Long Beach Public Library To Pilot New Hours At Three Branch Locations

Long Beach CA

27 May, 2022

10:45 AM

Description

Press release from the City of Long Beach: May 26, 2022 Long Beach, CA – Beginning May 31, 2022, the Long Beach Public Library (Library) will pilot new operating hours at three branch locations – Bay Shore Library, Bach Library and Billie Jean King Main Library – in effort to better address community needs expressed by responding residents through a summer 2021 survey. The piloted shift will affect the Tuesday and Thursday operating hours for the three locations and will include added morning hours, opening earlier at 10 a.m. as opposed to noon, and closing earlier, with Billie Jean King Main Library closing at 7 p.m. and Bach and Bay Shore at 5 p.m. Library hours at all other locations will remain the same. Bay Shore and Bach Libraries were selected as the recommended locations to pilot this change based on resident responses from the community survey, which identified that patrons of these locations – as well as those of El Dorado and Los Altos branches – desired earlier morning hours and did not also desire additional evening hours, unlike patrons of other branches. Bach Library was selected as the north-most location of these four eastside branches, as was Bay Shore Library, the furthest geographical counterpart, in effort to include as many residents as possible geographically. The expansion in hours at Billie Jean King Main Library is needed to support the shift at Bay Shore and Bach, as City staffing backups come from teams at the Main Library. "Residents let us know what they wanted to see in terms of hours," says Acting Library Director Christine Hertzel. "Finding ways to respond creatively within the current budget was a challenge and we'll be closely monitoring this pilot program's progress to gauge its success and determine if it's something that we want to implement long term." Recognizing this shift in hours affects the eastern-most parts of town, the Library will explore hours expansion in central, north and west Long Beach using Recovery funds and will present a plan to the Long Beach City Council in the coming months. After the pilot concludes on Sept. 30, the Library will evaluate its success during the fall to determine if the change will become permanent. More information regarding this pilot program and results from the community survey is available here. For a current list of library locations and hours, visit the library's website at lbpl.org or call 562.570.7500. About the City of Long Beach Home to approximately 470,000 people, the multiple award-winning and innovative City of Long Beach offers all the world-class amenities of a large metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods nestled together along the California coast. As a full-service charter city, Long Beach is home to the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, several museums and theaters, a highly-rated school district, Long Beach Airport, the Port of Long Beach, as well as many award-winning City departments such as Health, Parks, Recreation and Marine, Development Services and more. The City also has a highly-respected university and city college, two historic ranchos, five hospitals, five golf courses, 171 parks, miles of beaches, marinas, bike paths, and a Bike Share program. For more information about the City of Long Beach, visit http://longbeach.gov/. Follow us on social to keep up with the latest news: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. About Long Beach Public Library Long Beach Public Library, founded in 1896, serves a diverse urban city of close to half a million people. The Long Beach Public Library system includes the Billie Jean King Main Library and eleven neighborhood libraries and a vibrant online presence. In summer of 2017, the Long Beach Public Library was awarded the National Medal for Library and Museum Services in recognition of successful community-collaborations, innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and literacy-focused programs to the residents of Long Beach. With an emphasis on providing free and equal access to information and support for learning for a lifetime, the Library offers books, media, databases, Internet access, Family Learning Centers, makerspaces, and a variety of events ranging from story times to educational and cultural programs. For more information, visit www.lbpl.org, "Like" the Long Beach Public Library on Facebook, and follow along on Twitter and Instagram. This press release was produced by the City of Long Beach. The views expressed here are the author's own.