By Kyle LoJacono
Pasco County residents will see their public libraries open five less hours each week this year, but no facilities will be closed because of recent budget concerns.
Last year all county libraries were open 40 hours a week and only the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library will remain open that long this year. The new hours went into effect Oct. 1, coinciding with the new fiscal year.
Commissioners made the cuts to save the Centennial Park Branch Library in Holiday, which was earmarked for closure on an early version of the 2010-11 library budget, which was slashed $430,905 down to $6 million, according to Pasco library director Linda Allen.
“We knew about the reduction in hours during the county commissioner’s budget workshop Sept. 21,” Allen said. “We wanted to keep the libraries open the same number of hours, but doing this helped save one of our other libraries.”
Pasco commission chairwoman Pat Mulieri said one library had to remain open 40 hours a week so the county could continue receiving federal funding. The Land O’ Lakes library is the busiest of the facilities, so it was the one selected to stay at the current hours.
From Oct. 1 of last year to this July 30, 377,510 items were checked out of the central Pasco facility, according to Allen. The next most used was the Regency Park Branch Library in New Port Richey with 276,730 and the Hudson Regional Library with 275,596.
Also, the new hours do not affect the Zephyrhills Public Library, 5347 Eighth St., because it is under the jurisdiction of the city.
Mulieri was a professor at Pasco-Hernando Community College (PHCC) for more than 20 years. Working in education for so long made libraries very important to her, which made the decision to cut hours very difficult.
“Reading is a major joy for me,” Mulieri said. “As a teacher of young students early in my career, I realized that reading was the key to learning. I always tried to stimulate and encourage students’ love of books. At PHCC I taught composition, literature, humanities and designed a course (called) images of woman in literature. In each class I would bring in diverse material to get the students to enjoy reading and not look at it as a chore.”
Mulieri added that she reads books to children at the various libraries throughout the year.
The decision to reduce hours comes at a time when more people are using the system’s facilities.
“Our services as a whole have increased by 12 percent from the previous year,” Allen said. “So we’re looking at continued growth in services with 13 less staff members from last year. It’s become interesting and difficult to make it work, but more people are coming in and that’s important.”
Some of those services go much further than checking out books.
“More people are applying for welfare and other government services and it’s hard to get to those offices or even to get someone on the phone,” Allen said. “We help people use the Internet to sign up for those programs because a lot of people disconnect their Internet if they lose their job. Also people come in looking for jobs and they all need to upload resumes by Internet.”
Marc Silverwood lives in Wesley Chapel near the New River Library. He said he goes to the library every other week for a new book and does not like the idea of reducing hours.
“I usually come to the library in the evening and it looks like they still have evening hours, but I think libraries should be open,” Silverwood said. “It’s just an investment in the future if kids have a place to get books.”
News is not all bad for all of Florida’s public libraries. Several months ago the state Legislature said it was going to cut all funding to libraries. This would also mean federal funding would eventually end because that money is based on a percentage of what the state gives its library systems.
“They are continuing to give us about the same amount, which is close to $200,000 this year,” Allen said. “We also got three grants from the state this year, which are paid for by federal money that will add another $200,000.”
For more information on the Pasco Library System, visit pascolibraries.org.
Land O’ lakes Branch Library, 2818 Collier Parkway in Land O’ Lakes
Tuesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday and Monday, closed
Library hours
New River Branch Library, 34043 SR 54 in Zephyrhills
Tuesday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Wednesday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday and Monday, closed
Hugh Embry Branch Library, 14215 Fourth St. in Dade City
Tuesday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Wednesday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday and Monday, closed
Zephyrhills Public Library, 5347 Eighth St. in Zephyrhills
Tuesday thorough Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Sunday and Monday, closed
