Dunwoody Library Hours Reduced

Starting next week, the Dunwoody library will have shorter hours Wednesdays.

On April 4 and moving forward, the library will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

The library had been open until 8 p.m. on Wednesday evenings.

The changes are part of larger cuts across the board in the library budget, which had a 22 percent decrease in its budget for 2011.

“Reducing hours allows the Library under current economic circumstances to utilize available staff more effectively and equitably to maintain access to Library services, collections and facilities throughout the County,” wrote Deborah Torbush, Chair of the DeKalb County Public Library Board of Trustees, in a statement.

Further, she said, the library’s budget for materials will be reduced from a $2.4 million in 2008 to $100,000 for 2011.

“This will drastically reduce the number of new books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks and electronic subscriptions the Library will be able to purchase this year,” Torbush wrote.

She said she hopes the changes are impermanent.

“DeKalb voters told the County that they wanted new and larger libraries when they approved the Library Construction Bond in 2005,” she wrote. “The Board of Trustees believes these reductions need only be temporary and will continue to urge the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners to restore adequate funding for Library operations.”

See the attached PDF for a full list of library hour changes and Torbush’s letter.