The Forsyth County Public Library system plans to extend its hours and programming in the new year. The decision, which is being made possible by a funding increase from Forsyth County government, was announced Monday. Laura Bradley, system program manager said extended hours are what library users want. “We did a patron survey twice over the last six months and something that a lot of the patrons asked for was a lot more evening and weekend programs,” she said.“We’re definitely going to be adding some pajama story time programs for families of all ages ... and we’re also going to try to offer more adult programming in the evenings, as well as teen programming.” The extended hours begin Jan. 5, when the Cumming, Post Road and Sharon Forks library branches will be open until 8:30 p.m. three nights a week, instead of two. The Hampton Park Library will start staying open until 8:30 p.m. two nights a week instead of one, and will open at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, instead of 1 p.m. According to Bradley, the changes actually just restore the branches to their hours prior to 2010, when the then two branches stayed open until 8:30 p.m. four nights a week. Those hours were scaled back to help provide staff to open the Hampton Park Library. The Post Road branch debuted earlier this year. When the new changes take effect next month, all four branches will continue to be open seven days a week. Bradley said she hopes the funding will continue beyond this year, because extended hours are “really at the forefront of what we wanted to do.”“Now we can offer more evening programs, and that’s something we recently found was a popular suggestion,” she said. “We’ll be able to offer more and really meet the needs of the community.”
The Forsyth County Public Library system plans to extend its hours and programming in the new year. The decision, which is being made possible by a funding increase from Forsyth County government, was announced Monday. Laura Bradley, system program manager said extended hours are what library users want. “We did a patron survey twice over the last six months and something that a lot of the patrons asked for was a lot more evening and weekend programs,” she said.“We’re definitely going to be adding some pajama story time programs for families of all ages ... and we’re also going to try to offer more adult programming in the evenings, as well as teen programming.” The extended hours begin Jan. 5, when the Cumming, Post Road and Sharon Forks library branches will be open until 8:30 p.m. three nights a week, instead of two. The Hampton Park Library will start staying open until 8:30 p.m. two nights a week instead of one, and will open at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, instead of 1 p.m. According to Bradley, the changes actually just restore the branches to their hours prior to 2010, when the then two branches stayed open until 8:30 p.m. four nights a week. Those hours were scaled back to help provide staff to open the Hampton Park Library. The Post Road branch debuted earlier this year. When the new changes take effect next month, all four branches will continue to be open seven days a week. Bradley said she hopes the funding will continue beyond this year, because extended hours are “really at the forefront of what we wanted to do.”“Now we can offer more evening programs, and that’s something we recently found was a popular suggestion,” she said. “We’ll be able to offer more and really meet the needs of the community.”