Contact: Bonnie Ayers, Public Information Office, 240-777-6530
For Immediate Release: August 29, 2001

Duncan Announces Expanded Library Hours As Schools Re-open;
Action Restores Cuts Made During Recession of Early ‘90s

With the opening day of school just around the corner, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan today announced that the County’s public libraries will be open longer and that hours of operation will be tailored to meet the needs of individual communities. Duncan’s announcement caps a multi-year effort he has made to restore hours cut during the recession of the early 1990s.

“Libraries are an integral part of our educational system,” Duncan said. “Like schools, they bring a sense of community to a neighborhood and provide lifelong learning opportunities for all of our residents.”

Beginning September 17, service hours at most branches will be expanded by adding an hour and a half to two hours Monday through Saturday.

“With these additional hours,” Duncan noted, “our libraries are open more hours now than before the recession of the early ‘90s when hours were cut.”

Duncan began the library hours restoration effort as part of his FY ’96 budget and has worked to restore the library cuts made during the recession of the early ‘90s.

Part of the change in hours was achieved by extending the opening or closing times in certain libraries, based on information from community surveys. For example, Chevy Chase will open an hour earlier on Monday and Saturday – at 9 a.m. – and Olney will remain open one half hour later, until 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

Three of the four regional libraries – Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Wheaton will each close one half hour later – at 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday – while Rockville will open 30 minutes earlier – at 9:30 a.m., Monday through Thursday. To further improve service, Sunday hours (September 16 to June 9) were added last year at four libraries -- Fairland, Germantown, Olney and Silver Spring. Traditionally, Sunday hours have been in effect at only the four larger regional libraries -- Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Rockville and Wheaton. Beginning September 16, Sunday hours (1 to 5 p.m.) also will be in effect at the Davis Library on an interim basis to provide service while the Bethesda Library is closed for renovations. Bethesda will resume Sunday hours when it reopens in 2002.

MCPL Director Harriet Henderson said, “We expanded Sunday service to cover a larger geographic area for the convenience of our customers, so residents in every part of the County will have a library in their area that is open on Sunday.”

The hours at two of the County’s 22 public libraries will not change – Poolesville and the Special Needs Library, housed in the Davis Library in Bethesda.

For a schedule of new times, contact the nearest public library or check the MCPL web site at www.montgomerylibrary.org.