The Weekly Feed: Experimentation Edition
Morning Roundup: Change Edition
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The Associated Press is reporting that D.C. Public Library Director Ginnie Cooper has already formally decided to reduce hours at the city's libraries, effective March 2. It was just yesterday that Cooper was merely considering a reduction in service in order to address mounting budget constraints. A message on the DCPL web site still says the reduced library hours are just a possibility.
DCPL faced a similar decision last summer, but that time around, Mayor Adrian Fenty swooped in and located an additional $2 million to keep the libraries open. This time, the District is facing budget shortfalls for the next couple of years.
The AP report says the revised hours will lead the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to close at 5:30 p.m., instead of 9 p.m., on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and that neighborhood branches will open later and close earlier on weekdays, and kiosk branches will close one day a week. We'll be sure to update once the library releases more specifics.
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So MLK will close at 5:30 instead of 9? That's rush hour! You won't be able to get onto the Gallery Place or Metro Center escalators because of all the homeless!
On the positive side, you won't get the 9pm bum's rush shakedowns outside Zatinya.
o no! wear will i dooz all my lernin? wear can I studee to be a airplain mekanik? wear will i masterbait?
Did anybody actually use the MLK Library between 5:30 and 9 on Wednesdays and Thursdays? If I'm in that area during those times I'm usually far too wasted to even think about reading.
isn't it about time that maybe the libraries look at some partnerships with coffee shops or something like that that can bring in some outside cash flow to keep the buildings staffed and running?
Actually, I was just in the MLK Library from 7-7:30 last night. It was pretty crowded by library standards: every desk on the first floor had someone reading at it, and in the lobby, some hearing-impaired woman was giving a lecture to about 15 people.