A dozen Charlotte Mecklenburg libraries that saw their hours drastically reduced with budget cuts will add back an extra day. The library’s smaller, community branches will be open five days a week with longer hours beginning April 1. Those include Hickory Grove, Mountain Island, Sugar Creek and West Boulevard branches. It will take 30 extra positions to staff the additional hours.
Libraries Director David Singleton says it’s the right time to expand hours.
“We feel like we’re in a much more sustainable place than we were at one point in time. We’ve been really kind of holding back and really being conservative with funds that the county has provided to us,” says Singleton.
Four years ago, Mecklenburg County cut a third of the library’s budget. Charlotte Mecklenburg library closed four branches and slashed hours across the system.
Singleton hopes the county will approve an extra $1 million this year so that the community branches can open six days a week.
