Worcester Public Library Will Open on Mondays for 1st Time in 8 Years

(NECN: Katelyn Tivnan) - For the first time in eight years, the Worcester Public Library can hang this sign in its window: Open on Mondays.

In 2004, the library decreased its hours because of budget cuts. Worcester City Manager Mike O’Brien said an ongoing effort to reopen the branch is paying off.

“We've been able to re-purpose staff and use money coming from our pilot programs with local colleges and universities to once again reopen on Mondays,” O’Brien said.

$800,000 from the pilot programs went to new technology at the library. Interim head librarian Wei Jeng Chu said the demand for library services is high.

For the last two years, the No. 1 request from patrons has been for expanded hours and seven-days-a- week service..

“Especially during economic downtime, people come here to use computers, do school projects and even job search,” Chu said.

Circulation manager Anne White said each day, up to 2,000 items are returned to Worcester. The new system will reduce the time it takes staff to get books back on shelves.

“[It] takes a lot of work to sort them, check them, put them on shelves, then cart them back into the library,” White said. “So it's a big job.”

During busy summer months, it can take the library up to two weeks to get books sorted and back on the shelves. With this new technology, it will happen in under two days.

“[Items] will be automatically checked in,” White said. “Technology will check it in and then travel along a conveyer belt and sorted into one of 15 bins. All this work was done by people before, [and] will now be done by machinery.”

Needing less manpower for the check-in process will allow workers to focus on other services. Both the city and the library say it’s a happy ending.

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