks, as of July 22, for bestsellers and books with a long waiting list.

At the Mt. Lebanon Public Library, Director Cynthia K. Richey said the library could potentially see another $100,000 loss in funding in 2011. She's holding her breath after a similar loss in 2010.

"We've already made cuts, cuts for 2010 like we're closed on Sundays, eliminated two part-time reference positions and scaled back on the collection purchases, frozen wages and salaries and eliminated a couple of benefits the staff had," Richey said. "And reduced hours overall for staff. We already did that, and now we're preparing to cut again and are looking at how to continue to provide services with another $100,000 loss and that's about a 10 percent of our operating budget."

Read more: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/08-04-2010-library-cuts