The Fort Worth Public Library is open longer, but are more people going?
Expanded hours have shown that people want to use the Fort Worth Library.
Since branch and regional libraries added 114 hours to their schedules at no cost to taxpayers in April, the library has seen a nearly 30% increase in use. The library saw a 40% increase in new cards issued in that time while people attended 33% more library-sponsored programs.
Library officials didn’t know how much the expanded hours would affect usage, but director Manya Shorr said they were confident more people would come in.
“I knew this was one of the biggest reasons people weren’t using us,” she said.
During the economic downturn a decade ago, the library’s funds were cut by the equivalent of 50 full-time employees. The library cut hours by more than 25%. The result was varying hours across branches, where half were closed on Thursdays and the other half were closed on Fridays.
The library has since restored the cut positions, so hours could be expanded with out increasing staff.
The central, regional and branch libraries are open from noon to 8 p.m. Mondays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The central and two regional libraries are open from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. There was no change to Butler, Cavile or Cambridge Court locations.
The biggest winner was eSkills, a library and job center at 2800 Stark St. in east Fort Worth. It saw a nearly 40% increase in visits since April. The Riverside and Northwest branches came in slightly lower at 36% and 34%.
Only the Wedgwood branch at 3816 Kimberly Lane saw a decrease — by about 30%. That’s the library’s oldest and smallest location, and Shorr speculated users may have felt it was overcrowded and started going to other branches when hours expanded.
Shorr also anticipates eliminating late fees will bring patrons to the library.
On Oct. 1 the library stopped charging for late material and forgave more than $460,000 worth of overdue fines. Some may think that no penalty for overdue books would increase the likelihood that people would simply not return material, but that’s not been the case.
After the Chicago Public Library became the largest American library system to do away with fees a day before Fort Worth made the change, the system saw a 240% increase in book returns, according to the Sun Times. Libraries in Boston, Detroit, Salt Lake City and Kansas City, Missouri, have stopped charging late fees.
Shorr said anyone who wanted to steal from the library probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of checking out the book to begin with.
“People who borrow a book from the library intend to return it,” she said. “Otherwise you could just stick it in your bag and walk out.”
