Illinois: Sunday Evening Hours are a Hit at Naperville Library

Note: Naperville is located about 30 miles west of Chicago.
From the Chicago Tribune:

Since March, the building [Nichols Library] has been open until 9 p.m. instead of the normal 5 p.m. closing time that the Naper Boulevard and 95th Street libraries have maintained.
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Officials said continuing the extended Sunday hours, as well as implementing them at the other two buildings, hinges on funding. Unlike communities where a library district taxes the residents, Naperville’s City Council determines the library system’s annual funding level.
“We’re finding that many people are using the library on Sunday evenings, but not so much the services,” said adult and teen services supervisor Anne Bultman. “Patrons are not asking as many reference questions, and we’re not getting as many phone calls as we do on other nights of the week.”
She said a preliminary analysis has shown that many users simply want a quiet place to do reference research or work on a computer. On a recent Sunday evening, nearly every station in the Nichols Library computer lab was in use.
According to estimates for the months of March and April, an average of 470 people used the Nichols Library between 5 and 9 p.m. each Sunday. Patrons for all Sundays in May increased by 38 percent in 2013 from the same period a year ago.

The extended hours trial ends on June 30th. 14 staff members operate the library during Sunday evening hours versus about 20 to 22 on weeknights.
Read the Complete Article
Visit the Naperville Public Library Web Site
See Also: Nichols Library Sunday Hours to be Temporarily Extended Starting March 3 (via Naperville Public Library)

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries