Libraries Extend Operating Hours

The lines at the circulation desk might be longer, but many of Ventura County’s libraries will remain open an extra four hours a week starting Sunday.

“With a year of experience behind us working at our greatly reduced budget level, we believed we could make modest improvements in the base-line schedule,” Dixie D. Adeniran, director of library services, wrote in a memo to the Board of Supervisors. “The trade-off will be slower response time from support departments and longer waits at public services desks.”

Severe budget cuts in past years have forced the library system to slash its staff and sharply reduce its hours of operation.

Under the new schedule, the county’s large libraries--Camarillo, Simi Valley and E. P. Foster and H. P. Wright in Ventura--will go from 32 to 36 hours a week. The medium-sized branches--Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai and Prueter in Port Hueneme--will increase from 20 to 24.

Seven smaller neighborhood libraries will not be affected.